St. James Cemetery
N 38° 31.416 W 077° 52.139
18S E 249888 N 4267814
An old church cemetery lies on an old battlefield in Culpeper County, Virginia.
Waymark Code: WMBXA2
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2011
Views: 3
After the
St. James Episcopal Church
which stood on the Brandy Station battlefield in Virginia was destroyed during the Civil War, it was rebuilt in 1869. Although the new bulding, renamed Christ Episcopal Church, was built at a different location, the old cemetery was still maintained.
The cemetery remains at the original site of St. James Church. It is estimated to have 60 graves. The churchyard is covered in periwinkle and burials are mostly marked with fieldstones and/or depressions. There are two inscribed headstones. One of them, which is partially legible and has a footstone, is in memory of Martha E Threlkeld who was born in 1820 or possibly 1829.
Another tombstone is to an unknown Confederate soldier. His remains were exhumed by the Smithsonian Institution in 1989 for research study and reburied in 1992. He was identified as an Irish immigrant who served with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans and had been buried in the cemetery after being killed during the Battle of Rappahannock in 1862. There is speculation that other Confederate soldiers may also be buried here.
The cemetery lies on land preserved by the Civil War Preservation Trust and the wooded knoll can be accessed by a gentle sloping trail.
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