Marietta National Cemetery, Georgia

Originally known as the Marietta and Atlanta National Cemetery, the Marietta National Cemetery was established in 1866. The cemetery was once considered a potential site for the Confederate States of America's Capitol Building. When the Confederate States offered $50,000 to the landowner, Henry Green Cole—a Marietta businessman and loyal Union supporter — declined the offer, saying he “expected to put it to a better purpose.” Instead, Cole proposed to donate the land as a burial ground for both Union and Confederate soldiers, hoping it would symbolize reconciliation. However, the two sides could not reach an agreement, and the cemetery ultimately became an exclusively Union burial site (there is a separate Marietta Confederate Cemetery). Of the 17,000 individuals interred there, 10,172 are Union Civil War soldiers, many of whom perished at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and approximately 3,000 remain unknown. It is also the final resting place for nearly 300 U.S. Colored Troops who served during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. Three Revolutionary War veterans are buried here.