Memphis National Cemetery

The Memphis National Cemetery is a rather large cemetery. There are currently over 42,000 internments. I'm not sure the number of Civil War burials here but by sight it seemed like a lot. After initially being buried at Elmwood the Sultana victims were moved here. The story told at the cemetery is that the names were written on the coffins as they were removed from Elmwood so that they would be properly identified at the national cemetery. While the coffins were waiting to be reinterned a rain storm came up. Unfortunately the names had been written on the coffins in chalk so all the names washed away with the rain and the Sultana victims all lie in graves marked unknown.

The Minnesota monument, surrounded by soldiers from Minnesota.

The Illinois monument.

It was obviously a time of resodding at the cemetery.