Stones River National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Report (CLR), Stones River National Battlefield, National Park Service
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., John Milner Associates, Inc., Sargent L. 2015. Stones River National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Report (CLR), Stones River National Battlefield, National Park Service. Cultural Landscape Report. NPS Southeast Regional Office. Southeast Regional Office, National Park Service
Dedicated in 1865, Stones River National Cemetery marks the final resting place of more than 6,100 Union soldiers involved in Civil War battles within Middle Tennessee. The cemetery, which falls within the boundaries of Stones River National Battlefield, a unit of the National Park System, is located approximately three miles northwest of the city of Murfreesboro, and twenty-eight miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee. The park protects a part of the battlefield associated with the December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, Civil War Battle of Stones River, a key contest in the campaign to control Middle Tennessee. Stones River National Cemetery was established for the reinterment of Union soldiers buried within ninety miles of Murfreesboro who lost their lives in the battles of Stones River, Franklin, and Spring Hill, as well as skirmishes that had occurred along the contested Nashville & Decatur Railroad line. Work on the cemetery commenced in 1864, and was completed the following year. By 1867, reburial of Union soldiers was complete. The cemetery was later incorporated into Stones River National Military Park, established by Congress in 1927 for administration by the U.S. War Department, although it remained an active burial ground. In 1933, Stones River National Military Park was transferred to the administration of the National Park Service along with all of the U.S. War Department’s historical land holdings. Today, Stones River National Battlefield, as it was renamed in 1960, is comprised of several noncontiguous parcels that encompass the battlefield core, the headquarters sites of the opposing generals, the McFadden Farm along Stones River, one of the Civil War’s oldest commemorative monuments, and fragments of a post-battle earthworks complex used by the Union army as a supply base, in addition to the Stones River National Cemetery.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.; John Milner Associates, Inc.; Sargent, Liz
- Date of Issue
- 2015-11
- Publisher
- NPS Southeast Regional Office
- Units
- SRNC , STRI
- Keywords
- American Civil War, Battlefield, Cultural Landscape, Cultural Landscape Report, Murfreesboro, National Cemetery, Stones River National Battlefield, Stones River National Cemetery, Tennessee, Union Soldiers
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Human Use | Cultural Landscapes | Cultural Landscapes , CRIS-CL: 550097: Stones River National Cemetery