Oakland Cemetery Confederate Memorial Obelisk - Atlanta, GA
N 33° 44.875 W 084° 22.327
16S E 743426 N 3737308
Quick Description: A large portion of the grounds is home to memorials to and graves of Confederate Soldiers.
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 2/19/2007 1:00:20 PM
Waymark Code: WM1849
Views: 84
Long Description:This section is the final resting place for approximately 6,900
Confederate soldiers including 3,000 unknowns. Through much of the
Civil War, Atlanta hospitals overflowed with men wounded in battles
to the north. The largest cluster of wartime hospitals was within
half a mile of the cemetery. As fighting moved closer to Atlanta
and deaths mounted. Land adjacent to the Cemetery was secured as a
Confederate burial ground. After the war, several thousand soldiers
who had fallen in the Atlanta campaign were moved from battlefield
graves to Oakland.
Approaching this area from the main gate, the Confederate
Obelisk provides an orienting landmark. The 65-foot monument, made
of Stone Mountain granite, was dedicated in 1874 as a project of
the Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association. For years it was the
tallest structure in the city.
Marked military graves occupy a large central rectangle south of
the Obelisk. Included are the headstones of 16 Union soldiers who
died in local hospitals. Another area of marked Confederate graves
lies along Oakland’s southern wall. Northeast of the Obelisk, the
unknowns are guarded by the “Lion of Atlanta.” Modeled after the
Swiss “Lion of Lucerne.” The Lion was carved in 1894 from the
largest block of marble quarried in Georgia up to that time. For
the nameless soldiers, the dying lion rests on the flag they
followed and “guards their dust,” in the words of a commemorative
poem.
To the northwest of the obelisk, three Confederate generals are
buried: John Brown Gordon; Alfred Iverson, Jr.; Clement Anselm
Evans. Generals Lucius Gartrell and William Stephen Walker are
buried on family plots.
An annual memorial service takes place in this section on
Confederate Memorial Day, April 26th.