{"id":106718,"date":"2022-09-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/?p=106718"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:19:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:19:37","slug":"object-40-daytons-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-40-daytons-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Object 40: Dayton\u2019s \u201cUnderground Path of Death\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Postcard<\/a>
Postcard showing the gated entrance to the 300-foot-long tunnel at the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio. From the hospital morgue, deceased residents were placed in a casket and transported through the tunnel to the cemetery grounds for a funeral service at the church and then burial. (Dayton National Cemetery Support Committee)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Civil War Veterans who resided in the barracks or entered the hospital at the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS)<\/strong><\/a> in Dayton, Ohio, knew that the home cemetery was most likely going to be their final resting place. Then as now, burial was among the government benefits provided to those who served honorably. At the Dayton campus, home to more than 5,000 \u201dinmates\u201d at the turn of the twentieth century, a Veteran\u2019s last journey, reported the Cincinnati Enquirer,<\/em> followed a literal \u201cunderground path of death.” Dayton’s Tunnel terminated at a gated portal on the edge of what is now Dayton National Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This subterranean route, 300 feet long from hospital to cemetery, is a remnant of the late nineteenth-century network of tunnels excavated to hold pipes that moved steam heat, sewage, and utilities throughout the campus. It began below the chief surgeon\u2019s headquarters in the Victorian three-story, 300-bed hospital at a \u201cdead-room\u201d\u2014an underground apartment containing the morgue and storage for a supply of new coffins. Lights illuminated the tunnel, 8 feet across and 7 feet tall. It was improved in 1887 with a new receiving vault hailed as a \u201cvery great convenience to the institution.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em> story about life at the home, published in 1891, describes the Veteran\u2019s last journey and final honors. From the dead-room, \u201cthe casket containing the remains of the old hero is placed on a small, flat car\u201d that transports it through the tunnel to the opening at the edge of the cemetery:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[At the entrance,] a guard in waiting unlocks the heavy iron gates, which swing open and the casket is received by the funeral corps and placed in the hearse in waiting. A line of forty or more soldiers has already been formed. The casket is borne to the church where the funeral services are held. Then the procession forms in line and the cemetery is reached in a short time.  The body is interred and a salute is fired, and all is over.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

\n
\"Funeral<\/a>
Funeral procession escorting the horse-drawn carriage bearing the remains of an old soldier from the Dayton home headed to his final resting place in the cemetery. (Dayton National Cemetery Support Committee)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One Veteran reflected, \u201cOur little cemetery over yonder is growing larger and larger. Not a day passes that does not see one or more of us go through the tunnel.\u201d He was right. Between 1890 and 1900, an average of 383 residents of the Central Branch died annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the original hospital was demolished in the 1940s, the brick-lined passage was sealed off at both ends. To passersby, the opening in the cemetery remains the only visible evidence of the tunnel. Its current appearance contrasts starkly with its historic countenance, which is best preserved in picture postcards. The once-elegant portal is barely recognizable: the entrance is sealed up, the dressed stonework and metal gates are gone, and the stone steps descending into the cemetery on each side of the former opening are encroached by the steep grassy slope. The tunnel opening, like so many other long-lost features of the historic Central Branch, attracted thousands of visitors in its heyday. In an incongruous juxtaposition, the image was even printed on souvenir ceramic soap dishes sold at the home\u2019s newsstand along with postcards.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funeral tunnel at Dayton is a unique VA historic resource that has been documented and evaluated by engineers and historic preservationists using non-invasive ground-penetrating radar, digital photogrammetry, and low-light photography, among other techniques. Stakeholders at VA and non-profit partners are optimistic that the portal in the cemetery may be restored to its original appearance along with a representative portion of the tunnel to interpret the history of the Veteran’s last journey. The Dayton NHDVS campus, including the cemetery, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Civil War Veterans who resided in the barracks or entered the hospital at the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in Dayton, Ohio, knew that the home cemetery was most likely going to be their final resting place. a Veteran\u2019s last journey, reported the\u00a0Cincinnati Enquirer,\u00a0followed\u00a0a literal\u00a0\u201cunderground path of death.” Dayton’s Tunnel terminated at a gated portal on the edge of what is now Dayton National Cemetery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[27,20,23],"class_list":["post-106718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-objects","tag-civil-war","tag-national-cemetery-administration","tag-national-home-for-disabled-volunteer-soldiers"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-40-daytons-tunnel\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Object 40: Dayton\u2019s \u201cUnderground Path of Death\u201d","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-40-daytons-tunnel\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-40-daytons-tunnel\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/09\/40-1-tunnel-postcard.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/09\/40-1-tunnel-postcard.webp"},"articleSection":"History of VA in 100 Objects","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["civil war","national cemetery administration","national home for disabled volunteer soldiers"],"dateCreated":"2022-09-15T14:00:00Z","datePublished":"2022-09-15T14:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T20:19:37Z"},"rendered":"