Knoxville National Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee - Veteran Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

Knoxville National Cemetery is located in Knox County, in the northern section of the city of Knoxville, Tenn.

Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside established the cemetery during the Civil War after the siege of Knoxville and subsequent Battle of Fort Sander. Capt. E.B. Chamberlain, the assistant quartermaster, was assigned the task of designing the national cemetery at Knoxville. The first interments were remains exhumed from Cumberland Gap, Concord and many other regional sites. Chamberlain’s design and system for recording interments was so effective that, in 1866, Gen. E.G. Whitman, observed that the cemetery had been “the only burial ground of Union soldiers…originally laid out and conducted to the present time in a manner and on a system that render[ed] it suitable to be converted into a national cemetery without material alteration or change, or removal of a single body.”
Knoxville National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The Union Soldier monument, known locally as the Tennessee or Wilder monument, is an unusual, large Gothic Revival-style memorial that was erected between 1890 and 1901.

Medal of Honor Recipients
Sergeant Troy A. McGill, (World War II) U.S. Army, Troop G, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Los Negros Islands, Admiralty Group, March 4, 1944. Sergeant McGill was returned to the U.S. from the Air Force Mausoleum Manila #1, Philippine Island and interred at Knoxville on Jan. 25, 1951 (Section B, Grave 6294).

Private Timothy Spillane, (Civil War) Company C, 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Hatcher's Run, Va., Feb. 5-7, 1865 (Section A, Grave 3319).

Others
Among those interred at Knoxville National Cemetery is Brigadier General Robert Reese Neyland, retired US Army. While General Neyland was attending West Point Military Academy, he was an aide to the Commandant of West Point, General Douglas Macarthur. After he assumed his military duties he was assigned as an ROTC instructor at the University of Tennessee, where he also served as football coach. During World War II General Neyland was recalled to serve his country. He was elevated to the rank of Brigadier General at that time and was one of the top-ranking officers in the China-Burma-India field of operation. Brigadier General Robert Reese Neyland and his wife Ada are interred in Section X, Grave 16A.

Group Burials:
several group burials in Knoxville National Cemetery.
13 are interred in Section X, Grave 7, 8, 9 A/B from World War II.
5 are interred in Section X, Grave 46 A/B from World War II.
3 are interred in Section X, Grave 31 A/B from World War II.
6 are interred in Section X, Grave 57 A/B from World War II.
4 are interred in Section X, Grave 58 A from World War II.
19 are interred in Section C, Grave 3255 war period is unknown.

US Confederate Soldier:
Captain George M. Coleman, Company D, 9th Kentucky Regiment, Civil War (Section D, Grave 2538).

