Groveton Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Manassas National Battlefield, National Park Service

King, Elizabeth; Temkin, Martha

Groveton Confederate Cemetery is a burial ground located near the intersection of Lee Hwy. and Featherbed Ln., within Manassas National Battlefield Park in VA. It is one mile west of the Visitors Center.The cemetery is bordered to the south by Lee Hwy. and to the north and east by Dogan Branch and open fields beyond.To the west, the cemetery is bordered by a cemetery parking lot and the nearby Lucinda Dogan House. The cemetery lot roughly measures 300 x 130 sq. feet. Groveton Confederate Cemetery was established on April 27, 1867 as to remove the remains of Confederate soldiers left on the battlefields around the crossroads community of Groveton following First and Second battles of Manassas (1861 and 1862). The cemetery allowed for the removal of the Confederate casualties from the battlefields, permitting the land to be returned to cultivation in the late 1860s.Though the Quartermaster’s Department began to remove the Union dead from the Manassas battlefields for re-interment in Arlington National Cemetery as early as 1866, Confederate casualties were excluded from the national reburial program. Across the South, women’s societies such as the Groveton and Bull Run Memorial Association were formed to steward the proper burial of Confederate remains left exposed to the elements.The majority of interments occurred between 1867 and the 1870s, though intermittent burials occurred as other remains were discovered in later years.The cemetery was established for Confederate casualties from the Battle of Second Manassas, but because of the decayed state of the remains when discovered, the cemetery may contain Confederate remains from First Manassas and/or Union remains from the first or second battle.The cemetery likely contains the partial remains of at least 600 soldiers. Though the Groveton and Bull Run Memorial Association established the cemetery, after the initial effort to reinter Confederate casualties, the association became unable to continue in its caretaking.The Bull Run Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C) assumed responsibility for the site in 1897.The Bull Run Chapter added significant commemorative features to the cemetery landscape. Also in this period the cemetery and its eventual monument came to memorialize the dead of both of the Manassas battles. During the stewardship of the Bull Run Chapter from 1897 to 1943, Groveton Confederate Cemetery assumed its current form, with small-scale features such as the wrought iron fence, the monument, the marble state markers, the cement walkway, and the flagpole being added during this period.The Bull Run Chapter also hosted the Civil War veterans groups that began to visit the Manassas battlefields for anniversary events. In 1973, the cemetery property was acquired by Manassas National Battlefield Park and is currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing feature of the park. The cemetery, along with the nearby Lucinda Dogan House, is interpreted through wayside markers and as a part of Manassas National Battlefield Park’s driving tour. The Groveton Confederate Cemetery is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its association with significant historic events.It is also eligible under Criterion B for its association with the lives of persons of local significance, most notably with Lucinda Dogan. Finally Groveton Confederate Cemetery is eligible under Criteria D, because it has yielded or is likely to yield, information important to prehistory or history. The cemetery retains integrity for its period of significance, 1861-1943, with all seven aspects of integrity represented. While there have been some changes to the landscape, most notably the changes resulting from the construction of Lee Highway in the 1920s and the loss of some historic vegetation, the cemetery retains integrity to its period of significance.

Groveton Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Manassas National Battlefield, National Park Service

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