Marietta National Cemetery

With the death toll rising rapidly during the Civil War, the idea to bury the dead in national cemeteries was conceived in 1862. Marietta National Cemetery was created in 1866. Henry Greene Cole, a prominent Marietta resident proposed the idea for the Marietta National Cemetery and offered a few acres of land near downtown. The cemetery was to contain the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers; however, federal officials did not want Confederate dead to be buried near Yankee dead. More than 17,000 men are buried here, and more than 3,000 are unknown. Many died during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and a total of 10,072 died during the Civil War. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and visitation hours are sunrise to sunset.