Entering the Stones River National Cemetery from the crosswalk over Old Nashville Highway, you walk along a diagonal tree-lined carriage lane separating Section M on the right and Section B on the left. The headstones on the left are blank as the engravings are on the other side of the markers. If your walk takes you a few rows inside of Section B, passing by several of the large trees, you will notice the headstones contain the letters “U.S.C.T.” If you turn your walk to the north to step through the rest of Section B and into Section A, most of the known graves contain the same four letters in an area 4-5 columns wide.
U.S.C.T. Troops in Middle Tennessee
“U.S.C.T.” means “United States Colored Troops.” They were units of emancipated slaves that joined the Union Army after the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The result of the Battle of Stones River was the vital piece for providing the initial support for Lincoln’s document. Many of these units were formed in Union-occupied Middle Tennessee and their service is well documented in the building of Fort Negley, the Battle of Nashville and defending the railroad lines.
In early 1865, the 111th Regiment of U.S.C.T. soldiers were in Murfreesboro defending the railroad lines from guerrilla activity. When Stones River National Cemetery was created, the unit was also given the grim task of retrieving all of the Union dead in the towns along the rail line they were defending as well as the Stones River battlefield and moved them to the new burial grounds. For the next 12 months, they found and moved almost 4900 bodies to the cemetery.
During this period in Middle Tennessee, they were still subject to the same diseases and wounds that killed many of the white Union soldiers. They too would end up being buried by their fellow soldiers. They would also be joined by other Black soldiers from the other U.S.C.T units in Middle Tennessee. But how they got buried becomes another National Cemetery Story that needs telling.
Burials at National Cemeteries
For many years, cemetery talks to visitors relayed the U.S.C.T. burials within Sections A and B as a reflection of how these soldiers were buried with their fellow white soldiers since their graves were found in the middle of these two sections. This was an easy assumption to make based on the appearance. But appearances can be deceiving. Looking at the burial records revealed a different picture within these two sections.
Civil War burials at Stones River National Cemetery were done in two phases. The initial phase was overseen by Chaplain William Earnshaw with the assistance of the 111th Regiment. The orders were to create a cemetery for all of the Union dead within a corridor along the railroad line from Lavergne down to Cowan, TN near the Cumberland Plateau. Once Earnshaw completed this task in just over a year, he was assigned to create the new Nashville National Cemetery for troops who died in the Cumberland River corridor.
A third project to centralize the burials of Union soldiers was also started for deaths that occurred in the corridor along the rail line from Franklin, TN down to Athens, AL. The site chosen for these burials was a private cemetery in Columbia, TN called Rose Hill. About 1200 soldiers were buried at Rose Hill in the period of 1865-1866.
The use of Rose Hill Cemetery soon became a regret for the U.S. government. Due to many reasons, the military began looking for another burial location. Stones River National Cemetery had excess space that could accommodate the additional graves needed to move the bodies from Rose Hill. In 1867, the deceased were moved to Murfreesboro and reburied in expanded Sections A, B, H and J. This Phase Two brought the number of Civil War burials at Stones River to about 6100 graves.
U.S.C.T. Burials at Stones River
If we look just at the Phase One burials at Stones River, a different picture emerges in Section A and B. The left side of these two sections at the time of the completion of Phase One, contains columns of U.S.C.T. soldiers. Were they purposedly segregated from burials with the White soldiers, relegated to the outer fringe of the national cemetery? Let us take a look at the known facts.
By the summer of 1865, the Civil War was basically over and all of the states had mustered out their regiments. U.S.C.T. troops remained in Middle Tennessee to guard the railroads and other valuable assets from guerrilla attacks. This would indicate that the White soldiers primarily died prior to the creation of the national cemetery. If every body was preassigned a specific grave before the cemetery construction started, it may make sense that the Black soldiers of the 111th Regiment who died during construction would be added on to the end. But there was no pre-assignment of graves. They were buried as they were found. If a member of the 111th Regiment died during construction, one would think that the next grave would be used for burial. But they apparently had to bury the body in a separate location until all the White soldiers were buried. It was only then that the U.S.C.T. soldiers were buried at the end of Phase One.
