GENERAL ORDERS}                                              QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE
NO 13                      }                                                               Washington, D. C., March 3, 1869.

M.C. MEIGS
Quartermaster General United States Army.

It covers an area of 20 acres, and is enclosed by a substantial wooden picket fence, and is laid off in sections intersected by well-graveled walks and avenues.

The main avenues have been ornamented by excellent shade trees and evergreens and a number of trees have been set out, at uniform distances, around the entire grounds near the fence.

The Cemetery is located on a commanding eminence, and a flag-staff has been erected on the summit of the hill, from which floats the national ensign.

A lodge for the accommodation of the keeper has been constructed near the main entrance, and a well, furnishing a good and permanent supply of water, has been sunk within the enclosure, and is protected by a neat and tasteful structure.

The original head-boards have all been preserved, and are numbered and arranged for the convenient reference of friends.

The whole number of interments made in this Cemetery is 5,688, (of which 1,793 are known and 3,895 are unknown) representing 273 regiments from 15 different States.

These dead were gathered from some 15 or 20 battle-fields or skirmish grounds--from Corinth, Iuka, Holly Springs, Guntown and Farmington, Mississippi, and from Hatchie River, Parker's Cross-roads, Middlebury, and Britton's Lane, Tennessee, and from various scattered camps and hospitals in Tennessee and Mississippi.