Soldier's Rest Cemetery, part of Cedar Hill Cemetery -- Vicksburg MS
N 32° 21.785 W 090° 51.601
15S E 701352 N 3582695
The Confederate cemetery in Vicksburg MS, where thousands of Confederate soldiers and sailors are buried, including a Mama Blaster family ancestor.
Waymark Code: WMMG8B
Location: Mississippi, United States
Date Posted: 09/16/2014
Views: 4
The Soldier's Rest Cemetery, part of the larger Cedar Hill Cemetery, is a peaceful, historic, and beautiful place to wander among the graves and think about the human cost of war and the vicissitudes of life.
From the National Park Service website: (
visit link)
"History
The City of Vicksburg served as a major hospital center in the early years of the Civil War. A section in the Cedar Hill (Vicksburg City) Cemetery was set aside to provide a fitting burial place for Confederate soldiers who died of sickness or wounds. Known as "Soldiers' Rest," the plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for an estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers.
A local undertaker, Mr. J.Q. Arnold, was hired by the Confederate government to bury Southern soldiers, and carried out those duties throughout the siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Arnold meticulously maintained records of the soldiers he buried, assigning each one a grave number. Regrettably, his list and map of the cemetery disappeared after the siege, although a portion of his list was re-discovered in the early 1960s, giving the name, rank, company, unit, and date of death for 1,600 soldiers. Approximately 3,500 names are unknown. The document is now part of the archival records at the Old Courthouse Museum, 1008 Cherry Street, Vicksburg, MS 39180 (601-636-0741).
Due to the disappearance of Mr. Arnold's records, only a few private headstones marked the plot until 1893. On April 26 of that year, the ladies of the Confederate Memorial Association dedicated a beautiful stone monument featuring the standing figure of a Confederate soldier. It was not until the early 1980s, following the discovery of the partial list, that headstones were erected through the combined effort of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Veterans' Administration. The stones are arranged with military precision and placed in state groupings. In 1998, an additional 72 headstones were erected by the UDC and Sons of Confederate Veterans to honor soldiers whose identities were established on a second list which surfaced in the collection of the Old Court House Museum."
There are about 12,000 graves here at the Cedar Hill Cemetery and Soldier's Rest, including the graves of about 5000 Confederate soldiers.
Private Andrew Holmes was born in Claiborne Parish Louisiana. He enlisted in Co. E of the 31st Louisiana Infantry, Confederate States Army in 1861. He died of disease in a Vicksburg Field Hospital on 16 Apr 1863. He is buried in the Louisiana section of Soldier's Rest cemetery near downtown Vicksburg.