Virginia, Henrico County, near Richmond
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National Cemetery
During the Civil War, Union and Confederate armies fought multiple battles for control of Richmond. Thousands of Union soldiers perished. They are now buried in Richmond National Cemetery and six other national cemeteries established in the Richmond-Petersburg area in 1866.
Most of the men who lie here died in Richmond's Confederate prisons. Among those are 3,200 Union soldiers reinterred from Oakwood Cemetery, and another 388 from Hollywood Cemetery. The remains of 210 prisoners were moved from Belle Isle to the national cemetery, along with twelve men removed from a trench in the "Rocketts," a suburb near Castle Thunder prison. The remains of 2,710 Union soldiers who died in local battles are interred here, too.
Nearly a decade passed between the time the cemetery was established and the completion of the reinternments. An 1868 U.S. Army report estimated the total at 6,329. By 1874, the grave count rose to 6,540. In addition, fourteen non-combatants—civilians and government employees—are buried here.
The 8-acre cemetery was originally laid out in four sections with a flagstaff mound in the center. Each section, divided by graveled walks, was organized into six plots. The government erected its first brick Second Empire-style lodge here in 1870. By 1874, a stone wall enclosed the cemetery. The first superintendent, Patrick Hart, a discharged sergeant from Co. B, 44th U.S. Infantry, erected a greenhouse near the lodge where he raised plants and trees for use in the cemetery.
Today, over 9,000 burials are located in the cemetery, including an unknown Confederate soldier reinterred here in 1978.
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Union Prisoners
Richmond, the Confederate capital, housed thousands of Union prisoners of war in three prisons—Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, and Belle Isle. In March 1862, the Confederate government seized Luther Libby's warehouse and converted it into Libby Prison. Five months later, Gleanor's Tobacco Warehouse, Palmer's Factory, and Whitlock's Warehouse collectively became Castle Thunder prison.
Another prison opened that summer on Belle Isle, a small island in the James River across from Libby Prison. This facility housed prisoners in tents on an open field. Unshaded in summertime, tents were stifling; in winter they were cold and windy. Poor conditions fostered disease at all three prisons and, as a result, thousands of Union captives died. Confederate authorities buried them in various private Richmond cemeteries. Hundreds were buried on Belle Isle.
(captions)
Union prisoners were housed in tents on Belle Isle, c. 1864. Library of Congress.
The rostrum, built 1888, with unknown grave markers in foreground, 1908. National Archives and Records Administration.
Libby Prison, c. 1864. The print, with prisoners visible in the windows, contradicts Confederate orders directing guards to shoot anyone looking out. Library of Congress.
To learn more about benefits and programs for Veterans and families, visit www.va.gov
(War, US Civil • Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
National Cemetery
During the Civil War, Union and Confederate armies fought multiple battles for control of Richmond. Thousands of Union soldiers perished. They are now buried in Richmond National Cemetery and six other national cemeteries established in the Richmond-Petersburg area in 1866.
Most of the men who lie here died in Richmond's Confederate prisons. Among those are 3,200 Union soldiers reinterred from Oakwood Cemetery, and another 388 from Hollywood Cemetery. The remains of 210 prisoners were moved from Belle Isle to the national cemetery, along with twelve men removed from a trench in the "Rocketts," a suburb near Castle Thunder prison. The remains of 2,710 Union soldiers who died in local battles are interred here, too.
Nearly a decade passed between the time the cemetery was established and the completion of the reinternments. An 1868 U.S. Army report estimated the total at 6,329. By 1874, the grave count rose to 6,540. In addition, fourteen non-combatants—civilians and government employees—are buried here.
The 8-acre cemetery was originally laid out in four sections with a flagstaff mound in the center. Each section, divided by graveled walks, was organized into six plots. The government erected its first brick Second Empire-style lodge here in 1870. By 1874, a stone wall enclosed the cemetery. The first superintendent, Patrick Hart, a discharged sergeant from Co. B, 44th U.S. Infantry, erected a greenhouse near the lodge where he raised plants and trees for use in the cemetery.
Today, over 9,000 burials are located in the cemetery, including an unknown Confederate soldier reinterred here in 1978.
