Chaplain William Earnshaw

Stones River National Cemetery circa 1866

National Archives

Quick Facts

Significance:

First Superintendent of Stones River National Cemetery

Place of Birth:

Chester, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

April 12, 1828

Place of Death:

Dayton, Ohio

Date of Death:

July 7, 1885

Place of Burial:

Dayton, Ohio

Cemetery Name:

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum

Chaplain William Earnshaw received orders to proceed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee on June 23, 1865. His assignment was to supervise the reinterment of United States soldiers in Stones River National Cemetery. Earnshaw's primary workforce to accomplish this grim but sacred task was the 111th United States Colored Infantry (USCI).

The work began in October 1865 with the men of the 111th USCI working throughout the battlefield to retrieve the soldiers who had lain in trenches since early 1863. Once the Battle of Stones River's dead were laid to rest, the search for remains moved to Murfreesboro then ever farther away along the road and rail networks for a distance of up to 90 miles in some directions.

While in Murfreesboro, Chaplain Earnshaw also established a Freedman's Bureau school in town. The new national cemetery he helped create became a focal point for a community of formerly enslaved people that took the name Cemetery.

When the work was completed, Earnshaw proudly noted, "The cemetery itself is the admiration of all who visit it, being placed on a beautiful knoll, directly in the centre of the immortal field of Stone's River ... Well may it be said this spot was bought with the blood of our countrymen, and here it is most fitting their scattered bones should be collected and treasured."

Earnshaw also oversaw the creation of Nashville National Cemetery. He was elected chaplain of the National Military Home in Dayton, Ohio on September 5, 1867. Earnshaw remained in Dayton following his retirement due to illness and died there on July 7, 1885.