Rose Hill Cemetery
600 S. Potomac St.
Hagerstown, MD
October 17, 1999
While visiting the Antietam National Battlefield we
were privileged to hear a talk given by a Park Ranger, one Keith
Snyder. (See our story on Antietam). It was gratifying to hear someone as knowledgeable
and interested in his subject as he was. As a conclusion to his
talk on the battle at Antietam, he mentioned that the union dead
had been re-interred into the Antietam National Cemetery by 1867,
but that the Confederate dead remained in the burial trenches
where they had 
originally been buried for many additional years.
Over the years many of the burial trenches eroded and bones were
exposed, acting as eerie reminder of the horrific battles.
However, finally in 1870 the Maryland General Assembly created a
Washington Confederate Cemetery, appropriated $5,000 for the
re-interment of the Confederate soldiers. The cemetery was
officially dedicated on June 15, 1877.
As I thought of all the battlefields we had
visited it occurred to me that one of the unsettling things of
seeing all these places was that there was no closure. As long as
these men lay in trenches with no proper 
burial there just was
no end. So I determined then and there that I had to go and visit
the cemetery to pay my respects to the brave soldiers both union
and confederate who died for what they believed in.
With that in mind we went off in search of
the Rose Hill Cemetery on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown. The
cemetery is located just south of the city and is very well
tended. We found the Confederate section of the cemetery and took
pictures of the gate and the monument (representing Hope). It was
interesting how they had put the soldiers in sections according
to their units and home state. The men that they were able to
identify had their 
names listed on an engraved plaque. Those they were
not able to identify were simply buried in rows and labeled
unidentified.
I guess it might sound funny to someone who
had never stood there, but I felt a real sense of peace and
closure standing there amongst the remains of the over 2000
"southern boys" who lay, finally at rest, in a place so
far from their homes.
Good Luck! Have Fun! and Stay Safe!
Laura
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