Wilmington National Cemetery

Wilmington National Cemetery occupies five level acres at 2011 Market Street in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. It was established on February 20, 1867, and as of mid-1996 held more than 5,600 casketed remains and 252 cremated remains. Graves were first marked with wooden headboards, later replaced by upright marble headstones. Group burials include soldiers removed from Fort Fisher and unidentified Black soldiers moved from near Burgaw. The grounds include a brick perimeter wall built from 1875 to 1878 and partly rebuilt in the 1930s, a wrought-iron gate and fence along Market Street, an octagonal brick and iron rostrum finished in 1887, a flagpole, and a 1934 Dutch Colonial Revival lodge with a slate gambrel roof. A 1939 utility building is counted as noncontributing. The cemetery was listed for its link to the Civil War. Wilmington was a vital blockade-running port supplying Lee's army, and the fighting at nearby Fort Fisher in 1864 and 1865 led to its capture. The cemetery closed to new burials in 1987, except for reserved graves.