NPS Photo A local undertaker, Mr. J.Q. Arnold, was hired by the Confederate government to bury Confederate soldiers, and carried out those duties throughout the siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Arnold meticulously maintained records of the soldiers he buried, assigning each one a grave number. Regrettably, his list and map of the cemetery disappeared after the siege, although a portion of his list was re-discovered in the early 1960s, giving the name, rank, company, unit, and date of death for 1,600 soldiers. Approximately 3,500 names are unknown. The document is now part of the archival records at the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg, MS.
Due to the disappearance of Mr. Arnold's records, only a few private headstones marked the plot until 1893. On April 26 of that year, the ladies of the Confederate Memorial Association dedicated a stone monument featuring the standing figure of a Confederate Soldier. It was not until the early 1980s, following the discovery of the partial list, that the headstones were erected through the combined effort of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Veterans' Administration. The stones were arranged with military precision and placed in state groupings. In 1998, an additional 72 headstones were erected by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to honor soldiers whose identities were established on a second list which surfaced in the collection of the Old Courthouse Museum. Additionally, Confederate dead from the Battle of Port Gibson are buried in "Soldiers' Row" of Wintergreen Cemetery, located in the town of Port Gibson. Explore the known interments of Soldiers' Rest Cemetery. |
Last updated: November 30, 2023