Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery

The creation of the Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery was organized in 1873 as a result of the efforts of the Southern Memorial Association of Washington County. While Union soldiers who fell in battle were interred in various government funded national cemeteries, dead soldiers who fought for the Confederacy were generally buried nearby to where they fell. The members of the Southern Memorial Association were unsatisfied with this, and endeavored to raise money to purchase 3.48 acres of land in Fayetteville to be made into a resting place for Confederate dead.

The Southern Memorial Association formed in 1872, and began fundraising efforts for the Cemetery not long after. At the time, $150 dollars was paid for the land that would come to house the fallen soldiers. The money was primarily raised in the Northwest Arkansas area through local gatherings and events with people from several cities contributing. These efforts were largely the results of women who had Confederate husbands or relatives. It is worth noting that the Southern Memorial Association and the United Daughters of the Confederacy are not officially related, although being a member of both was relatively common-place.

Many battles took place in the Northwest Arkansas area during the Civil War, the most famous being the battles at Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge. These were accompanied by smaller events such as the Skirmish at Fayetteville. The Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery was created to offer a resting place to the Confederate Soldiers who fell during or as a result of these conflicts. Confederate General William Slack, who was mortally wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, is perhaps the most notable person to be interred at the Confederate Cemetery.

While the layout of the Cemetery has remained mostly the same over the years, several cosmetic changes were made to beautify the site. The original sandstone headstones were replaced with marble headstones in 1903, and the somewhat rickety wooden fence was replaced with a carved stone wall by 1890. A monument to the fallen soldiers was erected in 1897, and remains a central feature of the Cemetery to this day. An effort was made to restore the monument in 2002 as it had suffered weather damage over the more than 100 years it had been in the Cemetery. Many trees were also planted in the Cemetery, each bearing the name of a soldier in the Cemetery.

Now, over 100 years later, the Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery is registered on the list of National Historic Places, having been added in 1993. The Southern Memorial Association remain faithful stewards of the Cemetery, and it remains open for public visitors.

Christ, Mark K. "Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places: Fayetteville National Cemetery and Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 71, no. 2 (2012): 217-21. Accessed November 28, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23390078.

Meriwether, Edward B. "Excerpts from an Address Given at the Confederate Cemetery in Fayetteville, Arkansas on June 2, 1940." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 3, no. 4 (1944): 351-55. Accessed November 28, 2020. doi:10.2307/40037845.

"A Partial List of Confederate Soldiers Buried in Confederate Cemetery, Fayetteville, Arkansas." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 5, no. 4 (1946): 406-10. Accessed November 28, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40018317.