The Knoxville National Cemetery, established in 1863, is located within the city limits of Knoxville in Knox County. The site is nearly square in shape, and the burial sections are arranged in the shape of a large circle, separated by conveniently arranged walks. Each section forms a quarter of the large circle, while the headstones at the graves form circles, all converging toward the ntersection of two walks, where the flagpole is located. The grounds are enclosed by a stone wall, constructed in 1875, on the north side of which is an iron fence. The main entrance is situated at the center of the south side and is protected by a double iron gate. A service building containing an administrative office and public restroom, is located to the northwest of the main entrance. Graves are marked with upright marble headstones.
The brick service building was constructed in 1936. It originally contained two storage bays and two toilets. A brick addition and garage were constructed in 1949. The roof of the building is covered with asbestos shingles, and the garage area has a built-up flat roof. The interior and exterior of the original service building were renovated in 1987 to accommodate the administrative office and to provide handicapped-accessible restroom facilities. One of the public toilets was converted to an employee restroom. The total area of the building and garage is 1,578 square feet. There is also an enclosed fuel storage area adjacent to the service building.
Noted Burials
There are two Medal of Honor recipients buried in the Knoxville National Cemetery. Troy A. McGill, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Troop G, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division -World War II - Section B, Grave 6294.
Timothy Spillane, Private, Company C, 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Civil War - Section A, Grave 3319.
Significant Monuments/Memorials
Grand Army of the Republic Monument - A 60-foot-high monument, prominently displayed in the northeast corner of the national cemetery, was erected by members of the Department of Tennessee, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). Department Commander H. C. Whittaker first publicly outlined the plan on March 23, 1893, during the tenth annual G.A.R. encampment at Harriman. A memorial committee was chaired by William Rule, influential editor of the Knoxville Daily Journal, who later wrote that plans for the memorial were first presented at the Athens encampment in 1892. There was little hope that the state would sanction funding for a Union monument; this sadly was a burden each veteran and his friends would have to bear. After a promising beginning in 1893, the funding campaign became dismally inactive. Three years later, only $1,300 had been collected. In the spring of 1896, the group forwarded, for the approval of the United States Quartermaster General, the chief super-vising agency for all G.A.R. construction, a design for the monument. The structure was to be a 50-foot Tennessee marble shaft, embellished with unidentified bronze figures on the corners, and a single statue at the summit. A design was agreed upon and, on May 8, 1896, approved by the United States Quartermaster’s Office. Approval was on the condition that no part of the expense attending the work be made a charge against the United States.
In the summer, the memorial committee signed a contract with William B. McMullen, president of the Tennessee Producers Marble Company and the Southern Monument Company, for material and construction, and with Colonel William A. Gage for engineering consultation. The design showed that flanking entrances were to lead, as if from drawbridges, into a small sanctuary dressed entirely with marble. In its west wall was to be an “art glass” window. The east wall would be hung with tablets detailing regimental histories. The monument was a miniature medieval fortress complete with its unique inner room, stained glass window and mosaic star. David H. Geddes, chief carver and foreman at the Southern Monument Company, and his assistants apparently had admirably sculpted the crenelated bastions, turrets, corbelled table, decorative frieze, round-arch openings, and rusticated wall surfaces. But, looking high over Holston Street to the central turret, one found not only a sentry peering steadfastly toward the southern horizon, but a ferocious bronze eagle with wings widely spread. The monument cost $11,300 and was nearly paid for by soldier residents of the state. Of the estimated 7,000 donations, most came as one-dollar offerings from dutiful pensioners. The monument was formally turned over to the Government and accepted by the Secretary of War on October 24, 1901.
On August 22, 1904, a powerful bolt of lightning struck the monument. Only the steps and part of the foundation remained, and these were scarred. The stones and eagle, its wings “closely cropped at its body as evenly as if the work had been done by an instrument,” were flung to the ground and into the street. Lightning had apparently been attracted to a steel rod that anchored the eagle to the shaft; consequently, the sculpture had sustained a direct hit. Through the state department, the committee sponsored G.A.R. General Orders No 2, calling for immediate re-construction. United States Representative Henry R. Gibson introduced before the House a bill calling for $10,000 to secure the repairs. The bill passed on April 25, 1905, butthe appropriation was for a maximum of $5,000 or “so much thereof might be necessary to repair the monument.” In November 1905, the committee retained Baumann Brothers, Incorporated, of Knoxville as the consulting architect. The Baumann design was to have closely duplicated the original plan. Re-construction began the next May, following acceptance of a $4,300 bid submitted by the Fenton Construction Company. The bronze eagle was replaced with an eight-foot-tall soldier, taking his post on top of the castle’s main turret. The coat of arms was left off, for fear it would draw more lightning. The project was completed on October 15, 1906. A fanciful local legend identified the soldier figure with General John T. Wilder, who was the only ranking general on the memorial committee. Union General Wilder first came to Tennessee in 1863, when he marched his Indiana brigade through what is now Rockwood to join the Union Army at Chattanooga. He took part in the Battle of Chickamauga and, on that battlefield, there is an imposing monument to him and his brigade. While camping in what is now Rockwood, General Wilder, a mineralogist and engineer, noticed signs of both coal and iron ore in close proximity. After the war, he came back to Knoxville, established the Roane Iron Company, and operated it for several years. During the McKinley Administration, he was appointed Federal pension agent and maintained an office in the old post office. Every three months, he issued pension checks to hundreds of Union veterans.

Date cemetery was established: 1863 Visiting hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset. Website pertaining to the cemetery: [Web Link]

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