Confederate Cemetery, Marietta Georgia
Posted by: 
GA Cacher
N 33° 56.739 W 084° 32.952
16S E 726496 N 3758835
The Confederate Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia began in 1863. Adjacent to the older Marietta City Cemetery, over 3000 from all CSA states are buried here.
Waymark Code: WM1YXD
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/06/2007
Views: 139
The Confederate Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia began in 1863. Adjacent to the older Marietta City Cemetery, Marietta Confederate Cemetery is on a hill overlooking the downtown square from the south. This is the final resting place for Confederate soldiers from nearby hospitals and the battles of the Atlanta Campaign that took place around Marietta including Kolb's Farm and Kennesaw Mountain.
In 1833 the first church in Marietta is built on the site which today holds the Marietta Confederate Cemetery. In 1839 this Baptist Church moved closer to downtown, on the aptly named Church Street just north of Marietta Square. John Glover, who was Marietta's first mayor, bought the land as part of a larger parcel shortly after he arrived in 1848. Jane Glover, his wife, officially gave the land to the "Memorial Association" in 1867, but the city began using land to bury Confederate war dead 4 years earlier, with Glover's permission.
That year a train wreck near Emerson, Georgia, not far from Allatoona Pass brings the war home for the people of this small Georgia town. The dead are buried on the hill beneath an oak tree.
As the Marietta Operations commence the city girds for inevitable dead. By now Marietta has witnessed the carnage of battle a number of times. Confederate wounded from Chickamauga are transported through the railway station at Dalton to Marietta. A number of buildings, including the Kennesaw House, serve as hospitals and the cemetery accepts its first men killed in battle.
Couple looking at a grave, Marietta Confederate CemeteryWith the launch of The Atlanta Campaign on May 4, 1864, Marietta becomes a major hospital town for the Confederacy and the number of dead in the Confederate Cemetery begins to rise. Burials of Confederate soldiers on the site continued until July 2, 1864, when William T. Sherman took the city.
Prior to 1867 Henry Cole, a prominent businessman and ardent Unionist, proposed the Marietta National Cemetery, intended to include the bodies of men who died on both sides during The Atlanta Campaign and The March to the Sea. Southerners in many towns, including Marietta, are outraged at the idea of burying Confederate dead in the same graveyard as Yankees. When the national cemetery is approved, Mrs. Glover donates the land containing the Confederate war dead.
Soldiers who died in Marietta hospitals and from the Confederate Veteran's Home are also buried here.
Over the years the Confederate Cemetery suffered. Unlike the nearby National Cemetery, the Confederate Cemetery had to rely on donations, mainly from Marietta citizens. The area fell into disrepair over the years, however, thanks to the efforts of many local groups over the past twenty years many repairs and improvements have been made, returning the cemetery to its former glory.
It is rumored that the line of trees planted on the NNE property line was placed there to block the view of the "Union" Cemetery (Marietta National Cemetery)
A cannon, which served Georgia Military Institute from 1852 to 1864 and was used by the Confederate Army, captured by Sherman's forces and held as a trophy of war until 1910 now rests in this cemetery. Annual Memorial Day exercises are a custom of long standing at this historical cemetery.
There is no on-site office or burial index available at this location. The maintenance office of the Old Marietta Cemetery maintains very limited information on site for the Confederate Cemetery.
Some text from History of MArietta websites.
Date cemetery was established: Sept 1863
Visiting hours:
Dawn to dusk
Website pertaining to the cemetery: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Please submit a photo(s) taken by you of your visit to the location (non-copyrighted photos only). GPS photos are also accepted with the location in the background, and old vacation photos are accepted. If you are not able to provide a photo, then please describe your visit or give a story about the visit.
We would also like to hear about any of your deceased family members who may be laid to rest in the cemetery.