Salisbury National Cemetery

Salisbury National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Salisbury, in Rowan County, North Carolina. It encompasses 63.5 acres, and as of the end of 2005, had 20,970 interments.

History

Salisbury National Cemetery was established by the Confederacy as a place to inter Union prisoners of war who died while held in Salisbury. The conditions at the prison were poor, and many of those incarcerated there succumbed to disease or starvation. Many of the dead were buried in eighteen 240 foot long trench graves without coffins, so it is unknown exactly how many prisoners were buried there, but the accepted figure is 11,700. After the American Civil War, it officially became a National Cemetery and had remains from other cemeteries around the area transferred to it.

Salisbury National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Notable monuments

*A 25-foot high granite monument topped by a statue of a soldier, erected in 1908 by the state of Maine.
*The Federal Monument to the Unknown Dead, a 50' tall granite obelisk erected in 1876.
*The Pennsylvania Monument, a 40' high monument on a granite base, erected in 1909.

Notable interments

*Private First Class Marshall Sharp, Buffalo soldier.

See also

*United States Department of Veterans Affairs
*United States National Cemetery

External links

* [http://www.cem.va.gov/ National Cemetery Administration]
* [http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/salisbury.asp Salisbury National Cemetery]