Confederate Mound
Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed federal holidays, excluding Memorial Day.
Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
This soldiers' lot is closed to interments.
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.
From Chicago-O'Hare Airport: Take I-190 East which turns into I 90/94 (Kennedy Expressway) merge onto I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) East exit at 59B to S Yale Ave, travel south to Marquette Rd/67th Street and turn left and travel to Oak Woods Cemetery on the right. Confederate Mound is located on the grounds of Oak Woods Cemetery. There is no entrance here.
From the East or West: Take Interstate 90 to Interstate 94 South and exit at 67th Street. Take 67th Street east to Cottage Grove Avenue. Continue four more blocks on 67th Street to the entrance near South Greenwood Avenue.
From the South: Take Interstate 57 north to Interstate 94 and exit at 67th Street. Take 67th Street East to Cottage Grove Avenue. Continue four more blocks on 67th Street to the entrance near South Greenwood Avenue.
From the North: Take Interstate 94 South and exit at 67th Street. Take 67th Street east to Cottage Grove Avenue. Continue four more blocks on 67th Street to the entrance near South Greenwood Avenue.
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 private and community cemeteries that contain NCA soldiers' and government lots, and Confederate cemeteries, do not always have staffed offices on site. When administrative information for the larger cemetery is available, it is provided below.
Oak Woods Cemetery
Phone: (773) 288-3800
This soldiers' lot is overseen by Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.
Please contact the national cemetery for more information.
For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.
Floral regulations are not available for this cemetery.
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
Oak Woods Cemetery is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Established by the Oak Woods Cemetery Association in 1853, the cemetery is an early example of the Lawn-Park cemetery form. Reacting to criticism that rural cemeteries were "cluttered and crowded", cemetery designer Adolph Strauch introduced more formality to the layout of Oak Woods, while reducing the size of trees and shrubs, replacing the atmosphere of a natural garden with that of a park. In time Strauch became one of the most influential cemetery designers of his day, in part due to his work at Oak Woods. Many local politicians of note have been interred here, including two Governors of Illinois, two Mayors of Chicago, U.S. Congressman James Mann, and Walter Gresham, Secretary of State to President Grover Cleveland.
Confederate Mound is located in Section K, Divisions 1 and 2. The plot contains burials of Confederate dead originally interred in the city cemetery, and in grounds near the hospital at Camp Douglas, a prisoner-of-war camp located in Chicago.
The end of the Civil War led to the abandonment of Camp Douglas and the transfer of the Confederate dead to Oak Woods Cemetery in 1866. The following year, Oak Woods received the Confederate remains from the City Cemetery. According to contemporary military records, 3,384 bodies from City Cemetery were re-interred at Oak Woods. At the time, no individual headstones marked the location of the graves. As a result, in the late 19th century a number of Confederate associations began fundraising campaigns to erect a memorial to the dead in the cemetery. Their efforts were rewarded when President Grover Cleveland and his entire cabinet attended the dedication of the 40' tall bronze-and-granite monument on May 30, 1895.
An act of Congress in 1903 provided federal funds for the improvement of Confederate Mound, including the marking of Confederate graves and the raising of the monument and mound. These appropriations led to the placement of six bronze plaques on the monument, which list the names of 4,243 known Confederate soldiers interred here, along with an inscription regarding the funding of the monument.
Twelve unidentified Union guards who died at Camp Douglas are also interred in the plot. Their graves are marked by individual unknown headstones.
Monuments and Memorials
The memorial consists of a bronze figure of a Confederate infantry soldier, arms folded across his chest, hat in hand, and kit hanging at his side, standing atop a square granite column. The figure is adapted from a painting entitled "Appomattox" by John A. Elder. Three bas-relief panels at the base depict "The Call to Arms" on the east side, "A Veteran's Return Home" on the west side, and "A Soldier's Death Dream" on the south side. The monument marks the trench burials of the Confederate dead from Camp Douglas. The Confederate Veterans Association, along with other Confederate veterans' organizations, raised funds to erect the monument. General John C. Underwood, head of the United Confederate Veterans division west of the Alleghenies, designed and solicited contributions for the monument. The bronze plaques listing the names of buried Confederate veterans were added around 1910-1911, and may have been part of a new base design.
In addition to the monument, four artillery monuments and a cannonball pyramid were erected in Confederate Mound in the 1860's.
Under Development.
More than half of VA's national cemeteries originated with the Civil War and many are closed to some burials. Other sites were established to serve World War veterans and they continue to expand. Historic themes related with NCA's cemeteries and soldiers' lots vary, but visitors should understand "Why is it here?" NCA began by installing interpretive signs, or waysides, at more than 100 properties to observe the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011–2015). Please follow the links below to see the interpretive signs for Confederate Mound.
Visit the Veterans Legacy Program and NCA History Program for additional information. Thank you for your interest.
