Mound City National Cemetery survives to bear witness

MOUND CITY, Ill. — When volunteers fan out across Mound City National Cemetery on Dec. 16, during Wreaths Across America Day, to place wreaths on the graves of U.S. service men and women, some of those graves that will receive a wreath bear the simple but poignant inscription, “Unknown U.S. Soldier.”

The number of unknown soldiers from the U.S. Civil War is a major part of the story of one of the national cemeteries founded to be a final resting place for America’s Civil War dead.

“There are around 2,700 unknowns in Mound City National Cemetery,” said Richard Kuenneke.

Kuenneke is a volunteer with the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission. He works to promote awareness of the cemetery and the Civil War history of Mound City.

The story of how those unknowns came to be buried at a military cemetery on the banks of the Ohio River in southern Illinois happened in two parts.

“After the war, they went around and exhumed all the bodies that had been buried in camps and other places, for example, the battlefield in Belmont, Missouri,” Kuenneke said.

The Battle of Belmont occurred in Belmont, Missouri, on Nov. 7, 1861, with troops led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant meeting Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk.

Each side suffered around 600 casualties and the Union forces retreated back to Paducah, Kentucky.

“The soldiers buried there had headstones or markers, but those markers were carried away by floods. There was a horrible flood in 1865, and when the government went to retrieve the bodies, they didn’t know who they were, just that they were soldiers,” Kuenneke said.

The Illinois State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which holds pride of place in the center of the cemetery, bears the names of 2,637 unknown soldiers and sailors who died during the Civil War.

Kuenneke said he thinks local residents also consider the cemetery as a place more personal for them.

“The military is and has been an important opportunity for a lot of people down here. I think people look at this not only as a national cemetery, but as a local cemetery,” he said.

The cemetery was founded out of grim need toward the end of the Civil War.

“There was a very large military hospital in Mound City on the Ohio River. It served casualties from major battles like Fort Donelson, Shiloh and the Battle of Belmont,” Kuenneke said.

The National Cemetery System was established in 1862, during the war. In July 1862, Congress empowered President Abraham Lincoln to purchase land to be used as military cemeteries.

The National Cemetery Act in 1867 provided financing and additional support for the military cemeteries.

In 1864, Mound City National Cemetery was the 23rd national cemetery established in the United States.

The cemetery’s history — and future — has been uncertain at times. Immediately following the Civil War, burials stopped at the cemetery for a few years.

“After the Civil War, they thought that was it, they weren’t going to bury any more people here. The thought was that these were the dead from the Civil War, so we’re done,” Kuenneke said.

“In 1873 and later, they decided to bury veterans here, people who died after the war was over. Then it just expanded from there.”

In the 1990s, with federal government budget cutting, the cemetery was in danger again of being closed.

“They were going to tear down the caretaker’s lodge, bury people in that spot and once the last burial was made, they were going to close it. So, a group of local citizens organized and created the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission,” Kuenneke said.

The group was able to have the caretaker’s lodge placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The group purchased land adjoining the national cemetery and donated it to the National Cemetery Administration.

Today, the commission, which was incorporated in 1994 and holds a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, directs its efforts toward preservation, expansion and education about Mound City National Cemetery and Mound City’s Civil War history. The commission receives funding from Wreaths Across America.

The cemetery is maintained by Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Kuenneke said the cemetery has around 70 burials annually.

Because Mound City National Cemetery is one of the smaller national cemeteries and because it is mostly associated with the western theater of the Civil War, battles like Belmont, Shiloh, Vicksburg and Fort Donelson, it does not have the recognition that larger military cemeteries, like Gettysburg and Arlington, have.

“It is a difficult thing for us to get the word out about the cemetery and the history down here,” Kuenneke said.

Like the national cemetery whose history they are preserving and promoting, Kuenneke said the goal of the commission is to survive and continue their work.

“We want to survive and draw folks in, so they can learn more about the cemetery and the area’s Civil War history,” he said.

“We have to continue to fundraise and to bring in young people. If we could get a bunch of people interested in this history, that would be amazing.”