The following report of Brevet Major General J. L.
Donaldson, Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the
Tennessee, of the names of Union Soldiers interred in the
Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Stone's
River National Cemetery, Murfreesboro , Tenn.; Knoxville
National Cemetery, Knoxville, Tenn.; and Hazen's Brigade
Cemetery, Murfreesboro, Tenn, is published by the authority
of the Secretary of War for the information of surviving
comrades and friends.
M. C. MEIGS,
Quartermaster General,
Brevet Major General, U. S. A.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF
THE TENNESSEE,
Chief Quartermaster's Office,
NASHVILLE TENNESSEE, October 8, 1866.
GENERAL: I
have the honor to transmit herewith, for publication, lists
of Union Soldiers interred in the National Cemeteries of
Stone's River, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee, with a
preface, &c., by Brevet Major E. B. Whitman, A. Q. M., U. S.
V., in charge of teh mortuary records of the Department of
the Tennessee.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant.
J. L. DONALDSON,
Assistant Quartermaster General,
Brevet Major General, U. S. A.
Brevet Major General M. C. MEIGS,
Quartermaster General, U. S. Army,
Washington, D. C.
PREFACE
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OFFICE ASSISTANT
QUARTERMASTER
In charge of National Cemeteries and Mortuary Records,
DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE, October, 1, 1866
GENERAL:
I have the honor to forward herewith lists of Union Soldiers
interred in the National Cemeteries at Chattanooga, Stone's
River, and Knoxville, Tennessee, with a brief history of
each by the officers in charge of the respective cemeteries.
The completion of these cemeteries and the publication
of the record of the dead who have been transferred to them
offers a fit occasion for some statements in regard to the
collection and preparation of materials for a complete
general record of all the Union Soldiers who have died or
been buried in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, comprising this
Department.
The evils resulting from inexperience in the conduct of
the late war, manifest in all other departments, are just
beginning to develop themselves in the case of the records
of the dead, now oftentimes hopelessly lost, or past
correction.
Doubtless, in many instances, the mortuary records were
neglected or left incomplete from the influence of
circumstances beyond the control of the officer in charge;
but oftener from inexperience and want of forethought, and
sometimes, unquestionably, from culpable and inexcusable
neglect.
In several cases a large number of interments were made
by contractors, and the records and grave-marks were the
work of illiterate or careless employes. Frequently
the lists kept by hospital stewards and quartermasters'
clerks, intended to be correct, have been rendered of
comparatively little value from barbarous spelling and bad
or careless penmanship.
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Many burials have been made by troops on detached service or
on the march. The regimental returns alone will show any
official record of these; and the only source of information
within reach is to be found in the inscriptions or marks at
the grave itself sometimes a half-obliterated penciling upon
a rough board, or a rude carving upon a neighboring tree.
In preparing a list of all Union Soldiers who have died
or been buried within the limits of the Department, I shall
avail myself, as far as possible, of hospital and surgeons'
records; of quartermasters, contractors, and undertakers'
lists; of private memoranda kept by chaplains of regiments
and by agents of Sanitary and Christian Commissions; and
then of gleanings in the woods and by the wayside, in the
quiet country churchyard, on the battle-field, and wherever
the soldier has fallen and found a thoughtful comrade or the
friendly hand of a stranger to make the rude record; and, as
a final and sometimes sole resort, in the process of
disinterring the bodies for removal to National Cemeteries,
of the evidences of identity deposited in the grave itself.
Such records are now being collected, compared, and
corrected, and the whole classified according to their
respective States, and alphabetically arranged. To
secure any tolerable degree of accuracy, different records
often have to be carefully compared to discover
discrepancies, and correct errors; and when all is done that
persevering effort and diligence can effect, the list must
fall far short of the actual number.
The lists, when prepared, will show, as far as it is
possible to ascertain the facts from the sources within our
reach -
The lists, when prepared, with show, as far as it is
possible to ascertain the facts from the sources within our
reach -
1st. The name of the deceased soldier;
2d. His rank, company, regiment, and arm of service;
3d. The date of his death;
4th. The original place of interment;
5th. (When transferred to a National Cemetery,)
the section and number of the grave in which the remains are
deposited.
