Port Hudson National Cemetery
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Port Hudson National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Port Hudson, 20 miles north of the city of Baton Rouge in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. It encompasses 19.9 acres, and as of the end of 2005, had 11,900 interments.
[edit] History
The cemetery is located on the site which was the main battleground of the Siege of Port Hudson, during the American Civil War. Nearly 4,000 Union troops fell during the fighting, and most were buried in the cemetery, many as unknowns. The Confederate soldiers who died were primarily buried in the trenches where they fell. After the war another 8.4 acres was appropriated to inter those who died in the local veteran's facilities.
The battlefield at Port Hudson is one of the only naturally preserved Civil War battlegrounds. The breastworks, gun pits, and trenches remain today almost as they were during the battle. The area has never been developed.
Port Hudson National Cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974 as part of the Port Hudson Historic Site.
