Groveton Confederate Cemetery (Manassas, VA)

:CSA1stNat: Located on the Manassas National Battlefield, this cemetery contains the remains of Confederate soldiers from the First and Second Battles of Manassas.

LANDMARK DETAILS
  • Battlefield: Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
  • Location: Lee Highway, U.S. 29, east of Groveton Road / Featherbed Lane
  • Map Coordinates: +38° 48' 50", -77° 32' 45"
  • Established: 1867
  • Number of Burials: 266 Confederate soldiers
    • Known: 2
    • Unknown: 264
  • Current Owner: National Park Service (Acquired in 1973)
  • Admission: Free and open to the general public
HISTORY OF GROVETON CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

During the 1st and 2nd Battles of Manassas, heavy fire often kept either side from claiming their dead, and after both battles the armies had to maneuver quickly. Some of the wounded lay for days in the blistering sun.

Neither side had anticipated the war's cost in blood. After the fighting at Manassas, burial details dug shallow graves where soldiers had fallen. There was little time for ceremony. Crude wooden headboards sometimes noted the soldier's name and regiment. Many went to their graves anonymously. The process took weeks. Autumn rains soon washed away the thin cover of soil, exposing the remains.

The Bull Run and Groveton Ladies' Memorial Association, established in 1867, launched a campaign to recover Confederate dead from the battlefield. The organization established this cemetery and orchestrated the re-interment of an estimated 500 soldiers. Few could be identified and only two graves have individual headstones.

Many of the Union dead were reburied in Arlington National Cemetery.

Of the 266 soldiers buried here, only two are fully identified.

KNOWN BURIALS
  • James Jerman Palmer
  • William Goodwyn Rilley

MONUMENT TEXT
Erected by the Bull Run Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and dedicated on August 31, 1904, the memorial is dedicated to memory of the Confederate soldiers whom gave their lives at the Second Battle of Manassas, August 28 to 30, 1862.
(Translation to Latin Text at top of monument: "It is right and proper to die for one’s country.")

(south face)
DULCE ET DECORUM
EST PRO PATRIA MORI.


ERECTED
BY THE
UNITED DAUGHTERS
OF THE
CONFEDERACY
TO THE

CONFEDERATE
DEAD


WE CARE NOT WHENCE THEY CAME,
DEAR IN THEIR LIFELESS CLAY!
WHETHER UNKNOWN OR KNOWN TO FAME,
THEIR CAUSE AND COUNTRY STILL THE SAME.
THEY DIED—AND WORE THE GRAY.​


(A stanza from the poem “March of the Deathless Dead” by Father Abram J. Ryan, Confederate Army Chaplain.)

(east face)
They sleep well
in their unknown
graves on this
far-away
battle field.​
(north face)
They gave their lives
in defense of their
country on the fields
of the First and
Second Manassas.​
(west face)
But for them the
counting of time
is not: for they
dwell in the
City of God.​
LOCATION MAP




ADDITIONAL PHOTOS


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New iron fence surrounding the cemetery, ca. 1902, NPS Photo

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The Morning Post, 31 Aug 1904, Wed, Page 2

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The Washington Post, 31 Aug 1904, Wed, Page 4

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The New York Times, 31 Aug 1904, Wed, Page 7

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The Groveton Confederate Cemetery, ca. 1930, NPS Photo


RELATED LINKS
 
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