Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Address:120 Chatham Lane
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Tel: (540) 373-4510

Pay tribute to victims of four major Civil War battles at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the final resting place of over 15,000 American soldiers, most of who were killed at the battles of the Wilderness, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Chancellorsville. Today, the 12-acre cemetery offers walking tours and the opportunity for solemn reflection.

The Fredericksburg National Cemetery is part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which commemorates the four battles mentioned above. Three months after the end of the Civil War, in 1865, Congress authorized the establishment of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery in order to commemorate those who had died in the area during the war. Of the 15,000 soldiers buried at the cemetery, more than 80% remain unknown, though most are Union soldiers who died in battles and camps around Fredericksburg.

30-minute walking tours of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery take visitors through significant sites relating the history of the site and its monuments. Among the stops on the tour are monuments dedicated to the Fifth Corps, General Humphreys' Division of Pennsylvania Infantry, Joseph Anton Moesch, a Swiss immigrant, who was a member of the 83rd New York Volunteers, known as "Swiss Rifles", and the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteer unit, a nine-month unit which lost a third of its men at the Battle of Fredericksburg. The Fredericksburg National Cemetery is open daily from dawn to dusk. A register of the known burials in the cemetery is kept in the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center. After their visit at the cemetery, visitors can find plenty of food within walking distance, from Asian cuisine to pizza.

To get to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, take I-95 to exit 130A, travel east on Plank Road, continue straight onto William Street and Blue and Gray Parkway, then turn left onto Lafayette Boulevard.