Today, more than 6,100 Union soldiers are buried in Stones River National Cemetery. Of these, 2,562 are unknown. Nearly 1,000 veterans, and some family members, who served in the century since the Civil War are also interred there.
The federal government established Stones River National Cemetery by means of an order issued by Major General George H. Thomas to Brigadier General Horatio Van Cleve on March 29, 1864. Assistant Quartermaster Captain John Means selected the site, designed the layout of the cemetery, and initiated the construction.
Chaplain William Earnshaw supervised most of the work of creating the cemetery. During 1865 and 1866, the 111th Regiment United States Colored Troops performed the arduous and gruesome labor of disinterring and then reburying Union soldiers’ remains in Stones River National Cemetery. Earnshaw reports that he oversaw the process of disinterring the bodies of Union soldiers from various locations such as Stones River battlefield, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, and Cowan, within approximately ninety miles of the cemetery. Most of the work of reburying remains in the cemetery was completed by 1867.
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Key Facts
- In 1865 and 1866, the 111th Regiment United States Colored Troops performed the arduous and gruesome labor of disinterring and reburying Union soldiers’ remains here.
