- Burial
- Civil War
- established 1866
Marietta National Cemetery (Union dead of the campaign)
The national cemetery established in 1866 for the nearly 10,000 Union dead of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, including men first buried on the Atlanta battlefields.
The record
Henry Cole, a Unionist merchant, offered land for a burial ground for both Union and Confederate dead in hopes of reconciliation. When that offer was refused, 24 acres were offered to Gen. George H. Thomas; an 1870 purchase brought the cemetery to its present size of just over 23 acres. It was established to hold the nearly 10,000 Union dead of the campaign. Graves on the battlefields that were missed by the reburials remain protected by state law.