The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 military cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War , in an act passed by the U.S. Congress on July 17, 1862. By the end of 1862, 12 national cemeteries had been established. Two of the nation's most iconic military cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army, and Gettysburg National Cemetery , under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service , were established in 1864 and 1863, respectively.
7-511: Fort Smith National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located at Garland Avenue and Sixth Street in Fort Smith , Sebastian County, Arkansas . It encompasses 22.3 acres (9.0 ha), and as of the end of 2005, had 13,127 interments. Fort Smith was a frontier fort first established in 1817, by Maj. William Bradford as a post to prevent hostilities between the Cherokees and
14-466: A total of 73 Civil War-Era National Cemeteries from 1861 to 1868. Final military honors are provided for qualified Veterans by volunteer veteran or National Guard details known as Memorial Honor Details (MHD), upon application by family members through their choice of mortuary handling the deceased. *Please note that the year listed is the official date of establishment listed by the VA. This may differ from
21-629: The Nationwide Grave-site Locator , which can be used to find burial locations of American military Veterans through their searchable website. The Department of the Army maintains two national cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery . The National Park Service (NPS) maintains 14 national cemeteries associated with historic sites and battlefields. The American Battle Monuments Commission , an independent agency of
28-455: The Osage . Despite the strategic importance of the post, the army closed it after a severe outbreak of disease which had taken the lives of several of the men stationed there by 1824. The initial interments were made in the area during this time. In 1838, a new fort was constructed on the site, including an officer's quarters where General Zachary Taylor lived from 1841 until 1845. At this time,
35-694: The executive branch, established by Congress in 1923, maintains 26 American military cemeteries and other memorials outside the United States. Twelve national cemeteries were established in 1862. A total of 34 were established during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Additional cemeteries were set up after the United States Civil War by Edmund Burke Whitman . Congress passed additional laws to establish and protect national cemeteries in 1867. The National Cemetery Administration lists
42-500: The original post cemetery was repaired, expanded, and improved. On April 23, 1861, as the American Civil War was beginning, the post was abandoned by the U.S. Army forces stationed there; it was then subsequently occupied by a Confederate garrison. During this occupation, nearly 400 Confederate soldiers died and were buried at the fort's cemetery. On September 1, 1863, the fort was then retaken by Union forces. In 1867,
49-550: The post cemetery officially became a National Cemetery when many of the remains from soldiers who had been interred on nearby battlefields were exhumed and reinterred at Fort Smith. The cemetery includes more than 1,400 unmarked graves, many of them of Union and Confederate soldiers. United States National Cemetery The National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maintains 148 national cemeteries as well as
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