{"nrhp_refnum":"97000891","name":"Camp Butler National Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"5063 Camp Butler Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Sangamon County","state":"IL","lat":39.83400521500005,"lon":-89.55501597439822,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-08-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 39.2-acre national cemetery at 5063 Camp Butler Road, about six miles northeast of Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, established in 1862 on part of the Civil War Camp Butler training camp.","why_significant":"It is significant under Criterion A for its association with the Civil War, because it is all that remains of Camp Butler, Illinois's second-largest training camp and a prison camp for Confederates. It also holds veterans of every American war. It meets Criteria Consideration D as a cemetery designated by Congress as a primary memorial to U.S. military service.","narrative":"Camp Butler National Cemetery occupies 39.2 acres about six miles northeast of Springfield, Illinois. It was established in 1862 on part of Camp Butler, the state's second-largest Civil War training camp, where nearly 200,000 men passed through before the camp closed in 1866. The camp also held Confederate prisoners captured at Fort Donelson, Island No. 10 and Arkansas Post, and many died of disease. Roughly 840 to 860 Confederate soldiers are buried here, alongside Union soldiers and later veterans of every war, as well as sixteen alien prisoners of war from World War II and Korea. The grounds include a brick lodge built in 1908 with Arts and Crafts influences, a Classical Revival rostrum of Bedford limestone from 1939, and a perimeter wall and gates added in 1949. The period of significance ends in 1939, when the rostrum was built. Little else of the original camp survives.","period_of_significance":"1865-1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and early 20th century American movements (lodge shows some Arts and Crafts influences; rostrum is Classical Revival)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still an active cemetery; as of February 1997 interments continued and it was expected to remain open until 2003. The lodge serves as the cemetery office.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.101809-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AL/97000891.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000891/b36de2db38-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000891/b36de2db38-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.5","author":"Robert Lawton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Butler,_Confederate_graves.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Lawton</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Butler,_Confederate_graves.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77835552","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Butler_National_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5027032"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/sangamon-county/camp-butler-national-cemetery-97000891/"}