Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn and The Civil War | Page 6
Preserving
Their
Memory:
Mount Auburn’s
Civil War Heroes
By Jenny Gilbert, Senior Gifts Officer and
Gus Fraser, Director of Preservation & Facilities
More than 90 0 me n and wome n who se rve d
and sacrificed during the Civil War are buried or com-
memorated at Mount Auburn Cemetery. The stories of these
soldiers, sailors, nurses, doctors, and clergy, who collectively
served in virtually every major campaign of the war, are
preserved in the memorials that honor their lives and serve as
reminders of their great courage, as well as the tremendous
loss experienced during that period of American history.
Ornate marble monuments finely carved with personal
military effects including a hat, sword, sash, and scabbard
capture the family pride and the glory of military service.
Inscriptions detailing battles fought, accounts of bravery,
and wounds suffered capture the reality of the war on a
highly individual level. Even simple markers with just a
name and dates have, with additional research from our
dedicated volunteers, unlocked rich personal histories and
enlivened our appreci