National Cemetery Administration

Visitation Hours: Open daily during daylight hours.

Office Hours: This cemetery is administered by Salisbury National Cemetery.

This cemetery has space available for cremated remains. We may be able to accommodate casketed remains in the same gravesite of previously interred family members.

Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran.

Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.

» Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery

Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.

For information on scheduled burials in our national cemeteries, please go to the Daily Burial Schedule.

The Salisbury National Cemetery administers this cemetery. Please contact them at the telephone number listed above.

For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.

Our floral and grounds policy exists to reflect the honor and respect we hold for our Nation's Veterans, by preserving the dignity and solemnity of their final resting place.

These items are welcome:

• Fresh-cut flowers (Anytime)
• Temporary Floral Containers (Located throughout the cemetery for public use)
• Artificial Flowers (November 1st – April 1st)
• Flags (Anytime)
• Potted Plants (a week before until a week after Easter Sunday)
• Holiday Wreaths & Grave Blankets less than 2 x 3ft (December 1 – January 10 and will be removed after January 20).

All items placed at gravesite are inspected daily and:

• May be removed when they become withered, faded, or unsightly.
• May be removed for mowing and trimming, in season.
• May NOT stand taller than the headstone.
• May NOT be secured to the headstone.

These items are prohibited: permanent plantings and vases, statues, vigil lights, breakable objects, and similar items. This includes, but is not limited to, hazardous materials, glass, metal, toys, candles, balloons, wind chimes, and pinwheels.

The Department of Veterans Affairs does not permit adornments which might be considered offensive, inconsistent with the dignity of the cemetery, or considered hazardous to cemetery personnel. For example, items incorporating beads or wires which may become entangled in mowers or other equipment and cause injury. Unauthorized items will be removed immediately.

Danville National Cemetery is located in Pittsylvania County, VA, about 144 miles southwest of Richmond.

During the Civil War, Danville was an important railroad center. A great number of recruits, supplies and war materiel were transported to Danville to provision the Army of Northern Virginia. As an important transportation hub, Danville was also the logical site for a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp.

Once the Civil War began, the Confederates found themselves with large numbers of Union prisoners captured in the Battle of Manassas. These POWs were then transported to Richmond, where they were initially housed in facilities such as Ligon's Warehouse and Tobacco Factory and many others like it. However, to reduce the high prison population in the Confederate capital, hundreds of Union POWs were relocated to six tobacco warehouses in downtown Danville, VA. Today, at 300 Lynn Street, Civil War Prison No. 6 still stands. It is a brick structure, originally built for Major William T. Sutherlin in 1855. These six facilities held just over 7,000 officers and enlisted men, 1,400 of whom died of such scourges as smallpox and dysentery brought on by starvation.

By 1864, the South's resources were disastrously depleted due to General William T. Sherman's successful destruction of the railroads. With no access to supplies of food, clothing and munitions, the civilian population of Richmond could no longer feed and cloth themselves, let alone their soldiers. To eliminate the drain on these limited resources, thousands of Union prisoners — mostly officers — were sent to the Danville prison. In winter 1864–1865, there were 2,400 prisoners of all ranks living here in overcrowded conditions.

Danville National Cemetery was established in December 1866 on 2.63 acres, about a mile from the railroad station. With the exception of the remains of four soldiers from the Sixth Army Corps, all original interments in the cemetery were Union POWs who died in the prison. The principal cause of death was disease. Many of the bodies of Union Soldiers who died in Danville's prisons were buried in mass graves. These graves were later exhumed and the bodies buried beneath individual markers.

Danville National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Monuments and Memorials
Danville National Cemetery has no monuments or memorials.