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Confederate Soldiers that died at Vicksburg
are interred at Soldiers Rest,
Cedar Hill (the Vicksburg City) Cemetery
| The City of Vicksburg served as a major hospital center in the early
years of the Civil War. A section in the Cedar Hill (Vicksburg City ) Cemetery was set
aside to provide a fitting burial place for Confederate soldiers who died of sickness or wounds.
Known as "Soldier's Rest," the plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery is the final resting
place for an estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers.
A local undertaker, Mr.
J.Q. Arnold,
was hired by the Confederate government to bury Southern soldiers and carried out those
duties throughout the Siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Arnold meticulously maintained
records
of the soldiers he buried, assigning each one a |
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grave
number. Regrettably, his list and map of the cemetery disappeared after the siege.
However, a portion of his list was discovered in the early 1960s with the name, rank,
company, unit, and date of death for 1,600 soldiers. Approximately
3,500 names are unknown. The document is part
of the archival records at the Old Courthouse Museum, 1008 Cherry Street, Vicksburg, MS
39180 (601) 636-0741 |
| Due to the disappearance of Mr. Arnold's records, only a few private
headstones marked the plot until 1893. On April 26 of that year, the ladies of the
Confederate Memorial Association dedicated a beautiful stone monument featuring the
standing figure of a Confederate soldier. It was not until the early 1980s, following the
discovery of the partial list, that headstones were erected through the combined effort of
the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Veterans' Administration. The stones
are arranged with military precision and placed in state groupings. In 1998, an additional
72 headstones were erected by the UDC and Sons of Confederate Veterans to honor soldiers
whose identities were established on the second list which surfaced in the collection of
the Old Court House Museum.
Partial list of Confederate
interments
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Last update:
Sunday, March 6, 2005
http://www.nps.gov/vick/faq/sold_civ/sldrsrest.htm
Editor: R.C. Smith |
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