National Cemetery, Jefferson City
N 38° 33.973 W 092° 09.721
15S E 573003 N 4268973
The Union soldiers ambushed and slain by Bloody Bill Anderson’s Confederate guerrilla band in September,1864 near Centralia, MO were reburied here in 1868. Today during Memorial Day ceremonies a wreath is placed at their timeworn obelisk.
Waymark Code: WM71K8
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2009
Views: 6
The Missouri WPA Guide describes Jefferson City including this description of the national cemetery located here after the American Civil War:
"The NATIONAL CEMETERY (open 8-5), 1042 E. McCarty Street, is the burial place for 78 Union soldiers slain in a battle near Centralia in September, 1864. The plot was purchased by the government in 1867. Soldiers killed in the World War are also interred here. WOODLAND CEMETERY, adjoining the National Cemetery on the west, includes a plot allotted to the State in which are buried two Missouri governors: Thomas Reynolds and John S. Marmaduke." MISSOURI- A Guide to the "Show-Me" State--compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects administration. (1941)
Burials in Jefferson City National Cemetery date to summer 1861; its original purpose was for the burial of Civil War soldiers from the surrounding area. The site of the cemetery, which local residents Israel and Mary Read sold to the government, was surveyed for classification as a national cemetery during the war. However, its official designation did not occur until 1867.
The cemetery is full today and closed to new interments. Since the Writers Project report, it is also populated with graves of World War II and the Korean War soldiers and sailors.
According to the Veterans Cemetery Administration there are no NOTABLE PERSONS buried here. (No Medal of Honor winners, or famous general officers I suppose)
The most interesting monument is the 39th Regiment Monument remembering the members of Companies A, G, and H of the 39th Missouri Volunteer (Mounted) Infantry who were killed in action on September 27, 1864 near Centralia, Missouri. One hundred eighteen soldiers from the 39th lay in a trench reburial of their remains from the September, 1864 encounter.
On that day Bloody Bill Anderson and his band of Confederate guerrillas took part in one of the worst atrocities of the American Civil War. Frank James and his brother Jesse took part in the action, with 16 year Jesse killing Major A.V. E. Johnson.
Each year on Memorial Day in ceremonies conducted by the Jefferson City Veterans Council, a wreath is laid at the base of the 39th Regiment Monument. Many in the audience are unaware of just what happened in Centralia during the Civil War, or that not long after the Centralia massacre, Bloody Bill Anderson too died near today’s Orrick, Missouri in an ambush similar to the one that occurred a few miles from Centralia, Missouri.
In summary, when the WPA Writers guide was written US Highway 50 and 63 passed right by the national cemetery here. Within two blocks of the cemetery is a “Christ of the Highway” statue that visibly reminds us of those days.
Recently I was in Richmond, Missouri and found the gravestone of Bloody Bill Anderson in the old pioneer cemetery there. Then near Orrick, Missouri I also found the monument marking the Battle of Albany-- where Bloody Bill Anderson and some of his men died in an ambush similar to the one he pulled on the 39th Missouri Volunteers. That visit prompted me to explore the Jefferson City National Cemetery and thus ”connect the dots” in this WAYMARK.
Book: Missouri
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 231
Year Originally Published: 1941
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