Cemeteries, National
CEMETERIES, NATIONAL
CEMETERIES, NATIONAL. Before the Civil War, military dead usually rested in cemetery plots at the posts where the men had served. The Civil War, however, demonstrated the need for more and better military burial procedures. Thus, War Department General Order 75 (1861) established for the first time formal provisions for recording burials. General Order 33 (1862) directed commanders to "lay off plots … near every battlefield" for burying the dead. Also in 1862, Congress authorized the acquisition of land for national cemeteries. Basically, two types developed: those near battlefields and those near major troop concentration areas, such as the Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.
After the Spanish-American War, Congress authorized the return of remains for burial in the United States at government expense if the next of kin desired it rather than burial overseas. Of Americans killed in World War I, approximately 40 percent were buried abroad. Only 12.5 percent of the number returned were interred in national cemeteries. Beginning in 1930, the control of twenty-four cemeteries transferred from the War Department to the Veterans Administration, and after 1933 the Department of the Interior took over thirteen more. After World War II approximately three-fifths of the 281,000 Americans killed were returned to the United States, 37,000 of them to be interred in national cemeteries. By 1951 the American Battle Monuments Commission oversaw all permanent overseas cemeteries. Eligibility requirements for interment have varied over the years, but now generally include members and former members of the armed forces; their spouses and minor children; and, in some instances, officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Public Health Service.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holt, Dean W. American Military Cemeteries: A Comprehensive Illustrated Guide to the Hallowed Grounds of the United States, Including Cemeteries Overseas. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1992.
Sloane, David Charles. The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
John E.JessupJr./a. e.
See alsoUnited States v. Lee ; Unknown Soldier, Tomb of the ; Veterans Affairs, Department of ; War Memorials .