Selected Photographs of Oakwood Confederate Cemetery

"After the Battle of First Manassas, Richmond appropriated this approximately 7.5-acre lot on 12 Aug. 1861 for the burial of Confederate war dead. These soldiers from every Southern state either died in Richmond's military hospitals, such as Chimborazo, or were brought directly from local battlefields. Eventually they numbered about 17,200, including some 8,000 unknowns. The first recorded Memorial Day observance occurred here on 10 May 1866, organized by the Ladies' Memorial Association for Confederate Dead in Oakwood Cemetery. Robert E. Lee, invited to speak, declined but wrote, 'The graves of the Confederate dead will always be green in my memory, and their deeds be hallowed in my recollection.'"

Marker placed by Oakwood Confederate Cemetery Trust, 2004.

As of November 2004, one hundred and fifty feet of iron fencing have been erected at the entrance to Oakwood Confederate Cemetery by the Trust. Members of Richmond's Captain William Latane Camp (Virginia Division SCV) have been instrumental in removing unsightly accumulations of brush along the fence line and treating the ground to insure that regrowth will not interfere with the newly installed wrought-iron fencing.


Two views of the obelisk erected to the memory of the Confederate soldiers interred at Oakwood.


Virginia Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, dedicated a marker to the women and children killed in the March 1863 explosion of a Richmond munitions factory four days after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.	Once overgrown with weeds and a small tree, this Confederate gravesite has been restored to its original condition.

Roadway entering the Confederate section of Oakwood; the steps to the Confederate monument are to the right with the gazebo in the background.

This overgrown hedge (shown here with a neighboring housing development in the background) is gradually being renovated. Some sections will be replaced with iron fencing (see above).

Markers and the gazebo before the renovation work.

Marker noting the acceptance of Oakwood by the City of Richmond.

Rows of original stone markers that note the final resting place of Confederate heroes.

The historic gazebo, with the roof that has been renovated by the Oakwood Trust.

The hedge at the left has been removed, and the growth within the iron fence has been cut back, through the efforts of the Captain William Latane SCV camp.

Markers in disarray; over 2,000 of these have been straightened and put at uniform height by the Oakwood Trust.

Trust Board Members Henry Kidd (left) and Collin Pulley discuss a rendition of a proposed monument to the unknown Confederate soldiers at Oakwood.

This page is http://home.earthlink.net/~oakwood_cemetery/selected.html
Created: 4-3-00
Last modified: 01-02-05
For more information, please contact cpulley@beldar.com

SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS OF OAKWOOD CONFEDERATE CEMETERY