National Cemetery Administration

Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.

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

Mobile National Cemetery is closed to new interments. The only interments that are being accepted are subsequent interments for veterans or eligible family members in an existing gravesite. Periodically however, burial space may become available due to a canceled reservation or when a disinterment has been completed. When either of these two scenarios occurs, the gravesite is made available to another eligible veteran on a first-come, first-served basis. Since there is no way to know in advance when a gravesite may become available, please contact the cemetery at the time of need to inquire whether space is available.

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 Mobile National Cemetery is administered by Barrancas National Cemetery. Please contact them at the telephone number listed above.

The cemetery is located on both sides of Virginia Street. The Post Section, Memorial Section and Sections 1 through 4 are located on the east side of Virginia Street. Sections 5 through 8 are located on the west side of Virginia Street.

Military Funeral Honors
Arrangements for military funeral honors are the responsibility of the funeral director or the family. The Barrancas Cemetery staff will provide the contact telephone numbers upon request.

Local Military and Chaplain Telephone Numbers:
U.S. Air Force: 850-882-2156 for Chaplain and Honors
U.S. Army: 334-255-9081 or 9311 for Chaplain and Honors
U.S. Coast Guard: 251-441-6014 or 305-335-4591 for Honors and 850-452-2341 for Chaplain
U.S. Marine Corps: 866-826-3628 for Honors and 850-452-2341 for Chaplain
U.S. Navy: 904-452-1536 or 9807 for Honors and 850-452-2341 for Chaplain

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

Cemetery policies are conspicuously posted and readily visible to the public.

Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave. Natural cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time of the year. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing.

Artificial flowers will be permitted on graves only during the period from November 10 through March 15.

Potted plants will be permitted on graves only during the period extending 10 days before through 10 days after Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Christmas.

Christmas wreaths, grave blankets and other seasonal adornments may be placed on graves from December 15 through January 10.

Permanent plantings, statues, vigil lights, breakable objects and similar items are not permitted on the graves. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not permit adornments that are considered offensive, inconsistent with the dignity of the cemetery or considered hazardous to cemetery personnel. For example, items incorporating beads or wires may become entangled in mowers or other equipment and cause injury.

Permanent items removed from graves will be placed in an inconspicuous holding area for one month prior to disposal. Decorative items removed from graves remain the property of the donor but are under the custodianship of the cemetery. If not retrieved by the donor, they are then governed by the rules for disposal of federal property.

Mobile National Cemetery was established in 1865 after the Port of Mobile fell into Union hands under the assault of Rear Admiral David Farragut during the Civil War.

Two years after defeating the Confederate fleet at Vicksburg, Farragut was summoned from his New York home to lead an attack on Mobile Bay, the last Confederate stronghold in the Gulf of Mexico. Mobile was not only protected by Fort Morgan and a fleet of wooden vessels, but also by the formidable confederate ship, the Tennessee and a field of explosive mines called torpedoes. Undaunted, Farragut readied his fleet for battle. Using a strategy that had worked before, he ordered his wooden ships lashed together in pairs, one large ship and one small ship. In this manner, if the larger frigate was disabled in battle, the smaller vessel could tow it to safety.

Farragut's fleet of wooden ships, along with four small ironclad monitors, began the attack on Mobile Bay early in the morning of August 5, 1864. When the smoke of battle became so thick that he couldn't see, Farragut climbed the rigging of the Hartford and lashed himself near the top of the mainsail to get a better view. It wasn't long before the Tecumseh, one of the monitors leading the way, was struck by a torpedo and sank. In a state of confusion, the fleet came to a halt in front of the powerful guns of Fort Morgan. Realizing the fleet was reluctant to move forward due to the "infernal machines," Farragut rallied his men to victory, shouting: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

The Union fleet steamed through the minefield, blasted Fort Morgan, and captured the Confederate ironclad Tennessee. Mobile Bay fell into Union hands in one of the most decisive naval victories of the Civil War.

When Union forces first took Mobile, they interred their casualties in portions of the city-owned Magnolia Cemetery, but following the Army's request for additional burial space, Mobile provided the Union troops with three acres. The first interments were remains from surrounding military sites and forts. An inspector's report of the cemetery, dated February 1871, states that of 841 burials only 124 were identified. In 1872, the Army ranked Mobile a first-class cemetery, a categorization probably based on size and activity; by 1876 it was reassessed as a second-class cemetery.

In addition to the number of Civil War dead, a number of Apache Indians are buried in Mobile National Cemetery. After Geronimo's surrender, members of the Apache nation were first sent to Florida, then transferred to Vernon Barracks. During their time at the barracks, 13 fell ill and were subsequently buried here, including Chappo, the son of the great Apache leader Geronimo.

Mobile National Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Monuments and Memorials
The 76th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment Monument was erected in 1892 by survivors of the Battle of Port Blakely, AL, in honor of their fallen comrades.

The Confederate Fortification Monument marks the remains of an old Confederate breastwork. The granite monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1940.