Confederate Cemetery at Lewisburg, West Virginia

Confederate Cemetery at Lewisburg, West Virginia

Confederate Cemetery

The Confederate Cemetery- (Also known as Confederate Burial Grounds) is the location of a mass burial of soldiers from the battles of Lewisburg (1862) and Droop Mountain (1863).  The more well-known and documented battle of the two was the conflict at Droop Mountain. The Union goal at Droop Mountain was to eliminate Confederate occupation in the region and secure or damage the railroad. The conflict consisted of 3,855~ Union forces commanded by William W. Averell, against 1,700~ Confederate forces led by John Echols and William L Jackson. The battle ended in a Union victory, with far more casualties on the Confederate side. That is why this site was a mass burial of Confederate soldiers. These battles also marked a key moment in the history of West Virgina. Out of the resistance to the Confederate state of Virginia, West Virginia was born, shaping the modern borders we see today. West Virginia was the only region to succeed from the Confederate states and join the Union. While not all of western Virginia was supportive of the Union, a good majority of it was compared to that of eastern Virginia; thus there was the impetus for the Union to secure the region as a diplomatic and political effort to show support to loyalists. There were also essential railroad networks throughout the region, providing strategic importance. The cemetery includes four monuments, one of which was installed by the federal government around 1956. The location was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Confederate Army - Daughters of the Confederacy - Federal Government

National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, 2010.

Michael J. Pauley and Michael Gioulis, National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Confederate Cemetery at Lewisburg, State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation, (July 1987)

1862~Present

Samuel Cox

English

Location, Cementary, Historic

HIST 402A Fall 2021

Lewisburg, West Virgina