Religious Site· 1867· Rapides

Alexandria National Cemetery

The Union dead from the Red River Campaign were brought here beginning in 1867. More than 3,000 Civil War soldiers are buried at Alexandria National Cemetery; about 1,700 of them are unknown. One of the oldest national cemeteries in Louisiana, it remains an active burial ground for veterans. The sections where the unknown are interred — rows of markers with no names — tell the war's mortality story more plainly than any museum display. You are standing where the administrative failure of war becomes visible: not just the dead, but the lost record of who they were.

Quick facts

·Alexandria National Cemetery was established in 1867 to reinter Union soldiers from the Red River Campaign.
·It's one of the oldest national cemeteries in Louisiana.
·It's still an active burial ground for veterans.
·More than 3,000 Civil War soldiers are interred here, including about 1,700 whose names were never recorded.
·Visitor tip: the unknown-soldier sections tell the war's mortality story more plainly than any museum.