Published Accounts of Civil War Soldier Burials in Nashville
The Confederate DeadMessrs. Anson Nelson & Co., real estate agents of this city, on yesterday concluded a satisfactory contract with the lady managers of the Tennessee Memorial Association, having their headquarters in this city for the purchase , at very reasonable terms, of one of the most eligible sites in Mount Olivet Cemetery, three miles from the city, on the Lebanon Turnpike, to be used expressly for the reinterment of the remains of all Confederate soldiers buried in the immediate vicinity of Nashville. The site selected in this beautiful necropolis of the dead is nearly, if not quite, located in the very center of the original design of Mount Olivet.
The extent of the property affords ample space for the sepulture of two thousand bodies, this number it is true is greater than are buried immediately around Nashville, but the project evinces a commendable and liberal spirit in the ladies having the purchase in charge; and will avoid the unsightly crowding that is so characterizes so many burial places. It is intended to employ artificial labor and ingenuity in arranging the site. The central point is to be elevated above the remainder and will have a pleasing slope to it’s outer edge or circumference. The mounds will be arranged in lines an diverging foot-paths bordered with flowers and perennial grass will pass between them. On the outer edge or border will be an elegant avenue intended as a carriage way, twenty feet in breadth, and to be bordered on either side with a row of ornamental magnolia trees, evergreens, etc. In the center of this miniature mountain, ample room will be left for the erection of a suitable monument or memorial in after years.
Messers. Nelson & Co. have agreed to arrange the ground for the reception of the remains, and so it will then become a portion of Mount Olivet Cemetery, will hereafter keep it in good order, thereby forever dispelling any speculations, regarding neglect or inattention. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the thoughtful and provident ladies of Nashville and elsewhere engaged in the movement. They have but one other obligation to perform the re-interment of the remains and all is done. Once entombed in a final resting place so sweet and acceptable, no other duty will have to be performed toward the gallant dead save the enshrinement in our memories of their noble deeds, for danger and death have ridden unbridled over their breasts and the moudering holocast claims, aye, demands the sweetest remembrance. Here youth and chivalry, udying faith and lofty valor meet and mingle dust with dust, and when the lovely spring flowers bloom, thither should the noble daughters who have selected this shrine, repair and like the fair Ophelia, strewing their graves with flowers say: "There's pinsies, that’s for remembrance."
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