Phase One is easily distinguished in the national cemetery. The burial information was carefully documented on government spreadsheet forms. The clerks went row by row and wrote down the known information for each burial. When the bodies from Rose Hill came to Murfreesboro in Phase Two, the clerks changed their recordation pattern. Instead of going by rows (east and west), they added the new information to the forms by columns of graves (north and south). Once both phases were completed, the individual spreadsheets were bounded together into the burial record book for Stones River, now housed in the park’s archives. This book was then used by the War Department for the headstones created in the 1870’s. Each headstone was given a unique grave number starting in Section A and throughout the cemetery. As a result, the graves in Sections A, B, H and J are a combination of numbering in rows and columns.
This distinction between Phases One and Two is important since the U.S.C.T. burials cross over between both phases in Section B. About half of the U.S.C.T. graves are numbered in rows and the other half are numbered in columns. This almost indicates that there was a Phase 1A. After the clerks completed their documentation of the finished, at the time, burials in Stones River National Cemetery, three additional columns of Black soldiers were added to Section B. These were then documented in the columns of Phase Two.
Most of these burials were from the 111th U.S.C.T. who died in early 1866 while still on duty protecting the railroad. A block of fourteen unknown soldiers, supposedly from the 15th U.S.C.T., were moved from Shelbyville and there were some moved from Columbia and Pulaski from other units. After these graves were added, the decision was made to move the deceased from Rose Hill Cemetery to Stones River in Phase Two. As a result, the U.S.C.T. troops were sandwiched between the White soldiers in Sections A and B.
Segregation in Plain Sight
By all indications, the U.S.C.T. troops were treated differently than their fellow White soldiers. Although allowed burial in Stones River National Cemetery, they were pushed to the end of the line in Phase One. It is also interesting to find U.S.C.T. troops from Columbia and Pulaski buried in Phase 1A. All of the soldiers in this area should have been buried at Rose Hill and not moved to Stones River until Phase Two. Finding them in the earlier phase indicates that the Black soldiers were not allowed burial at the privately owned Rose Hill Cemetery.
Although their burials eventually were not segregated into a separate section (see the story of Sections P and Q), the evidence does show that there was a concerted effort to bury them on the outer fringe of the cemetery. The movement of the deceased from Rose Hill helped disguise this within the finished cemetery. It is another National Cemetery Story for us to discover.
U.S.C.T. Troops in Middle Tennessee
“U.S.C.T.” means “United States Colored Troops.” They were units of emancipated slaves that joined the Union Army after the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The result of the Battle of Stones River was the vital piece for providing the initial support for Lincoln’s document. Many of these units were formed in Union-occupied Middle Tennessee and their service is well documented in the building of Fort Negley, the Battle of Nashville and defending the railroad lines.
In early 1865, the 111th Regiment of U.S.C.T. soldiers were in Murfreesboro defending the railroad lines from guerrilla activity. When Stones River National Cemetery was created, the unit was also given the grim task of retrieving all of the Union dead in the towns along the rail line they were defending as well as the Stones River battlefield and moved them to the new burial grounds. For the next 12 months, they found and moved almost 4900 bodies to the cemetery.
During this period in Middle Tennessee, they were still subject to the same diseases and wounds that killed many of the white Union soldiers. They too would end up being buried by their fellow soldiers. They would also be joined by other Black soldiers from the other U.S.C.T units in Middle Tennessee. But how they got buried becomes another National Cemetery Story that needs telling.
Burials at National Cemeteries
For many years, cemetery talks to visitors relayed the U.S.C.T. burials within Sections A and B as a reflection of how these soldiers were buried with their fellow white soldiers since their graves were found in the middle of these two sections. This was an easy assumption to make based on the appearance. But appearances can be deceiving. Looking at the burial records revealed a different picture within these two sections.
Civil War burials at Stones River National Cemetery were done in two phases. The initial phase was overseen by Chaplain William Earnshaw with the assistance of the 111th Regiment. The orders were to create a cemetery for all of the Union dead within a corridor along the railroad line from Lavergne down to Cowan, TN near the Cumberland Plateau. Once Earnshaw completed this task in just over a year, he was assigned to create the new Nashville National Cemetery for troops who died in the Cumberland River corridor.
