Chalmette National Cemetery
St. Bernard Hwy.
Chalmette, LA 70043
Chalmette National Cemetery is a 17.5 acre strip of land that sits adjacent to the site of the
Battle of New Orleans along the Mississippi River in Chalmette, Louisiana. The cemetery, which
is closed to future burials, has more than 15,300 interments from every major U.S. conflict between
the American Revolution and Vietnam. While most of the individuals interred are veterans,
civilians such as spouses, children, and employees of the War Department are also included.
The cemetery was established in May of 1864 as a final resting place for Civil
War dead, both Confederate and Union soldiers alike. Approximately 132 Confederate
prisoners of war were buried at Chalmette until the Ladies' Benevolent Association
of New Orleans requested that these soldiers be moved out of Chalmette, which
is comprised entirely of Union soldiers, to the Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.
In the years following the war, the cemetery took in an additional 7,000 interments
of Union soldiers moved from abandoned cemeteries located all over southern Louisiana,
Ship Island, and Mississippi. Civil War burials at Chalmette number well over
12,000, but almost 7,000 are unknown.
The Confederate Database (30 kb) holds the records
for 130 of the 132 Confederate soldiers moved from Chalmette.
The Union Database is rather large. For convenience, it has been
broken up into smaller files based on last names beginning with:
The listings contain many of the same fields:
- NAME -- Given and surname of decedent
- SEC -- Burial section
- GRAVE -- Burial site within section
- GRAVE_A -- Burial site where there is more than one burial
- RANK -- Military rank
- CO -- Soldier's company
- STATE/REGT -- Soldier's or sailor's state and/or regiment
- ARM -- Service or branch
- DEATH -- Date of death
- WAR -- Conflict soldier or sailor was involved in (Note: can be ?)
- COMMENT -- Extra information
For more information, contact the Chalmette Unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical
Park at: (504) 589-4428.
Special thanks to Ed Basanez for providing updated information
for the Chalmette records as of January 14, 2000.
Return to the Cemeteries Index
For Questions/Comments, see our Questions Page
Last modified: 6/13/02
