1450
Wilkes Street
One of the original fourteen national cemeteries established in 1862, interring Union dead from the Civil War, including United States Colored Troops reinterred from L’Ouverture Hospital.
- 1862
- Extant
Place narrative
The Alexandria National Cemetery was established in 1862 on a four-acre tract at Wilkes and Payne streets, one of the original fourteen national cemeteries created under the July 17, 1862 act of Congress that authorized military cemeteries for Union dead [1] NARA Civil War records Government record . Burials began immediately; the cemetery grew to contain roughly 3,500 interments by the end of the war.
Following the December 1864 petition of Black soldiers at 219 South Payne Street 219 South Payne Street Union Army hospital established in February 1864 for U.S. Colored Troops and Black civilian refugees in occupied Alexandria. Named for Toussaint Louverture, the Haitian … , United States Colored Troops who had been buried in the segregated Freedmen’s Cemetery were reinterred in the national cemetery in 1865 and 1866 [2] Pippenger, Alexandria Death Records Book . Their graves are marked with the standard government-issue headstones used throughout the national cemetery system.
Timeline
3 chronological entries across 2 eras.
Gallery
Historical-style placeholder of Alexandria National Cemetery, c. 1864. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph. 
Secondary placeholder view of Alexandria National Cemetery. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph.
Connected
Harriet Jacobs
b. 1813 · d. 1897
Formerly enslaved author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) who, with her daughter Louisa, worked among formerly enslaved people living in and around Union-occupied …
Visitor notable · Cemetery · %!d(float64=1864)–%!d(float64=1866)
Freedmen of the Contrabands Camp
founded 1861
Collective entity representing the several thousand formerly enslaved people who fled to Union-occupied Alexandria during the Civil War, settling in camps at Shuter's Hill, around …
Resident · Cemetery · %!d(float64=1865)–%!d(float64=1866)
Nearby in time
Ser Amantio di Nicolao · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 2823 King Street
Garden cemetery established 1856 on the western edge of Alexandria; among its interments are several mayors and Confederate veterans. …
Placeholder illustration of Fort Ward. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph. 4301 West Braddock Road
Earthwork fort raised in 1861 as part of the ring of Union fortifications around Washington; the fifth-largest of the Civil War defenses of …
Ser Amantio de Nicalao · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 811 Prince Street
Italianate residence built 1854 by merchant John Bayne; later occupied by the Fowle family of shipbuilders. NRHP-listed 1986.
320 South Washington Street 320 South Washington Street
Founded in 1863 by formerly enslaved Black congregants; one of the earliest independent Black Baptist churches in the South. NRHP-listed …
Nearby in space
Bridge on Orange & Alexandria Railroad · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · http://www.loc.gov/item/2012649966/ Jamieson Avenue at Hooff's Run
1851 stone arch railroad bridge, in continuous use since the eve of the Civil War. NRHP-listed 2003.
Bruce Andersen from Washington, DC · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 1220 Wilkes Street
Sandstone boundary marker placed 1791 to mark the southwest corner of the original District of Columbia diamond. NRHP-listed 1991.
APK · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 1707 Duke Street
Antebellum jail compound operated by slave trader Joseph Bruin from the 1840s through emancipation. NRHP-listed 2000.
Theodore Christopher · via Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1315 Duke Street
Brick Federal-era house and compound at 1315 Duke Street, operated from 1828 to 1836 as the headquarters of Franklin & Armfield, the largest …
Now
No current occupant on file. Are you, or someone you know, the present occupant? Claim this place to add operating hours, a current photo, and a short note.
Wilkes Street
Named for John Wilkes — English politician and Patriot ally, c. 1796.
Interpretive signs nearby
The City of Alexandria has installed 4 historical interpretive signs within walking distance of this place. Each links to the actual sign image on alexandriava.gov.
Civil Rights - African American Heritage Park
600 Holland Lane
Remembrance - African American Heritage Park
600 Holland Lane
Hooff's Run Bridge/Trail 1460 Duke St
Freedom - African American Heritage Park
600 Holland Lane
Sources
- 1.
National Archives and Records Administration, Union Provost Marshal records and Civil War-era military correspondence (RG 109, RG 110, RG 393).
Government record
- 2.
Wesley E. Pippenger, Alexandria, Virginia Death Records, 1863-1896, Heritage Books.
Book
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