ROLL OF HONOR NO. XXI
GENERAL ORDERS}
QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE
NO --
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Washington, D. C., June 11, 1869.
The following Roll of Honor, prepared in this office by Brevet Brigadier
General Alex. J. Perry, quartermaster United States Army, containing the record
of 23,016 deceased Union soldiers interred in the national cemeteries at
Memphis, Tennessee, and Chalmette, (near New Orleans,) Louisiana, is published
by authority of the Secretary of War for the information of their surviving
friends and comrades.
MONUMENT NATIONAL CEMETERY, CHALMETTE, LA.
The Monument National Cemetery is situated in Chalmette, Louisiana, in the
parish of St. Bernard, and fronts on the Mississippi River. It is six
miles below the city of New Orleans, and one mile below the United States
Jackson barracks.
This cemetery contains about thirteen and a half acres of land, which
originally belonged to Charles Rixner, from whom it was purchased by the city of
New Orleans, in 1861, and ceded by the city to the United States for the purpose
to which it has been devoted.
The ground is low and flat, and, like all the region below New Orleans, is
protected from the inundations of the Mississippi River by a substantial levee.
Although naturally not very picturesque, it has been so improved by the setting
out of young cedar, arbor vitae, and magnolia trees, and by the planting of
oleanders, jessamine, and other varieties of shrubs, that it now presents a very
beautiful appearance.
It is laid out in a rectangular form with two long and two short sides.
The whole is enclosed on the long sides with a cypress fence, and on the short
sides with an iron railing.
The construction of this cemetery was begun by Captain N.S. Constable,
assistant quartermaster United States army in May, 1864. The grounds are
laid out with walks and avenues, graded and shelled, and well drained. In
the centre a handsome mound has been raised and a flagstaff erected.
The interments made in this cemetery number 12,241; of these the accompanying
Roll of Honor contains the record of 9,054, the remainder having been published
in Roll of Honor, No. VII. The graves are all marked with suitable
headboards properly numbered.
This cemetery is situated upon ground that will ever be memorable in the
annals of our country as the scene of General Jackson's greatest triumph--the
battle of New Orleans. About 600 yards northwest of the cemetery stands
Jackson's Monument, from which the cemetery takes it's name.
The associations and memories connected with this hallowed spot render it the
most fitting location that could have been selected in the vicinity of New
Orleans as a site for a National Cemetery. The ashes of our gallant dead
who fell in the defense of the Union during the late rebellion there mingle with
those of the brave defenders of 1815.
A neat brick "receiving tomb" has been erected to receive the remains of
officers and soldiers who may die in the Gulf States, while awaiting
transportation to their northern homes; and a brick lodge has been built for the
accommodation of the superintendent, appointed by the War Department to take
charge of the cemetery. |