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Freedmen's Cemetery Alexandria historic marker attraction Civil War display education historical marker Historical Site information landmark marker Place of Interest sign Tourist Destination Travel Destination Virginia attractive destination educating historic markers historic site info signage tourist attraction War Between the States African American VA American Civil War appealing history no people text tourism travel African ethnicity South 1861-1865 attract historic nobody word black daytime displays historical markers landmarks markers signs appeal color image educate historical outdoor vertical day destinations historic sites minority tourist attractions Jason O. Watson / historical-markers.org US African Americans colour image outside day time ethnicity USA day-time race U.S. words blacks color images daylight outdoors U.S.A. verticals minorities colour images natural light outsides United States ethnicities United States of America sign with text |
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FREEDMAN'S CEMETERY
Federal authorities established a cemetery here for newly freed African Americans during the Civil War. In January 1864, the military governor of Alexandria confiscated for use as a burying ground an abandoned pasture from a family with Confederate sympathies. About 1,700 freed people, including infants and black Union soldiers, were interred here before the last recorded burial in January 1869. Most of the deceased had resided in what is known as Old Town and in nearby rural settlements. Despite mid-twentieth-century construction projects, many burials remain undisturbed. A list of those interred here has also survived.
Department of Historic Resources, 2000. |