Crown Hill National Cemetery: Difference between revisions

Indianapolis had no cemetery specifically designated as a burial place for [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] soldiers who died in camps and hospitals near Indianapolis until after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. During the war, when the city served as a major transportation hub and as a camp for Union troops, the soldiers who died at Indianapolis were initially buried at Greenlawn Cemetery, located west of town.<ref>{{cite book | author=Douglas A. Wissing |author2=Marianne Tobias |author3=Rebecca W. Dolan |author4=Anne Ryder  | title =Crown Hill: History, Spirit, and Sanctuary | publisher =Indiana Historical Society Press | year =2013 | location =Indianapolis | pages =2–3 | isbn =9780871953018}}</ref> Confederate prisoners who died at [[Camp Morton]], a large prisoner-of-war camp north of Indianapolis, were also interred at Greenlawn.<ref name=Wissing1-2>Wissing, pp. 1–2.</ref> By August 1863 Greenlawn was nearing capacity from wartime casualties and facing encroachment from industrial development. To provide additional land for burials, a group of local businessmen formed a Board of Corporators (trustees) who established Crown Hill Cemetery on October 22, 1863. The privately owned cemetery, northwest of downtown, borders present-day Thirty-Eighth Street.<ref>Wissing, pp. 14 and 17.</ref> In 1866 the U.S. government authorized a National Cemetery for Indianapolis and made arrangements for the removal of the soldiers from Greenlawn.<ref>{{cite book | author=Anna Nicholas | title =The Story of Crown Hill | publisher =Crown Hill Association | year =1928 | location =Indianapolis, IN | page =26 }}</ref>