The first section of the following material about Chattanooga's Confederate cemeteries is taken from: Zella Armstrong,The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga Tennessee. Vol. 1, Chattanooga: Lookout Publishing, 1931. UTC Library Call Nr.: F443 H19 A8 The second section of this material contains the "Watkin's List" of Confederate dead buried in the Confederate section of Chattanooga's Citizens' Cemetery. The list is sub-divided by individual states. The third section of this site contains a list of burials that took place after 1892. Section Four contains the names of the Confederate veterans buried in the White Oak Cemetery in Red Bank, Tennessee. Section Five of this document contains names of those identified in recent years as Confederate burials. Section Six of the document contains the names of soldiers recorded by Confederate nurse Kate Cumming. Photographs of June 2003 storm damage to the cemetery
		The Memorial Gate to Chattanooga's Confederate Cemetery from the 1912 publication Chattanooga and Her Battlefields . The publication was prepared for the Civil War veterans visiting Chattanooga in the years just after the dedication of the Chicamauga Battlefield as a national park)
	Just inside the cemetery gate in 2000 looking up toward the Memorial Oblesk and the Memorial Bandstand.

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The Confederate Cemetery

The Confederate Cemetery lies east of the Citizens' Cemetery [The historic cemetery gate is directly across Third Street from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Holt Hall]. The cemetery is the second resting place for many of the soldiers, who lie beneath its green lawns. Many bodies were first buried in low ground near the river. George L. Gillespie organized a committee, in 1867, for the purpose of selecting a suitable site, purchasing it and removing the bodies to it. The committee raised a fund and bought the present site from the Gardenhire estate for $750.

Surviving trustees of the property in 1909 were George L. Gillespie, James A. CaIdwell, and John C. Griffiss. Others, who served on the committees, were E. F. Sevier, R. L. Watkins, John MacMillan Armstrong, Dr. P. D. Sims, J. L. N. French, J W. Brown, and Dr. A. D. Taylor.

Funds for the purchase and for the work were obtained by a theatrical performance, for which Misses Mary Divine, Irene Sims, Mollie Dugger, and Eliza Dugger, sold tickets. E. F. Sevier was secretary and treasurer of the finance committee.

The graves were marked, originally, with small headboards, each with the name, the number, the military command and the death date of the soldier. R. L. Watkins, a member of the committee in charge of removing the bodies, made a list of the names, beginning with the number 142 and running through number 887.

[See Appendix, Note E, in Armstrong's History of Hamilton County for Col. Watkins' list -- Watkins list by states may be accessed by using the following "hot links" directly to a state list:

Alabama,
Arkansas,
Florida,
Georgia,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
North Carolina,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Texas,
No State Given.
Use this link to access a list of burials after the Watkins' list was completed.]

The graves are of soldiers who were wounded in the battle of Murfreesboro Dec.31, 1862, and Jan. I, 1863. Hundreds of wounded and dying men were rushed to the hospitals and private homes in Chattanooga. Everyone who had a home was asked to prepare for wounded guests as the hospitals could not care for all. Every one of the 887 names is that of a Confederate soldier wounded in the battle of Murfreesboro, who died in a Chattanooga home or hospital. The first number on Col. Watkins' list is 142 and the first date is Feb. I, 1863. There were 141 illegible names when Col. Watkins made his list. These were doubtless of men who died in January, 1863, and were buried in the section of the original cemetery which was nearest the Tennessee River and more frequently washed by it during "high water."

The 887 burials were made in four months; the last, No.887, is dated May 1, 1863. This was an average of more than six funerals a day and the facilities of the little village must have been severely taxed.

Under the circumstances it is remarkable that the record of deaths was so carefully preserved. One grave of the 887 is especially interesting. It is without a name but is marked:  "A Lady-A Nurse or Hospital Matron."

"A Lady-A Nurse or Hospital Matron."

Confederate soldiers, who died or were killed earlier than Jan. I, 1863, or later than May I, 1863, are not included in this list, and no complete list of their names has been preserved. One authority says that 2,500 soldiers are buried in the Confederate Cemetery. This allows for 1,754 more soldiers than are accounted for in the Watkins' list.Some names of soldiers who were buried in the cemetery later are known and these names will be found in the Appendix following the list of 887. In recent years some members of N. B. Forrest Camp, United Confederate Veterans have been buried in the cemetery and their names, also, will be found in the Appendix.

Mrs. J. B. Cooke, who worked faithfully for the Confederate cause and was a leader in the movement to preserve the cemetery and raise a monument to the dead, is buried beside her husband, a gallant Confederate soldier.Title in the Confederate Cemetery was vested in Mrs. John MacMillan Armstrong, Mrs. Joseph H. Warner and Mrs. James A. Caldwell, trustees representing the Memorial Association.

A Monumental Association was next organized to build a Confederate monument. The two organizations, the Monumental Association and the Memorial Association, were consolidated May 14, 1874, under the name "The Confederate Memorial Association."

Mrs. J. B. Cooke (Penelope McDermott) was the first president of the association, and she served until her death Dec.25, 1875. She was succeeded by Mrs. B. D. Lodor, who served until May, 1885, when Mrs. P. A. Brawner was elected president. In May, i886, Mrs. L. T. Dickinson become president. Secretaries of the association were Mrs. P. A. Brawner, Col. Tomlinson Fort, Mrs. W. G. Oehmig, Miss Mary Trigg, Miss Mary Cooke (now Mrs. W. B. Swaney), and Mrs. Louise G. Conner (Mrs. G. C. Conner).

The Monumental Association succeeded in raising $2,500 (a large sum for the period "just after the War"). The monument was designed by G. C. Conner, and it was dedicated May 10, 1877. The occasion was the first, in Chattanooga, which was marked by a display of fraternal feeling by the survivors of the armies. The dedicatory exercises were attended by veterans of the Federal Army as well as by the Confederates, and by all classes of people.

Federal veterans participated in the program. Troops from the United States Barracks also took part in the program.For many years the Confederate Memorial Association held annual services on Memorial Day, June 3, the birthday of President Jefferson Davis. After the organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy that association took over the cemetery work and the annual Memorial service. The Daughters built the stone wall which surrounds the cemetery and the artistic arch and gate, from a design by L. T. Dickinson (Armstrong 254-256).

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The most recent interment was on Saturday, April 21, 2001, when the remains of an unknown combatant from the Battle of Missionary Ridge were buried.

The Silverdale Cemetery

A memorial gate and stone wall mark the cemetery. The gate bears this inscription:

SILVERDALE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

1912 Description Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery

2002 Photographs of Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery

1912 Description Chattanooga National Cemetery

2001 Photographs of Chattanooga National Cemetery

U.S. Library of Congress American Memory

19th Century Newspapers on the World-Wide-Web

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