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The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 military cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress on July 17, 1862. By the end of 1862, 12 national cemeteries had been established. Two of the nation's most iconic military cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army, and Gettysburg National Cemetery, under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, were established in 1864 and 1863, respectively.

National Cemetery Administration

The National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maintains 148 national cemeteries as well as the Nationwide Grave-site Locator, which can be used to find burial locations of American military Veterans through their searchable website. The Department of the Army maintains two national cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery. The National Park Service (NPS) maintains 14 national cemeteries associated with historic sites and battlefields.

The American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency of the executive branch, established by Congress in 1923, maintains 26 American military cemeteries and other memorials outside the United States.

History

Twelve national cemeteries were established in 1862. A total of 34 were established during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Additional cemeteries were set up after the United States Civil War by Edmund Burke Whitman. Congress passed additional laws to establish and protect national cemeteries in 1867. The National Cemetery Administration lists a total of 73 Civil War-Era National Cemeteries from 1861 to 1868.

Final military honors are provided for qualified Veterans by volunteer veteran or National Guard details known as Memorial Honor Details (MHD), upon application by family members through their choice of mortuary handling the deceased.

List of United States national cemeteries

*Please note that the year listed is the official date of establishment listed by the VA. This may differ from the year of the first burial, the oldest remains, the year the land was acquired, etc. Many post cemeteries have been given national cemetery status as late as 2020, which is considerably later than the original cemetery. For example, Vancouver Barracks post cemetery was established in 1849 and became a national cemetery in 2020—one of 11 cemeteries transferred from the Army to NCA in 2019–2020 per Exec. Order No. 13781, 2017.

See also

• Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery
• USVA emblems for headstones and markers
• List of military tombstone abbreviations

Notes and references

1. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875". memory.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
2. Administration, National Cemetery. "Dates of Establishment: National Cemeteries & NCA Burial Sites (1 of 6) - National Cemetery Administration". www.cem.va.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
3. "Nationwide Gravesite Locator". National Cemetery Administration.
4. Administration, National Cemetery. "National Cemetery Listing – National Cemetery Administration". www.cem.va.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
5. "Office of Army Cemeteries > Cemeteries". armycemeteries.army.mil. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
6. Address, Mailing; Road, ersonville National Cemetery National Prisoner of War Museum 496 Cemetery; ersonville; Us, GA 31711 Phone: 229 924-0343 Contact. "National Parks & National Cemeteries - Andersonville National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. "Edmund Whitman (1812–1873)". University of Michigan. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
8. Chap. LXI. 14 Stat. 399 from "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875". Library of Congress, Law Library of Congress. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
9. Administration, National Cemetery. "VA.gov | Veterans Affairs". www.cem.va.gov. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
10. Administration, National Cemetery. "VA.gov | Veterans Affairs". www.cem.va.gov. Retrieved 2024-04-01.

Further reading

• Bontrager, Shannon. Death at the Edges of Empire: Fallen Soldiers, Cultural Memory, and the Making of an American Nation, 1863–1921 (University of Nebraska Press, 2020); memories of American war dead. online summary by author

External links

• Department of Veteran's Affairs, National Cemetery Administration

v t e United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Headquarters: 810 Vermont Avenue NW (Veterans Affairs Department Building) Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tanya J. Bradsher, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization Office of Enterprise Integration Office of General Counsel Office of Human Resources and Administration Office of Information and Technology Office of Inspector General Office of Management Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Veterans' Experience Office
Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health	Veterans Health Administration
Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits	Veterans Benefits Administration
Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Memorial Affairs	National Cemetery Administration
Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals	Board of Veterans' Appeals

• United States national cemeteries
• Historic preservation in the United States
• 1867 establishments in the United States