Over 700 unmarked Confederate graves were likely just found/identified in Richmond, Virginia
MAJOR NEWS! Over 700 unmarked Confederate graves were likely just found/identified here on this inaccessible city property that serves as a natural gas booster and storage facility in Richmond, Virginia. Here's a video I took of the cemetery site March 2023. (links to news articles are below and in the comment section).
The only marker is a stone marker placed there in 1939 by the UDC that honors the "more than 100 Confederate solders" buried there. Nobody suspected so many more graves there! Most of the records of the burials had been lost and any trace of grave markers dissapeared perhaps over a century ago.
News Links: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hundreds-of-confederate-soldiers-others-likely-buried-under-city-property-in-richmond-s-manchester/ar-AA1FO25w?ocid=BingNewsSerp
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/virginia-capital-likely-has-742-unmarked-graves-some-of-confederate-soldiers-study-finds/ar-AA1FOlwj?ocid=BingNewsSerp
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond officials have identified more than 700 potential, unmarked graves beneath a city-owned property in Manchester, with many of the interments believed to be Confederate soldiers — and a new report states there may be even more graves left to be found.
The stone marker was placed there in 1939 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It honors more than 100 Confederate soldiers from South Carolina who died in a wartime hospital across the street.
The land was originally in the former Richmond suburb of Manchester, which was later encompassed by the city. Manchester bought the land in 1857, possibly for a cemetery, four years before the Civil War started in 1861.
The city bought the property in 1930. It now serves as a natural gas booster and storage facility.
However, the vendor noted that this survey, while “comprehensive,” is “not likely [to] represent all potential graves within the gridded survey area.”
The vendor added that it appears many people were buried on top of one another, which is “a common occurrence in burial grounds used over a long period or intensively.”
The people buried here are thought to be Confederate soldiers who died in area military hospitals during the Civil War, as well as private citizens. The soldiers are believed to have been buried there between 1861 and 1862.
“Although research of period appropriate maps and documentation provides some measure of evidence that the site was used as a burial ground for Confederate soldiers, there are no definitive records of wartime burials or postwar removals,” the city said in a press release. “In the absence of conclusive information, the City chose to commission a study of the site to confirm the presence or absence of burial remains.”
In the release, Richmond officials said a plan is being developed to allow visitation at the site — both for genealogical researchers, as well as those who want to visit loved ones believed to be buried there.
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#richmondva #cemetery #south #dixie #southern #csa
The only marker is a stone marker placed there in 1939 by the UDC that honors the "more than 100 Confederate solders" buried there. Nobody suspected so many more graves there! Most of the records of the burials had been lost and any trace of grave markers dissapeared perhaps over a century ago.
News Links: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hundreds-of-confederate-soldiers-others-likely-buried-under-city-property-in-richmond-s-manchester/ar-AA1FO25w?ocid=BingNewsSerp
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/virginia-capital-likely-has-742-unmarked-graves-some-of-confederate-soldiers-study-finds/ar-AA1FOlwj?ocid=BingNewsSerp
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond officials have identified more than 700 potential, unmarked graves beneath a city-owned property in Manchester, with many of the interments believed to be Confederate soldiers — and a new report states there may be even more graves left to be found.
The stone marker was placed there in 1939 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It honors more than 100 Confederate soldiers from South Carolina who died in a wartime hospital across the street.
The land was originally in the former Richmond suburb of Manchester, which was later encompassed by the city. Manchester bought the land in 1857, possibly for a cemetery, four years before the Civil War started in 1861.
The city bought the property in 1930. It now serves as a natural gas booster and storage facility.
However, the vendor noted that this survey, while “comprehensive,” is “not likely [to] represent all potential graves within the gridded survey area.”
The vendor added that it appears many people were buried on top of one another, which is “a common occurrence in burial grounds used over a long period or intensively.”
The people buried here are thought to be Confederate soldiers who died in area military hospitals during the Civil War, as well as private citizens. The soldiers are believed to have been buried there between 1861 and 1862.
“Although research of period appropriate maps and documentation provides some measure of evidence that the site was used as a burial ground for Confederate soldiers, there are no definitive records of wartime burials or postwar removals,” the city said in a press release. “In the absence of conclusive information, the City chose to commission a study of the site to confirm the presence or absence of burial remains.”
In the release, Richmond officials said a plan is being developed to allow visitation at the site — both for genealogical researchers, as well as those who want to visit loved ones believed to be buried there.
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#richmondva #cemetery #south #dixie #southern #csa
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