West Point Cemetery | |
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Details | |
Established | 1817, [1] 207 years ago |
Location | |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 41°23′56″N73°58′02″W / 41.3990086°N 73.9673426°W |
Type | Military |
Owned by | U.S. Military Academy |
No. of graves | Approximately 10,000 |
Website | https://www.westpoint.edu/about/west-point-cemetery |
Find a Grave | West Point Cemetery |
West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Continental Army soldiers during the American Revolutionary War, and for early West Point residents prior to its designation as a military cemetery in 1817.
Northwest of the cadet area, it was known as "German Flats" before its formal designation as the official cemetery in 1817. [2] Until that time several small burial plots scattered in mid-post also served as places of interment. The graves from these plots and the remains subsequently found during building excavations were removed to the new site.
An improved road to the cemetery was constructed in 1840, and the caretaker's cottage was erected in 1872. [1] The cemetery is home to several monuments, including the Dade Monument, Cadet Monument, Custer Monument, Wood's Monument, and Margaret Corbin Monument.
The cemetery includes interments of many notable people: [3]
John Grubb Parke was a United States Army engineer and a Union general in the American Civil War. Parke's Civil War service was closely associated with Ambrose E. Burnside, often serving him as chief of staff in major engagements such as Antietam, Fredericksburg and the Overland Campaign. Parke also held significant field commands during Burnside's North Carolina Expedition, Vicksburg and the battle of Fort Stedman as well as brief stints in command of the Army of the Potomac. From 1887 to 1889, John G. Parke was the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy.
Eleazer Derby Wood was a Colonel and American Army officer in the War of 1812. Fort Wood, which became the base of the Statue of Liberty, was named in his honor.
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer also known as the "Father of the Military Academy", was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the United States.
Horatio Gouverneur Wright was an engineer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He took command of the VI Corps in May 1864 following the death of General John Sedgwick. In this capacity, he was responsible for building the fortifications around Washington DC, and in the Overland Campaign he commanded the first troops to break through the Confederate defenses at Petersburg. After the war, he was involved in a number of engineering projects, including the Brooklyn Bridge and the completion of the Washington Monument, and served as Chief of Engineers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Wesley Merritt was an American major general who served in the cavalry of the United States Army during the American Civil War, American Indian Wars, and Spanish–American War. Following the latter war, he became the first American Military Governor of the Philippines.
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is a federal military cemetery in the city of San Diego, California. It is located on the grounds of the former Army coastal artillery station Fort Rosecrans and is administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The cemetery is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown San Diego, overlooking San Diego Bay and the city from one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Fort Rosecrans is named after William Starke Rosecrans, a Union general in the American Civil War. The cemetery was registered as California Historical Landmark #55 on December 6, 1932. The cemetery is spread out over 77.5 acres (31.4 ha) located on both sides of Catalina Blvd.
The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was composed of commissioned officers of the Regular or Volunteer Army, U.S. Navy, or U.S. Marine Corps who served during the American Civil War, or who had served and thereafter been commissioned and who thereby "had aided in maintaining the honor, integrity, and supremacy of the national movement" during the Civil War.
Samuel Davis Sturgis was a senior officer of the United States Army. A veteran of the Mexican War, Civil War, and Indian Wars, he attained the rank of brevet major general.
Thomas Howard Ruger was an American soldier and lawyer who served as a Union general in the American Civil War. After the war, he was a superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 154.7 acres (62.6 ha), and as of 2014, had over 144,000 interments. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Orlando Bolivar Willcox was an American soldier who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Thomas West Sherman was a United States Army officer with service during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. While some contemporaries mistakenly identified him as the brother of the more famous General William T. Sherman, modern scholarship notes that the two were not closely related.
The Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States (MOFW) is one of the oldest veterans' and hereditary associations in the nation with a membership that includes officers and their hereditary descendants from all of the Armed Services. Membership is composed of active duty, reserve and retired officers of the United States Armed Services, including the Coast Guard, National Guard, and allied officers, and their descendants, who have served during one of the wars in which the United States has or is engaged with a foreign power.
Kenner Garrard was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. A member of one of Ohio's most prominent military families, he performed well at the Battle of Gettysburg, and then led a cavalry division in the army of Major General William T. Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign. He developed a reputation for personal bravery and was cited for gallantry at the Battle of Nashville as an infantry division commander.
John Milton Brannan was a career United States Army artillery officer who served in the Mexican–American War and as a Union brigadier general of volunteers in the American Civil War, in command of the Department of Key West in Florida and assigned to Fort Zachary Taylor. Most notably, he served as a division commander of the Union XIV Corps at the Battle of Chickamauga.
Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington Jr. was an artillery officer and brigadier general in the United States Army and a veteran of both the American Civil War and Spanish–American War.
Henry Brewerton was a career engineering officer in the United States Army, serving as the superintendent of the United States Military Academy and then as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was nominated for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general in the Regular Army by President Andrew Johnson on December 11, 1866, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on February 23, 1867.
Thomas Gamble Pitcher was an American army officer who served as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1866 until 1870.
Harvey Brown was an American military officer who fought in the Black Hawk and Seminole Wars, the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. He was also in command of military forces in New York City and later assisted in putting down the New York Draft Riots in 1863. His son Harvey E. Brown, Jr. also had a prominent military career as a surgeon and later historian of the U.S. Army Medical Department.
Joseph Abel Haskin was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the Mexican–American War and American Civil War, he attained the rank of brigadier general.