Чаттануга ұлттық зираттары: тарих және естелік орны

Historic veterans cemetery in Hamilton County, Tennessee

Chattanooga National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located near the center of the city of Chattanooga in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of 2014, had more than 50,000 interments.

The cemetery was established in 1863, by an order from Major General George Henry Thomas after the Civil War Battles of Chattanooga, as a place to inter Union soldiers who fell in combat. of land was initially appropriated from two local land owners, but later purchased. It became Chattanooga National Cemetery in 1867. By 1870 more than 12,000 interments had been made, most of whom were unknown. Many nearby battlefield burials were also reinterred in Chattanooga, including nearly 1,500 burials from the Battle of Chickamauga. Franklin Guest Smith, who served as secretary and member of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Commission from 1893 until 1908, played an important role in preserving and expanding the cemetery, and a monument at the cemetery was dedicated in his honor. During World War I (78) and World War II (108) German prisoners of war who died while in captivity were buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery. After the war, the German government paid to have other POWs disinterred from Hot Springs National Cemetery and moved to Chattanooga. Chattanooga National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Originally the site was expected to close for new burials in 2015. However, due to a recent expansion project that will add the capacity for more than 5,000 interments, the cemetery is now expected to be available for burials until 2045.

A 40 foot high memorial archway, constructed in 1868. The Andrews Raiders Memorial, erected in 1890. It includes a bronze replica of the locomotive known as The General, stolen by Union partisan James J. Andrews and his men in the Great Locomotive Chase. German World War I prisoner of war monument, erected by the German government in 1935.