Last updated: August 3, 2021
Place
The Grave of the Unknown Soldier
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
In southern section of park, approximately 100 yards east of Illinois Monument
Significance:
Gravesite honoring an Unknown Soldier from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Designation:
National Battlefield Park
Amenities
2 listed
Cellular Signal, Information Kiosk/Bulletin Board
One of the tragic, inescapable results of the Civil War was death on a colossal scale. Perhaps even more tragic is the presence of the unknown dead in those ranks. Honored and interred here is an unknown soldier from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. While many of the other soldiers who perished here were reinterred in soldier's cemetaries, this young man's remains were missed. They were discovered in the trenches near this location in early 1934 by the Work's Progress Administration (WPA) as part of a trail building project. His remains were moved to this current location in order to be closer to the trail. A ceremony was held to honor his service and memory on July 1st, 1934 and his casket was lowered into the grave draped in both a U.S and Confederate flag. His grave sits directly in between in what was both the Union and Confederate lines.
From an exerpt reflecting on the 'Unknown' by Walt Whitman: "And everywhere among these countless graves - everywhere in the many Soldiers Cemeteries of the Nation ... - as at the time in the vast trenches, the depositories of slain, Northern and Southern, after the great battles - not only where the scathing trail pass'd those years, but radiating since in all the peaceful quarters of the land - we see, and see, and ages yet may see, on monuments and gravestones, singly or in massess, to thousands or tens of thousands, the significant word.. UNKNOWN."
From an exerpt reflecting on the 'Unknown' by Walt Whitman: "And everywhere among these countless graves - everywhere in the many Soldiers Cemeteries of the Nation ... - as at the time in the vast trenches, the depositories of slain, Northern and Southern, after the great battles - not only where the scathing trail pass'd those years, but radiating since in all the peaceful quarters of the land - we see, and see, and ages yet may see, on monuments and gravestones, singly or in massess, to thousands or tens of thousands, the significant word.. UNKNOWN."