With the onset of the Civil War in April 1861, 700,000 soldiers would die on both sides in the next four years. It was not until 11 September before the War Department began to have commanding officers keep records of deceased soldiers. At the same time, the Quartermaster General became responsible for tending to the needs of soldiers in death. Each grave marked with a headboard. Not long after, the graves gained numbers on the headboards and recorded in a register.
NATIONAL CEMETERIES
The US National Cemetery System began on 17 July 1862. Included in an Omnibus Act dealing with several different military matters, the authority granted to the president to purchase land for use as “a national cemetery for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.” By the end of the year, grounds for fourteen such cemeteries saw beginnings.
Only with the end of the war did the real task of building the cemeteries begin. Soldiers lay buried in numerous cemeteries scattered over the countryside. They also lay in mass graves, identities unknown. Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs led the move to find as many of the Union dead to reinter them in new national cemeteries. Sites for the cemeteries, like the earlier cemeteries, gained inclusion in areas where troops found themselves earlier concentrated – battlefields, hospitals, training camps, rail hubs. The system quickly grew so that by 1872, seventy-four national cemeteries contained 305,492 remains with around 45% whose identities remained unknown.
1873 saw burial eligibility expanded from those dying in the Civil War to all honorably discharged Union veterans. Permanent walls were built to surround the cemeteries, grave markers were standardized with upright marble headstones for those whose identity was known and 6-inch square blocks for those unknown.
CHATTANOOGA NATIONAL CEMETERY
By Christmas Day 1863, the battles immediately around Chattanooga ended. More campaigns certainly came later, but the time Major General George H. Thomas believed came to establish a national cemetery. He selected a site near where Union troops began their assault on Missionary Ridge one month earlier, a battle which ended the fighting around the city. The site included 75 acres with a hill rising in the middle. Lookout Mountain lie in one direction and Missionary Ridge in the other.
Chaplain Thomas B. Van Horne developed the cemetery. He was responsible for landscaping and arranging internment sections. He asked General Thomas if the graves should sort burials by state. In a famous quote, Thomas replied, “Mix ‘em up. Mix ‘em up. I’m tired of states’ rights.”
BODY CONCENTRATION
Like most national cemeteries from the Civil War, graves came from several locations and the same is true here at Chattanooga. There were 1,657 Union soldiers who lost their lives during the battle of Chickamauga. Most of those dead lay buried in unmarked mass graves. In the days after a battle, the victorious army usually concentrated on reorganizing for the next battle or campaign. They were responsible for burying their own and the enemy dead. Enemy graves were usually not as deep as their own. Often, local hogs would uncover the shallow graves as they wandered about the fields and forests. Some visitors would see bones and decayed uniforms strewn about, concluding that the dead never gained a burial.
An exception to the rule in post-battle burials was for ranking individuals who were treated a bit differently. William Lytle, a brigade commander from Cincinnati and well-regarded prewar poet, fell on 20 September 1863. With his body identified, the Confederates placed a guard around him. His body eventually returned back to his hometown for burial at Spring Grove Cemetery.
Panorama from central flagpole at Chattanooga National Cemetery.
Missionary Ridge to the left and Lookout Mountain on the right.
With the war over, men from the US Colored Troops and private contractors reinterred men from sites around Chattanooga, including Chickamauga, to the new national cemetery, officially dedicated in 1867. Families would also come to the fields in search of lost loved ones. By 1870, more than 12,800 laid at rest at the national cemetery – 8,685 whose identities were known. Of the 4,189 unknowns many were from the Chickamauga battlefields.
BEYOND THE CIVIL WAR
As a national cemetery, many more have added in the years since 1870. Included among the many, 78 German prisoners of war from Worl War 1 lay here. The remains of 23 POWs came over from the Hot Springs National Cemetery in Arkansas. The German government erected a memorial to the men in 1935. From World War 2, more POWs lay buried – 108 including 105 German, 1 French, 1 Italian and 1 Pole. It is the only national cemetery to hold POWs from both wars.
