National Cemetery Administration

In the southwest quadrant of Winchester National Cemetery, located in the town of the same name in Virginia, sits an impressive monument to the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry that pays tribute to both man and beast. The monument is adorned with a bas-relief of a horse’s head, wild-eyed and straining at its bridle. As February 2026 marked the start of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Horse, this is an opportune time to explore the history of the regiment and its monument. According to Chinese astrology, the horse is hard-working, agreeable, and courageous, although it also chafes at being controlled by others, something the men of the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry experienced firsthand. Stated one soldier, “The taming of wild animals was something I did not dream of when I enlisted in '62.”

As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, stories of patriotism and heroism long forgotten will be revived and retold. Colonel Thomas Hunt, a Veteran of the Revolutionary and Indian Wars interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was one of those heroes.  Hunt’s plain marble headstone may suggest a lack of noteworthiness, but at one point in the early history of our Nation, soldiers sang the praises of “the good, the brave and generous Hunt.”

Inspired by a visit from Charles Lindbergh to her hometown in 1927, Mary Jean Sturdevant learned how to fly in a civilian pilot program in the late 1930s. During World War II, she joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a group of highly trained female pilots that ferried newly manufactured aircraft to military installations and served as instructors for male pilots. During the war, the WASPs were considered contractors and were not recognized as Veterans until 1977. Sturdevant  passed away in 2017 and is interred at Tahoma National Cemetery.

Have you ever wondered about the origins of Memorial Day – how and where it began and what inspired it? Memorial Day: A Journey of Commemoration is an interactive StoryMap created for students by NCAs Veterans Legacy Program. Viewers will travel through the past and across the globe to learn the reason why the United States commemorates Veterans on Memorial Day.

This cultural resource study is the result of a project by the National Cemetery Administration's History Program to assemble primary historic information about a thematic group of NCA properties: cemeteries and memorials that exclusively or partially contain Confederate burials. While Civil War-era national cemeteries were created to bury Union dead, the U.S. Government was also responsible for Confederate dead, most of whom were associated with prisoner-of-war camps. This publication examines nine all-Confederate cemeteries and nine national cemeteries containing the greatest number of Confederate graves.

This monograph, originally published as part of the National Cemetery Administration's World War II Commemorative Series, tells the story of how and why members of other nations' military forces came to be buried in our national cemeteries during World War II. It includes a discussion on the history of such allied and enemy burials dating back to the Civil War, the circumstances surrounding these burials, and the headstones and monuments that have been erected for the interred.

VA America 250 Virtual Exhibit tells the story of VA History across 250 years of American history, highlighting key moments and contributions to Veteran care. Explore artifacts and narratives that illustrate the VA’s enduring role in supporting and serving Veterans.

For more than 150 years, VA chaplains have served Veterans with care and compassion, proving that they are indelible to the fabric of Veterans' health. Objects in this exhibit, housed in the National VA History Center (NVAHC), help tell the story of chaplaincy’s enduring presence and its profound impact on Veteran care.

VA History is defined by public service to those who have fought for this country. For nearly 250 years, Americans have responded to the challenges Veterans face in innovative ways. But what happens for those who do not return home? This is the story of three Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting fascism in Europe, how each one was honored after death, and how the VA History Office is preserving their story.

The Perryville National Cemetery is the only national cemetery to be constructed, dismantled, reestablished on a different site without any burials, and finally transferred to a state government. What is its legacy and story?

“The following pages are devoted to the memory of those heroes who have given up their lives upon the altar of their country, in defense of the American Union.”

So opened the preface to the first volume of the Roll of Honor, a compendium of over 300,000 Federal soldiers who died during the Civil War and were interred in national and other cemeteries. The genesis of this 27-volume collection published between 1865 and 1871 can be traced to Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs and the department he oversaw for a remarkable 21 years from 1861 to 1882.

President Abraham Lincoln is one of the most revered figures in American history. Rankings of U.S. presidents routinely place him at or near the top of the list. Lincoln is also held in high esteem at VA. His stirring call during his second inaugural address in 1865 to “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan” embodies the nation’s promise to all who wear the uniform, a promise VA and its predecessor administrations have kept ever since the Civil War.

Ever since Lincoln first uttered those memorable words in November 1863, the Gettysburg Address has been linked to our national cemeteries. In 1908, Congress approved a plan to produce a standard Gettysburg Address tablet to be installed in all national cemeteries in time for the centennial of President Lincoln’s birth on February 12, 1909.