A third project to centralize the burials of Union soldiers was also started for deaths that occurred in the corridor along the rail line from Franklin, TN down to Athens, AL. The site chosen for these burials was a private cemetery in Columbia, TN called Rose Hill. About 1200 soldiers were buried at Rose Hill in the period of 1865-1866.
The use of Rose Hill Cemetery soon became a regret for the U.S. government. Due to many reasons, the military began looking for another burial location. Stones River National Cemetery had excess space that could accommodate the additional graves needed to move the bodies from Rose Hill. In 1867, the deceased were moved to Murfreesboro and reburied in expanded Sections A, B, H and J. This Phase Two brought the number of Civil War burials at Stones River to about 6100 graves.
U.S.C.T. Burials at Stones River
If we look just at the Phase One burials at Stones River, a different picture emerges in Section A and B. The left side of these two sections at the time of the completion of Phase One, contains columns of U.S.C.T. soldiers. Were they purposedly segregated from burials with the White soldiers, relegated to the outer fringe of the national cemetery? Let us take a look at the known facts.
By the summer of 1865, the Civil War was basically over and all of the states had mustered out their regiments. U.S.C.T. troops remained in Middle Tennessee to guard the railroads and other valuable assets from guerrilla attacks. This would indicate that the White soldiers primarily died prior to the creation of the national cemetery. If every body was preassigned a specific grave before the cemetery construction started, it may make sense that the Black soldiers of the 111th Regiment who died during construction would be added on to the end. But there was no pre-assignment of graves. They were buried as they were found. If a member of the 111th Regiment died during construction, one would think that the next grave would be used for burial. But they apparently had to bury the body in a separate location until all the White soldiers were buried. It was only then that the U.S.C.T. soldiers were buried at the end of Phase One.
Phase One is easily distinguished in the national cemetery. The burial information was carefully documented on government spreadsheet forms. The clerks went row by row and wrote down the known information for each burial. When the bodies from Rose Hill came to Murfreesboro in Phase Two, the clerks changed their recordation pattern. Instead of going by rows (east and west), they added the new information to the forms by columns of graves (north and south). Once both phases were completed, the individual spreadsheets were bounded together into the burial record book for Stones River, now housed in the park’s archives. This book was then used by the War Department for the headstones created in the 1870’s. Each headstone was given a unique grave number starting in Section A and throughout the cemetery. As a result, the graves in Sections A, B, H and J are a combination of numbering in rows and columns.
This distinction between Phases One and Two is important since the U.S.C.T. burials cross over between both phases in Section B. About half of the U.S.C.T. graves are numbered in rows and the other half are numbered in columns. This almost indicates that there was a Phase 1A. After the clerks completed their documentation of the finished, at the time, burials in Stones River National Cemetery, three additional columns of Black soldiers were added to Section B. These were then documented in the columns of Phase Two.
Most of these burials were from the 111th U.S.C.T. who died in early 1866 while still on duty protecting the railroad. A block of fourteen unknown soldiers, supposedly from the 15th U.S.C.T., were moved from Shelbyville and there were some moved from Columbia and Pulaski from other units. After these graves were added, the decision was made to move the deceased from Rose Hill Cemetery to Stones River in Phase Two. As a result, the U.S.C.T. troops were sandwiched between the White soldiers in Sections A and B.
Segregation in Plain Sight
By all indications, the U.S.C.T. troops were treated differently than their fellow White soldiers. Although allowed burial in Stones River National Cemetery, they were pushed to the end of the line in Phase One. It is also interesting to find U.S.C.T. troops from Columbia and Pulaski buried in Phase 1A. All of the soldiers in this area should have been buried at Rose Hill and not moved to Stones River until Phase Two. Finding them in the earlier phase indicates that the Black soldiers were not allowed burial at the privately owned Rose Hill Cemetery.
Although their burials eventually were not segregated into a separate section (see the story of Sections P and Q), the evidence does show that there was a concerted effort to bury them on the outer fringe of the cemetery. The movement of the deceased from Rose Hill helped disguise this within the finished cemetery. It is another National Cemetery Story for us to discover.