Beaufort National Cemetery

Submitted by admin on Thu, 2010-01-14 15:24

Beaufort National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located on Boundary Street in Beaufort. It encompasses 33.1 acres, and has more than 19,000 interments. This cemetery is under administrative control of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery System. Visitors are welcome at the Beaufort National Cemetery daily. Memorial Day services are observed annually in May.

Design

Neils Christiensen Sr., superintendent of the cemetery, landscaped it and laid out its roads. A brick wall surrounds the cemetery which is laid out in the shape of a half wheel; the cemetery's oyster shelled roads form the "spokes", and the large iron gates are set at the "hub." The cemetery grounds are landscaped with shrubs and large trees, predominately magnolia, live oak and palmetto. A Memorial Section has been established between sections 58 and 59 for those veterans whose remains were unrecoverable (Missing in Action and Missing in Service) or buried at sea, or whose remains were scattered.

Expansion

The cemetery underwent a $2.9 million, 15-acre expansion in 2006, 10 acres of which was donated by the National Guard, which had built an armory on the site in 1963. That building, which served as a training and meeting building for reservists until 2003 when the Beaufort Readiness Center was built on U.S. 21, was demolished in 2007 to make way for 2,900 more burial plots and 700 spaces for cremated remains. Cemetery director Bernie Bowse said in 2008 that the cemetery has burial space through 2030. Nonetheless, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson in late 2008 drafted two bills aimed at expanding Beaufort National Cemetery after declining to sponsor similar legislation in March of that year to oppose the "wasteful" Congressional earmark system.

History

The original interments in the cemetery were men who died in nearby Union hospitals during the occupation of the area early in the Civil War, mainly in 1861, following the Battle of Port Royal. Battlefield casualties from around the area were also reinterred in the cemetery, including over 100 Confederate soldiers. Beaufort was one of the first U.S. National Cemeteries designated by President Abraham Lincoln, who authorized its establishment in a letter dated Feb. 10, 1863. The remains of 27 Union POWs were reinterred from Blackshear Prison following the war.

The commanding general of federal occupation troops bought the 29-acre tract known as Polly's Grove for $75 at a tax sale March 11, 1863. It became the final resting place for soldiers who gave their lives during the Civil War. The cemetery contains a cross section of veterans of every conflict between the Civil War and the Persian Gulf. Remains of Union troops were removed from several places in eastern Florida, Savannah, Charleston, Morris Island, Hilton Head Island and islands near Beaufort. About 2,800 remains were removed from Millen, Ga., and reinterred in the Beaufort National Cemetery. There are more than 7,500 Civil War soldiers interred here, including 4,019 unknown Union soldiers and 117 known Confederates. Many of the troops fell on battlefields in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. In addition, there are more than 6,500 veterans of Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, as well as peacetime veterans, buried there.

Notable interments

Also interred there is a German World War II POW. He was a crew member of the German submarine U-Rathke which was sunk May 9, 1942, off of Cape Lookout, N.C. by the Coast Guard Cutter Icarus. He died while en route to Charleston. On May 29, 1989, 19 Union Soldiers of the all Black Massachusetts 55th Infantry were reinterred with full military honors. Their remains were found on Folly Island in 1987. Their grave is marked with a bronze plaque near section 56. Members of the cast of the film about the unit, Glory, served as honor guard.

Also:

  • Private First Class Ralph Henry Johnson, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Vietnam War.
  • Colonel Donald Conroy, father of Beaufort author Pat Conroy and best known by the title of his son's book, The Great Santini
  • Master Sergeant Joseph Simmons, Légion d'honneur recipient, Buffalo Soldier, World War I and World War II veteran.