(sidebar)
Union Prisoners
Richmond, the Confederate capital, housed thousands of Union prisoners of war in three prisons—Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, and Belle Isle. In March 1862, the Confederate government seized Luther Libby's warehouse and converted it into Libby Prison. Five months later, Gleanor's Tobacco Warehouse, Palmer's Factory, and Whitlock's Warehouse collectively became Castle Thunder prison.
Another prison opened that summer on Belle Isle, a small island in the James River across from Libby Prison. This facility housed prisoners in tents on an open field. Unshaded in summertime, tents were stifling; in winter they were cold and windy. Poor conditions fostered disease at all three prisons and, as a result, thousands of Union captives died. Confederate authorities buried them in various private Richmond cemeteries. Hundreds were buried on Belle Isle.
(captions)
Union prisoners were housed in tents on Belle Isle, c. 1864. Library of Congress.
The rostrum, built 1888, with unknown grave markers in foreground, 1908. National Archives and Records Administration.
Libby Prison, c. 1864. The print, with prisoners visible in the windows, contradicts Confederate orders directing guards to shoot anyone looking out. Library of Congress.
To learn more about benefits and programs for Veterans and families, visit www.va.gov
(War, US Civil • Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The noted painter was born in Nescopeck on July 8, 1812. His huge masterpiece, "Battle of Gettysburg," ordered by the State Legislature, is on display at the William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg.
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Just east of here is the last home site and grave of Mathias Harman, Sr. (1736–1832), early explorer, hunter and Revolutionary War veteran. Harman helped establish the first permanent English settlement in eastern Kentucky in 1755. In 1789 he founded Harman’s Station on the Levisa River near John’s Creek in present-day Johnson County. He and his wife, Lydia, settled in this area in 1803.
Org. Dec. 23, 1833, after Third Choctaw Cession. Name means "River of the Rock." Tillatoba first county seat. Three adjacent counties contain part of original county. County seats are Charleston and Sumner.
Eckley Miners’ Village opened in 1854 as anthracite coal-mining became the predominant regional industry. Homes and a company store were first established. A colliery (breaker), additional houses, churches, hotel, school and outbuildings erected in the late 19th century reflect the growth of mining and the community in the late 19th century. A series of owners—of both the village and its underlying minerals—controlled the community during its 115 year life as a private concern. 
Homes of the unskilled—like all workers’ homes in Eckley—are simple plank and frame with clapboard on the exterior walls and plaster on the inside. The front room served as a bedroom for parents and small children. The rear kitchen had the dining table. Other family members and borders (single men who worked for the colliery) lived in the two second floor bedrooms. Shallow stone cellars provided storage space for food grown in the garden.
In memory of World War I Veterans
Erected in honor
of those of Armstrong County
who served their country
in the World War
1917- 1918
Name of the former Indian town near the mouth of the Wapwallopen Creek. Indian trails connecting old Wyoming, the "Warrior's Path," and the Juniata and West Branch Susquehanna valleys intersected here.
Name of Shawnee-Delaware Indian village located here. From Braddock's defeat in 1755 until Fort Augusta was built in 1756 it was a rallying point for Indians hostile to the English
From the mouth of Nescopeck Creek an Indian path went east over the mountains by the way of present day Hazelton to the Lehigh near Mauch Chunk; then to "the Forks of the Delaware" at Easton.
Vernon Omlie, a flight instructor during World War I, and Phoebe Fairgrave began barnstorming in the Midwest in 1921. They landed in Memphis a year later, married and opened the first commercial aviation company in Memphis. Mid-South Airways, Inc. offered charters, cargo transport, aerial photography, crop dusting, and flight training. The Omlies taught hundreds to fly, including the author William Faulkner and his brothers. The Omlies and the Memphis Aero Club leased a field at Woodstock and established the first airport in the Memphis area, Armstrong Field, in 1927, Mid-South Airways offered $60 roundtrip flights to Chicago. Charles Lindbergh landed at Armstrong Field on his nationwide tour after flying the Atlantic.
In July 1841, three Md. slaves, Alick, Tom, and Ben, were pursued to Newport by bounty hunters. While Ben drowned as he attempted to cross the Juniata River, the other two were captured. Several Newport citizens aided the fugitives’ escape, and in 1842 six of them were fined in a federal court for their actions. The event is an example of growing tensions between the North and the South prior to the Civil War that led to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
This Newport Heritage Park location was made possible in 2015 by the generous community spirit of the congregation of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
