In the G.A.R lot of Hope Cemetery a marker explains the role of Worcester during the Civil War.
The marker is inscribed:
CIVIL WAR BURIALS AND THE G.A.R. LOT
Worcester,a city of fewer than 25,000 people in 1860,gave to the war the services of 4,227 men, more than one in eight of its citizens.
After the war, to honor their sacrifice and to advocate for veterans' welfare, Union veterans organized the Grand Army of the Republic in a spirit of "fraternity, loyalty and charity." In1868 the G.A.R. established Decoration Day, now called Memorial Day, as a special observance of those who had fallen in the war. Worcester's Local Post #10 was organized in 1867 and had over 900 members by 1870. The G.A.R. procured two lots in Hope Cemetery and reserved them for burial of Civil War veterans who were active members of that Post.
The impressive tripod of gigantic cannons and pyramid of cannon balls were acquired from the Charlestown Navy Yard as a memorial to "stand as a symbol of the horrors of war."
There are over 1,400 Civil War veterans buried in Hope Cemetery, some here and others elsewhere on the grounds, including members of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, who suffered the most casualties at Antietam. Among the interments are members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first African-American regiment to serve for the Union, two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and Colonel A.B.R. Sprague, leader of the 25th Regiment.
Among the burials in the second G.A.R. setion, to your right and across the street, are eleven prisoners of war who died in Confederate prisons; five of whom died at Georgia's infamous Andersonville prison. Also buried in this section are two women who served, in an unusual capacity of the time, as army nurses.
www.friendsofhopecemetery.org {QR code}
Inset - picture of:
Triumphal Arch erected July 4, 1865 at Pleasant and Main Streets
Collection of Worcester Historical Society
The Boys OF '61
These were the days of our youth, old boys,
When we were Worcester's pride.
Still warm is her heart for those who took part
In stemming rebellion's tide.
Inset - picture of:
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument (left)
Collection of the Worcester Historical Museum
Inset - picture of:
25th Masssachusetts Veteran Volunteers (above)
Collection of the Worcester Historical Museum
Inset - Picture of:
Battle of Antietam, color lithography,September 1862
Kutz & Allison, Art Publishers, 1888
Library of Congress