VA Hollywood Cemetery Superintendent

DaveBrt

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Location
Charlotte, NC
From the Quartermaster General's Letters Outgoing Letterbook:

Richmond 15 July 1862

Capt Charles Morris
AQM Richmond Va

Sir,
I have received your letter of the 11th inst, representing the largely increased duties of the Superintendent of Hollywood Cemetery, asserting from the burial of soldiers and inquiring if additional compensation can be allowed to him by the Government.
It is proper that the Superintendent be paid for the extra services performed by him, for the Government, and you are authorized to bear him upon your returns as an employee of the QM Department, at a compensation of Fifty dollars ($50) per month, until further ordered.
A C Myers
Q M Genl
 
From the Quartermaster General's Letters Outgoing Letterbook:

Richmond 15 July 1862

Capt Charles Morris
AQM Richmond Va

Sir,
I have received your letter of the 11th inst, representing the largely increased duties of the Superintendent of Hollywood Cemetery, asserting from the burial of soldiers and inquiring if additional compensation can be allowed to him by the Government.
It is proper that the Superintendent be paid for the extra services performed by him, for the Government, and you are authorized to bear him upon your returns as an employee of the QM Department, at a compensation of Fifty dollars ($50) per month, until further ordered.
A C Myers
Q M Genl

Interesting. Out here the rate for digging a grave at that time was $2.00 so, if the rate in Richmond was similar, he was getting compensated for digging some 25 graves a month.
 
I'm sure he was. However, just because they were free labor to him (or another owner) doesn't mean he didn't charge for their labor. Lots of slaves were rented to work at Tredegar, for instance.
True, but he probably did not pay them out of his personal money. The cemetery probably hired the slaves a year at time, with the Superintendent as the person who hired and supervised them.
 
True, but he probably did not pay them out of his personal money. The cemetery probably hired the slaves a year at time, with the Superintendent as the person who hired and supervised them.

Exactly. He then charged the government to compensate him for what he paid to rent the slaves.
 
The charge for an adult burial at Hollywood Cemetery was $4 at the beginning of the war. Due to wartime inflation this increased in 1864 to $20.

Period news accounts in Richmond give reference to the grave diggers going on strike due to being overworked. "Black workers briefly replaced them"... "The white laborers returned to physically wrestle back their jobs".
 
The charge for an adult burial at Hollywood Cemetery was $4 at the beginning of the war. Due to wartime inflation this increased in 1864 to $20.

Period news accounts in Richmond give reference to the grave diggers going on strike due to being overworked. "Black workers briefly replaced them"... "The white laborers returned to physically wrestle back their jobs".

Very interesting. Do you know if the $4 was for the plot and digging the grave ? Out here, the charge for the plot was $5 but there was an additional $2 to dig the grave. A coffin was an additional expense as was a hurse and a minister.
 
Very interesting. Do you know if the $4 was for the plot and digging the grave ? Out here, the charge for the plot was $5 but there was an additional $2 to dig the grave. A coffin was an additional expense as was a hearse and a minister.

The accounts only indicated $4 for an adult ($2 for child) for burial. It appeared to imply it was for both the plot and the internment. Undertakers in the city usually took care of the other items, for the civilian population at least.
 
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