Histopolis Place-of-the-Day

Histopolis features a different cemetery, town, county or other place every day on the Place-of-The-Day.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Histopolis Place-of-the-Day for Saturday, December 4, 2010 is the Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, Salisbury Township, Rowan County, North Carolina.

"Salisbury National Cemetery was established by Confederate authorities to serve as the burial ground for captured Union soldiers incarcerated at the prison in Salisbury. The practice of prisoner exchange kept the prison populations down until 1864, after which their populations swelled. In the fall of 1864, the number of soldiers at Salisbury prison doubled from 5,000 to 10,000. It suffered from one of the highest prison death rates, with as many as half the men dying of starvation or disease.

"Recent historical research has led to a disparity over how many men are believed to have died during the last year or so of the war and are buried at the cemetery. The dead were buried in 18 trenches measuring about 240 feet long, located at the southeast end of the cemetery. Colonel Oscar A. Mack, the inspector of cemeteries, said in his report of 1870-71, "The bodies were placed one above the other, and mostly without coffins. From the number of bodies exhumed from a given space it was estimated that the number buried in these trenches was 11,700. The number of burials from the prison pen cannot be accurately known." The figure of 11,700 was accepted for many years, however, it is probably lower and it is doubtful we will ever know exactly how many unknown remains are there.

"After the war this was designated Salisbury National Cemetery, and another 412 remains were relocated here from Lexington, Charlotte, Morgantown, and other places. The cemetery was dedicated in 1874, a wall was built around the perimeter the following year, and by 1876 the headstones and a monument were in place. Salisbury National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999."

Explore Salisbury National Cemetery on Histopolis now. If you have a place that you would like to see featured as the Histopolis Place-of-the-Day, contact the webmaster to suggest it.

December 2010

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Note: The first Place-of-the-Day was in September 2010