Marietta Confederate Cemetery

(May 2013) Enlarge In 1907, Mrs. Glover deeded the cemetery to the Ladies' Memorial Association. The Association then turned the property over to the state in 1908, the same year the Kennesaw Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the tall marble monument in the center of the cemetery to "Our Confederate Dead"

(May 2013) Enlarge After the Spanish-American War, this cemetery became the first place in the South where the Confederate flag was allowed to fly

(May 2013) Enlarge The hillside became the focal point of the city's Confederate Memorial Day observance in April.

(May 2013) Enlarge As the years passed and the original wooden markers weathered away, the names of soldiers killed in action and buried here were lost. In 1902, caretakers replaced the deteriorated original wooden markers with the plain marble markers of the type you see today

(May 2013) Enlarge Other monuments were also added to the hillside. In 1910, 15 identical marble markers were placed among the headstones - one monument for each Confederate state, a single marker for Maryland and Missouri, and a marker for the Soldiers' Home Section. A white marble arch was erected in 1911 near the northeast corner of the cemetery, facing Marietta Square. The arch pays homage to the fallen and bears the title "Confederate Cemetery"

(May 2013) Enlarge Burials continued in the cemetery well into the 20th century, as age gradually claimed the remaining survivors of the war. Unlike their predecessors, most of these later arrivals have their names inscribed on their markers... Interestingly, the last resident of the Confederate Soldiers Home who was buried here is a man of African-American descent. Born a slave, William H. "Bill" Yopp followed his then-master Captain Thomas M. Yopp, to war with the 14th Georgia Infantry Regiment. Bill's wartime devotion to Captain Yopp continued in peacetime as well, leading eventually to the Soldiers' Home, where both men lived out their days. Bill Yopp died on June 3, 1936

Marietta Confederate Cemetery Page10 Atlanta Campaign Home Civil War Album Home Photos this page courtesy of James Neel, Sulphur Springs, TX