Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary Civil War Era National Cemeteries: Honoring Those Who Served |
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Danville, Kentucky |
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Danville National Cemetery, located in Danville, Kentucky, consists of six burial sections (lots 10-13, 14-16, 30-33, 35-36, 38-39, and 40-41) within the confines of the public Bellevue Cemetery. Rectangular in form, the cemetery is three sections long by two sections wide. Two lots—34 and 37—located in the center of the north side of the cemetery were set aside as an asylum lot for civilians. These lots were never purchased by the Federal Government, but are currently maintained as part of the national cemetery. In total, the national cemetery encompasses 0.3 acres and 394 burials, the majority of which are Civil War veterans laid out in orderly rows.
The city of Danville served as the first seat of government in Kentucky and was the site of the state’s first constitutional convention in 1784. During the Civil War, several hospitals existed in the vicinity, necessitating the creation of a cemetery for mortally wounded soldiers. The Federal Government purchased 18 burial lots from Danville City Cemetery, now Bellevue Cemetery. The cemetery was founded just north of downtown in 1847 as a Victorian cemetery featuring narrow, tree-lined pathways. The first interments of soldiers from area hospitals began in 1862. In 1868, the soldiers’ lot at Bellevue Cemetery officially became the Danville National Cemetery, and burials continued until 1952 when the cemetery closed to new interments. The only structures at Danville National Cemetery are a flagpole in the middle of the north central section, and four marble boundary posts at each corner inscribed with “U.S.” No walls, fences, or gates exist at the national cemetery, and the only access is through the surrounding Bellevue Cemetery. Just east of the national cemetery, on a lot controlled by Bellevue Cemetery, is a Confederate burial section containing 66 graves.
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