History Commons^™

"Fame's Eternal Camping Ground": Louisiana And Virginia Civil War Cemeteries, Leanna Deveres Smith

LSU Master's Theses

The Civil War in the United States was the deadliest conflict faced by Americans during the nineteenth century. The resulting numbers of dead bodies called for a change in both cemetery planning and traditional cemetery use. The Union created what became the National Cemetery System, consisting of standardized, nearly identical cemeteries created throughout the South both during and immediately after the war. This system, controlled by the federal government, sought to honor the loyalty of the Union dead while simultaneously dishonoring the Confederate dead, who could not be buried in national cemeteries. In contrast, southerners formed local organizations, primarily made …