Cemetery Railroad Station, Stones River National Battlefield

  • Title: Cemetery Railroad Station, Stones River National Battlefield
  • Date: ca. 1870
  • Description: A rural landscape contains railroad tracks, telegraph poles, and a small depot with a "Cemetery" sign. Another sign pointing to McFadden's Ford is at right.
  • Historical Note: Soon after the Civil War, the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad established a station stop at Stones River National Cemetery, begun in 1865 on the former battlefield land to hold the remains of over 6000 Union casualties. United States Colored Troops, many from the 111th Regiment, were assigned to collect bodies from the surrounding region, transport them by railroad whenever possible, and reinter them in neat rows under the supervision of Chaplain Earnshaw. By providing direct access to the cemetery at Stones River, the N&C was one of the first railroads to facilitate commemorative pilgrimages to Civil War cemetery and battlefield locations in the ensuing decades.
  • Institution: Stones River National Battlefield
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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