ANDREWS’ RAIDERS MONUMENT
Several monuments rise from the grounds of the cemetery. The most unique is the Andrews’ Raiders Monument. Dating to 1890, the monument – dedicated by the State of Ohio – remembers Federal spy James J. Andrew and 24 of his men who went out on a mission to cut rail and telegraph lines deep within Confederate territory.
They boarded “The General”, a wood-burning train on 12 April 1862 in Marietta, Georgia while the passengers and conductor were eating breakfast. In the engine, the raiders drove north cutting telegraph lines and ripping up rails as they went. The conductor and others gave chase commandeering two other trains as they reached broken tracks.
Eventually reaching Ringgold – 80 miles northwest of Marietta, the raiders left the train behind, scattering to escape. Andrews was caught and hanged in Atlanta. Along with eight others, Andrews lies buried in Section H of the cemetery near the entrance.
Four of the raiders received the Medal of Honor, though, Andrews, himself, being a civilian, was ineligible. The monument consists of a granite pedestal with a bronze replica of “The General” on top.
OTHER MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS AT CHATTANOOGA
Four other Medal of Honor recipients lie here at the cemetery besides the four Raiders. Technical Sergeant Charles Coolidge first saw action with the 36th Division in North Africa and Italy. In France, 24-27 October 1944, he led a machine gun section repulsing several German attacks upon his battalion at the risk of his own life. A Chattanooga native, Coolidge returned after the war living until 2021.
Master Sergeant Ray Duke received a posthumous Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery shown in Korea in 1951 trying to single-handedly stop a wave of attackers.
Corporal Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector serving as a medic in the Pacific. He is credited with saving 75 comrades at Okinawa in 1945 despite being severely wounded. He died in 2006 after respiratory complications from a long bout with tuberculosis.
Private William Zion earned his Medal of Honor serving in the Marine Corps during the Boxer Rebellion. He went on to join the Army gaining the rank of First Lieutenant guarding German POWs at nearby Fort Ogelthorpe. Zion died in 1919 from an accident while cleaning his weapon.
GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT
As time has gone by, the numbers of post-Civil War men and women far outnumber the Federal dead. The cemetery is slowly filling up. Several sections became built around outcroppings of limestone. There is enough room for more veterans until 2045 according to the cemetery. Plans for a new cemetery are going forward with land purchased about 20 miles towards Knoxville.
Like many of the older national cemeteries, private headstones appear popping up here and there in the older sections. Families are responsible for the upkeep of such memorials in perpetuity. Most national cemeteries do not allow private headstones anymore, citing problems with space and extra upkeep of the grounds around such memorials. Private headstones were allowed in cemeteries like Arlington until 1947. Three such headstones caught my eye here at Chattanooga.
LOVEMAN NOA
Loveman Noa grew up in Chattanooga before attending the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. A member of the Class of 1900. Before 1912, midshipmen were not commissioned as officers in the Navy or Marines until after serving for two years with the fleet out of school. Noa served aboard the gunboat Mariveles. On a mission – 26 October 1901 – to prevent smuggling, Noa lead a small boat with six crewmen off the little island of Nipa Nipa near Samar. Once ashore, Noa was attacked. Losing his revolver, natives stabbed stabbed five times. He died before aid could reach him.
Buried first at an American cemetery at Catbalogan, Samar, his family requested the return of his body for burial in Chattanooga. His remains were back in Tennessee for burial in late February 1902, attended by 1,000 locals. Two destroyers have subsequently been named after him.
The second, USS Noa DD 841, was the ship recovering the space capsule of John Glenn in 1962. A plaque commissioned by his classmates remember Noa in front of the Memorial Hall at Annapolis.
JOSEPH TAFT
Joseph B. Taft was slightly older than Noa’s 23 years of age when he died leading the men of the 73rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Missionary Ridge. Taft was 25 at the time of his death. He mustered into the Civil War as a major with the 143rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment 8 October 1862. After campaigning in the Carolinas in 1863, the regiment became part of the 11th Army Corps – Taft was now a lieutenant colonel – with the Army of the Potomac. That corps transferred out west to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland following the Union defeat at Chickamauga.
