During the Civil War, Philadelphia was an important hub for the transport of supplies and troops from the East Coast to the front lines.  In addition to arsenals, supply depots, and navy yards, the city also had numerous military hospitals and the U.S. Naval Home, a hospital and residential care facility for sick and disabled sailors. During the war, the Federal Government acquired two parcels of land within Mount Moriah Cemetery, one for soldiers who died while at the military hospitals and another to reinter the remains from the grounds of the U.S. Naval Home. Although located within the private Mount Moriah Cemetery, today these two areas of land are managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 1855, an act of the Pennsylvania legislature established Mount Moriah Cemetery, a rural cemetery for the city of Philadelphia.  Landscaping of the original 54-acre site on the southwestern edge of the city followed the new fashion at the time, with curving drives and plantings to enhance scenic vistas, echoing Romantic ideals of pastoral beauty.  Architect Stephen Button designed the elaborate Romanesque gatehouse and entrance constructed of brownstone.

During the Civil War, Philadelphia hospitals treated more than 157,000 soldiers and sailors. Modest charitable hospitals were superseded by government-funded medical facilities, including Satterlee and Mower Hospitals.  Additionally, the city’s Pennsylvania and St. Joseph’s hospitals cared for Union soldiers.  Soldiers that died while under care of the facilities were originally interred in several cemeteries throughout the city, including Mount Moriah.  The Mount Moriah Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot contains the remains of 404 Union men who died while in the Philadelphia area. The grave is located in Section 100, Lot 1 of the cemetery, northwest of the cemetery’s main entrance gate.

Mount Moriah Cemetery Naval Plot and Soldiers' Lot Courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, History Program

In 1864, the government purchased a ten-acre site in the north side of Mount Moriah Cemetery for the interment of remains buried at Philadelphia’s U.S. Naval Home. The home, established in 1833, served as a hospital and residential care facility for disabled and indigent sailors. Public works projects twice forced the movement of the home’s cemetery. Seeking a more permanent site, the government purchased ten acres in Mount Moriah Cemetery and prepared it for use. The first burial occurred in 1865.  In February 1866, the Navy removed 351 remains from the home’s cemetery and reinterred them in the Naval Plot at Mount Moriah. Today, the plot is the final resting place for more than 2,400 US Navy officers and seamen.

The ten-acre plot is enclosed by a low fence composed of stone bollards and chain.  A anchor mounted on a square concrete base serves as a reminder of the service of those interred at the plot.

The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains both the Soldiers’ Lot and the Naval Plot. While these areas are maintained, the remainder of the now 380-acre Mount Moriah Cemetery has suffered from lack of maintenance and neglect.  The gatehouse is in disrepair, its windows boarded up and walls covered in vegetation. In 2004, Preservation Pennsylvania named the cemetery to its list of the most endangered historic places in the state.