Civil War

In early 1880, a journalist visited the monumental National Cemetery Gateway Arch at Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee as it was nearing completion. He came away impressed.

From the aftermath of the Civil War to the onset of World War One, the Grand Army of the Republic reigned supreme as the largest Veterans' organization in the nation.

The National Cemetery Administration serves as the steward for government and military lots at select private cemeteries nationwide. The Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., is home to the Washington Arsenal Monument, which honors the women who died in an explosion at the arsenal during the Civil War.

VA manages more than 1,700 historic properties, but none older than the Grist Mill and Mansion House on the campus of the Perry Point VA Medical Center in Maryland.

National cemeteries originated out of necessity during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862, as casualties mounted at an alarming rate, Congress empowered President Abraham Lincoln to purchase and enclose burial plots as national cemeteries to inter the growing number of Union dead. These cemeteries were managed by superintendents, some disabled Civil War Veterans. To house them, Brig. Gen. Montgomery Meigs came up with what was later named the "Meigs Plan," the design for permanent lodges to house the superintendents.

In 1776, the fledging American government passed the first national law compensating soldiers and sailors disabled in the Revolution, but it was slower to make any provisions for widow's pension claims.

In 1882, the Pension Bureau hired 770 new clerks, doubling the size of its work force. The additional manpower was necessary to keep up with the explosive growth of the pension system after the Civil War. Work soon began on constructing a new Pension Bureau building to serve as the headquarters and home for the enlarged work force.

A Togus time capsule filled with objects and historical materials provides a snapshot of a particular time and place. This capsule was found on the Togus National Cemetery in Maine while masons were working on a monument.

Beer halls and beer gardens were familiar to Civil War Veterans who resided at branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS). The administrators limited consumption in these beer halls by selling beer tokens or tickets that were exchanged for beer. The compromise was welcomed by administrators and Veterans alike.

President Abraham Lincoln’s famed 272-word Gettysburg Address, cast in iron tablets, was placed in national cemeteries in 1909 as part of a nationwide birthday centennial program. When the popular president, born February 12, was honored again in 2009, NCA began to produce more tablets to ensure the speech is in all new national cemeteries.

History of VA in 100 Objects: The U.S. Naval Asylum in Philadelphia was the first federal facility to provide institutional care for disabled and elderly Veterans.

The first permanent informational plaques placed in national cemeteries after the Civil War were affixed to upright cannons to brand these sites as a shrine to Union dead. These bronze shield plaques were installed after a 1872 report and served as early monuments to Union dead from the Civil War at national cemeteries.