The men of the 143rd took an active role in the battles fought by the 11th Corps during the Chattanooga campaign. The 73rd Pennsylvania was without all its field officers and Taft was temporarily assigned to lead the 73rd. In action on Tunnel Hill on the north end of Missionary Ridge, the men made some progress before Taft suffered a mortal wound. Out of ammunition, many of the men of the 73rd ended up captured in a Confederate counterattack which was able to flank and surround many of the men – only 25 men got away.
TIMOTHY STANLEY
Timothy Robbins Stanley served as the original colonel of the 18th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Born in Connecticut, the family moved to Ohio when he was five. He became a lawyer, politician and banker serving in the Ohio legislature as a representative in 1846t and then as a state senator in 1860. With the onset of the Civil War, he organized the 18th Ohio first as a three-month regiment and then as a three-year unit. Commissioned as a colonel, he led the 18th before getting bumped up to brigade command.
On the first day of Stones River, his brigade was roughly handled on 31 December, but they rebounded to take part in the river crossing counterattack after the artillery repulse of Confederate General Breckinridge’s division on 2 January 1863. His brigade was part of General James S. Negley’s division. At Chickamauga, his brigade figured in early support for Thomas’ left in the late morning fighting on 30 September 1863. With the collapse of the Federal center around noon, Stanley’s brigade moved to Hill one of Horseshoe Ridge where they helped staunch the Confederate assault though at great cost. One of those casualties was Stanley. He was shot in the shoulder just as he set about his men on the ridge.
NEW BEGINNING IN CHATTANOOGA POST-WAR
The brigade was broken up after the battle because of its losses. Stanley became associated with the engineering brigade in Chattanooga. He helped gather together some fifty pontoons together, floating then downriver at night in the attack on Brown’s Ferry opening up the “cracker line” which solved supply problems for Federal forces tied up in Chattanooga. Stanley rode in the foremost boat.
He mustered out with the 18th Ohio when their three-year tour was up in November 1864. In recognition of his service, Stanley was awarded a promotion to brevet brigadier general. After the war, Stanley stayed in Chattanooga established a law firm and serving as a vice president for the First National Bank of Chattanooga.
WILLIAM SANDERS
Another Civil War general is buried here, General William P. Sanders, the only southern-born Federal officer killed in the war. Sanders was a cousin of Jefferson Davis. William was not a great student at West Point – class of 1856. Superintendent Robert E. Lee tried to get him dismissed, but with his cousin’s help – then Secretary of War – Sanders graduated.
Unlike his cousin, Sanders remained loyal to the Union and as a captain, he served with the 6th US Cavalry – formerly known as the 2nd US Dragoons – in the Peninsula Campaign and at Antietam. Shifting to the west, he became the colonel of the 5th Kentucky Cavalry 4 March 1864.
Serving under Ambrose Burnside, Sanders was given a command of a brigade and then a division of cavalry in the Army of the Ohio. During the November 1863 Knoxville campaign, he was mortally wounded 18 November buying time fighting a mile in front of the city. His remains were later removed here to Chattanooga.
FOURTH ARMY CORPS
The Fourth Army Corps erected a granite obelisk between Sections C and F to honor their fallen comrades. Created 10 October 1863 from the remains of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Corps after those two corps suffered heavy casualties during Chickamauga. The Fourth was commanded by Gordon Granger for the first eight months with three divisions commanded by Philip Sheridan, Charles Cruft and Thomas Wood. This corps was responsible for much of the success garnered by the Federal army on Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Chattanooga. The Fourth Corps was left behind by William Sherman after the fall of Atlanta. They would go on to play a prominent role in destroying what was left of John Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee when he decided to have one more go at central Tennessee at the end of 1864.
THE ARCH
Near the western corner of the cemetery stands a 35-foot-tall granite arch. The arch, erected in 1880, is one of five such monumental arches which served as the formal cemetery entrance here; Marietta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Arlington, Virginia.
CONFEDERATE DEAD
Chattanooga featured a cemetery for Confederate dead already established before the city was occupied by Federal troops in early September 1863. Many of the soldiers died in a nearby hospital. Many died of their wounds after the New Years Day battle at Stones River. Other bodies came to the cemetery as they became uncovered as Chattanooga expanded in the post-war years. Confederate soldiers could rest in national cemeteries only if they died as prisoners of war in the North.