The records herewith presented contain:
First. - A list of the Union dead interred in
the United States National Cemetery at CHATTANOOGA,
Tennessee, to which they have been gathered from the
battle-fields in lower East Tennessee, from Northern Georgia
and Alabama, and from all stations and posts within a circle
of from 80 to 100 miles radius.
This cemetery contains the bodies of 7, 268 United
States soldiers known, and of 2,360 United States soldiers
unknown; of which 8,850 are white, and 778 colored.
This cemetery has been laid out and constructed under
the superintendence of Reverend Thomas B. Van Horne,
Chaplain, United States army.
Second. - The records of STONE'S RIVER National
Cemetery, near Murfreesboro', Tenn., which contains the dead
collected from that battle-field and the surrounding county.
This cemetery has been completed under the superintendence
of the Reverend Wm. Earnshaw, Chaplain, United States
army. It contains the remains of 3,272 United States
soldiers known, and of 1,374 unknown; of which 4,561 are
white, and 85 colored.
Third. - Records of the dead interred in the
United States National Cemetery at KNOXVILLE, Tennessee.
This cemetery was originally laid out under the direction of
General Burnside, by Lieutenant (afterwards Captain)
H. S. Chamberlain, A. Q. M., and was for a long time
under his charge. It is believed to be the only
burial-ground of Union soldiers in this Department
originally laid out and conducted to the present time in a
number and on a system that render it suitable to be
converted into a National Cemetery without material
alteration or change, or the removal of a single body.
That this cemetery was laid out and commenced in a
country subject to all the vicissitudes of actual warfare,
and at a most gloomy and distracted period of military
affairs in East Tennessee, and that it was continued with
system under such adverse circumstances, reflects great
credit upon the officers in charge.
This cemetery contains 1,894 bodies, comprising those
who fell at the siege of Knoxville and all that died during
the sad and fatal winter that succeeded, and subsequently
during the military occupation of that city. Under the
direction of Brevet Major W. A. Wainwright, A. Q. M.,
most of the Union dead scattered thtourh upper East
Tennessee have also been collected into these grounds.
Fourth. - The small cemetery or burial ground of
HAZEN'S BRIGADE, located on the battle-field of Stone's
River, about one-fourth of a mile east of the National
Cemetery. It occupies a space of 40 x 100 feet, and is
enclosed by a substantial stone wall, laid in cement.
The graves are grouped around a monument of hewn limestone,
hearing appropriate inscriptions. - (See Appendix.)
The whole work was constructed at the expense of the
surviving members of the brigade, and dedicated to the
memory of its soldiers who fell upon the spot. It has
been thought proper to transfer to this enclosure all others
of this brigade found in the surrounding country, instead of
reinterring them in the larger cemetery. It contains
the graves of 31 soldiers originally interred there, and of
24 removed from other places.
In the case of all these cemeteries, additions will,
from time to time, he made as the locality of other graves
is discovered which at present have escaped notice.
It is not claimed that the records herewith published
are strictly accurate in every particular, or even as nearly
so as it is hoped may be the case in future as the work
becomes better understood and reduced to a more uniform
system.
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The
records, as kept by the superintendents of these cemeteries,
have been referred to this office for comparison with other
records and final arrangement.
The aggregate lists of names of persons unknown have
been furnished from records on file; and the whole is now
offered with the confidence that it is as nearly correct as
could be expected under the circumstances.
Similar catalogues of other cemeteries will be
furnished as the cemeteries are completed; and, in teh end,
a complete and consolidated general record in proper form
for deposit in the national archives at Washington.
I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. B. WHITMAN,
Brevet Major and Ass't Qr. Mr.
Brevet Major General J. L.
DONALDSON,
Chief Quartermaster,
Dep't of the Tennessee.
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