Home

About

In the News 

Business Member Directory

Join

Calendar

Newsletter

Most Endangered Places
2005

DC's Historic Districts

Historic Housing Tax Credit

Historic Site Inventory

Contact

Most Endangered Places for 2005

BATTLEGROUND NATIONAL CEMETERY

6625 GEORGIA AVENUE, NW
STEWARD: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
DC INVENTORY OF HISTORIC SITES (1979)
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (1966)

Shortly after the Battle of Fort Stevens in the summer of 1864, General Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the United States Army, selected this site and instructed Captain Moore to evacuate and bury the Union dead. With a combined total casualty figure of over 900 killed or wounded during the conflict, 41 Union soldiers who fought and died in Fort Steven’s defense were interred in a specially created cemetery dedicated by Abraham Lincoln.

Comprising just one acre of land, Battleground National Cemetery is one of the Nation’s smallest national cemeteries. Two 6-pounder, smoothbore guns of Civil War vintage flank the entrance. In the center of the Cemetery, a flagpole surrounded by 14 regulation marble headstones mark the remains of the honored dead. In the rear of the property stands a marble rostrum built in 1914 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Stevens, which is used to conduct yearly Memorial Day services.

Poor maintenance and lack of funding has led to severe deterioration of the Cemetery. The former superintendent’s lodge, based on General Montgomery Meigs’ prototype, was restored in the mid- 1990s but is now closed. The lodge, flagpole and ceremonial rostrum are in poor shape. There is no onsite professional staff to monitor the condition of the cemetery and the only routine maintenance done is lawn mowing. The threats to the historic integrity of Battleground National Cemetery

Actions needed to alleviate threat:

• Work with the National Park Service and community groups to raise sufficient funds for maintenance, restoration, and interpretation of the historical and cultural resources of the Cemetery.
• Work with the National Parks Service to prepare preservation plan that explores options for use of the Superintendent’s Lodge such as making the building available for use by local civic groups or housing.
  

NEXT