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Cold Harbor National Cemetery: Difference between revisions
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== History == | == History == | ||
Cold Harbor National Cemetery was established in 1866 on the site of the [[Battle of Cold Harbor]], an | Cold Harbor National Cemetery was established in 1866 on the site of the [[Battle of Cold Harbor]], an American Civil War engagement. Interments were collected from a {{convert|22|mi|km|adj=on}} area, taken from the battlefields and field hospital sites of Cold Harbor, [[Battle of Mechanicsville|Mechanicsville]] (Beaver Dam Creek), [[Battle of Gaines's Mill|Gaines's Mill]], and [[Battle of Savage's Station|Savage's Station]]. The land was appropriated in April 1865 during the first post-war search and re-burial operations conducted on local area battlefields, but not fully purchased until the cemetery was officially established the following year. Another search for buried and unburied remains occurred in 1867 and yielded over 1,000 full and partial skeletons that had been missed the previous year. Due to space limitations at Cold Harbor these remains, of which only a handful were identified, were re-interred in the larger [[Richmond National Cemetery]]. | ||
In the book ''Magnolia Journey: A Union Veteran Revisits the Former Confederate States'', [[Russell Conwell]] stated that in 1870 the remains of Union soldiers were still being unearthed from the battlefield by poverty-stricken local residents searching for [[Minie Ball]]s to sell as [[lead]] [[scrap]] in nearby [[Richmond, Virginia]]. Although reported to cemetery superintendent [[Augustus Barry]], who was mortally ill at the time, it does not appear that another search and reburial operation was made. Conwell feared that many soldiers' remains may have ended up in Richmond's [[fertilizer]] factories mixed in with the bones of dead [[artillery]] [[horse]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conwell |first1=Russell |author1-link=Russell Conwell |editor1-last=Carter |editor1-first=Joseph |title=Magnolia journey: a Union veteran revisits the former Confederate States |date=1974 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |page=23}}</ref> Remains in the Cold Harbor area have been occasionally discovered by farmers and construction crews well into the 21st century. | In the book ''Magnolia Journey: A Union Veteran Revisits the Former Confederate States'', [[Russell Conwell]] stated that in 1870 the remains of Union soldiers were still being unearthed from the battlefield by poverty-stricken local residents searching for [[Minie Ball]]s to sell as [[lead]] [[scrap]] in nearby [[Richmond, Virginia]]. Although reported to cemetery superintendent [[Augustus Barry]], who was mortally ill at the time, it does not appear that another search and reburial operation was made. Conwell feared that many soldiers' remains may have ended up in Richmond's [[fertilizer]] factories mixed in with the bones of dead [[artillery]] [[horse]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conwell |first1=Russell |author1-link=Russell Conwell |editor1-last=Carter |editor1-first=Joseph |title=Magnolia journey: a Union veteran revisits the former Confederate States |date=1974 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |page=23}}</ref> Remains in the Cold Harbor area have been occasionally discovered by farmers and construction crews well into the 21st century. | ||
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== Notable monuments == | == Notable monuments == | ||
* Monument to the Unknowns, a {{convert|5|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} marble [[sarcophagus]] erected by the federal government in 1877 to commemorate the 889 unknown | * Monument to the Unknowns, a {{convert|5|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} marble [[sarcophagus]] erected by the federal government in 1877 to commemorate the 889 unknown Union soldiers buried in two trench graves at the back of the cemetery. | ||
* The Pennsylvania Monument, a {{convert|30|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} granite spire with a statue of a soldier at the top, was erected in 1909 by the commonwealth of [[Pennsylvania]], and dedicated to its regiments lost at Cold Harbor. | * The Pennsylvania Monument, a {{convert|30|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} granite spire with a statue of a soldier at the top, was erected in 1909 by the commonwealth of [[Pennsylvania]], and dedicated to its regiments lost at Cold Harbor. | ||
* The 8th New York Heavy Artillery Monument, a granite block with a bronze plaque listing the names of those from the detachment who died at Cold Harbor, erected in 1909 by the state of [[New York (state)|New York]]. | * The 8th New York Heavy Artillery Monument, a granite block with a bronze plaque listing the names of those from the detachment who died at Cold Harbor, erected in 1909 by the state of [[New York (state)|New York]]. | ||
== Notable interments == | == Notable interments == | ||
* Sergeant Major [[Augustus Barry]], | * Sergeant Major [[Augustus Barry]], Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Civil War.<ref>[http://vconline.org.uk/augustus-barry/4590247612 vconline.org.uk]</ref> Sergeant Major Barry was also the first superintendent of Cold Harbor National Cemetery. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||