Third-Smallest U.S. Military Cemetery

[Mike Buckley]

Each year for Christmas and the New Year, the "Wreaths Across America" program installs wreaths at certain U.S. military cemeteries. That's what attracted me to the Ball's Bluff National Cemetery located two miles outside Leesburg, Virginia within walking distance of the Potomac River. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a decent photo that included the wreaths that were placed in the middle of this extremely small cemetery.

The graves are of Union soldiers that died in the Battle of Ball's Bluff in the American Civil War. One of the soldiers that was wounded and lived is Oliver Wendell Holmes, who later became one of the most famous justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

I was surprised that such a simple cemetery has such an ornate emblem on its gate.




Though 54 soldiers are buried here, there are only 25 grave sites and only one of the deceased is identified. The first image shown below is of marker #22. The image that follows is of the only identified grave.







I have been to several U.S. military and civilian cemeteries and have never before seen markers arranged as here. The 25 markers are arranged in a curve that comprises about two-thirds of a circle.




A short brick wall shown in the above photos surrounds the cemetery and a tall flag pole is positioned in the center.

[Wavelength]

My Tribute; the gate image is very nice; i wonder how in a civil war 53 men remained unrecognized and only one was recognized!!!!

Regards

[Bobobird]

Nice set Mike.

Probably the whole company got wiped out and whoever buried them had no one to ask, or possibly the dead were found much later. That is what history is about - there are always these tiny little pockets of missing info.

The beautiful emblem - ahhhh the days when people took pride in their work and hoped it lasts forever. Now? They hope it breaks quicky so there is return business.

Oh, forgot to ask - where is the "smallest" ?

[IzzieK]

Beautiful Mike...I like your interpretation of the only identified soldier in that lot. The sharpness is so perfect on those flowers...The whole series made me reached out for my tissue box. They were the ones who fought for our freedom so we can build snowmen in our front yard and have a barbeque party at the back of our houses each year. They gave their lives to us. Nowadays, I wonder where our country is going to...I'll go down my soapbox now and go back to bed. I spend too much time in CiC...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

The smallest one is the Hampton Virginia National Cemetery. It has only 22 graves arranged in three rows. To put that in perspective, there are eight military cemeteries with over 100,000 grave sites. Arlington National Cemetery is not one of them. For that and other interesting information, see http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/docs/factsheets/facts.pdf. Keep in mind that many of the cemeteries allow interment of military personnel who died after they had left the military and also allow spouses of those personnel to be buried there.

When I think of the American Civil War, the number of deaths is astounding. According to the Civil War Trust, two estimates place that at 620,000 or 850,000 and the larger number is greater than the number of Americans died in all foreign wars combined. The census conducted one year before the Civil War began indicates about 31 million citizens and slaves in the U.S. The Census Bureau indicated that 2013 began with about 315 million citizens. If the same percentage of Americans died in a war today as died in the Civil War, that number would be more than 2 million deaths and perhaps more than 3 million.

[Mike Buckley]

Bobo,

I wonder if the emblem on the gate is probably not as old as you think. The gate and presumably the emblem were restored in 1996 by a local affiliate of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans.

[AndrewMcD]

My Tribute; the gate image is very nice; i wonder how in a civil war 53 men remained unrecognized and only one was recognized!!!!

Regards

The chaos of warfare.


Beautifully sharp photos that ring true to that feeling of "hallowed ground" that I have when visiting such places. Nice work.

[Mike Buckley]

Yikes! I just now realized that the emblem on the gate refers to the number of people interned there. A cemetery is a place of interment, not internment.

[kdoc856]

Thanks for sharing these, Mike.

I share Nandakumar's curiosity that such a small, tightly circumscribed battle that received a lot of press attention did not lend itself to better identification of casualties. I wonder if it's another reflection of how poorly organized and prepared the government was so early in the war, still operating under the terrible naivete that this war wouldn't last till Christmas.