Beaufort National Cemetery facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Beaufort National Cemetery
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Beaufort National Cemetery
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 Location in South Carolina
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1601 Boundary St., Beaufort, South Carolina |
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| Area | 28.9 acres (11.7 ha) |
| Built | 1863 |
| Architectural style | Colonial, Dutch Colonial |
| MPS | Civil War Era National Cemeteries MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 97001208 |
| Added to NRHP | October 10, 1997 |
Beaufort National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Beaufort County, in the city of Beaufort, South Carolina. Managed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 33.1 acres (13.4 ha), and as of 2014, had over 19,000 interments.
History
The original interments in the cemetery were men who died in nearby Union hospitals during the occupation of the area early in the Civil War, mainly in 1861, following the Battle of Port Royal. Battlefield casualties from around the area were also reinterred in the cemetery, including over 100 Confederate soldiers. It became a National Cemetery with the National Cemetery Act by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The remains of 27 Union prisoners of war were reinterred from Blackshear Prison following the war.
Beaufort National Cemetery now has interments from every major American conflict, including the Spanish–American War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War.
In 1987, the remains of nineteen Union soldiers of the all black Massachusetts 55th Volunteer Infantry were discovered on Folly Island, South Carolina. The Massachusetts 55th had been stationed on Folly Island from late 1863 to early 1864 and was a sister unit to the better-known Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, featured in the film Glory. On May 29, 1989, these soldiers were reinterred in the Beaufort National Cemetery with full military honors. Cast members from the film served as the honor guard at the ceremony.
Beaufort National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Notable interments
- Medal of Honor recipients
- Private First Class Ralph H. Johnson (1949–1968), recipient for action in the Vietnam War.
- Captain John J. McGinty III (1940–2014), recipient for action in the Vietnam War
- Others
- Colonel Donald Conroy (1921–1998), known as The Great Santini.
- John N. McLaughlin (1918–2002), Marine Corps Lieutenant General, served in three wars and spent three years as P.O.W.
- Master Sergeant Joseph Simmons, Légion d'honneur recipient, Buffalo Soldier, World War I and World War II veteran.
- General Edwin Pollock (1899–1982)
- Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (1837–1863), commander of the African-American 54th Massachusetts Regiment, subject of the movie Glory.
- Major General William Cobb Sr., U.S. Commandant of American Sector (Berlin), Commander of 11th Armored Cavalry (Vietnam), Paratrooper (WWII).
- Chuck Taliano (1945–2010), USMC drill instructor featured in the "We don’t promise you a rose garden" recruitment poster during the 1970s and 1980s.
- General William G. Thrash (1916–2011)
- Major General Reuben Henry Tucker III (1911–1970), Commandant of Cadets, The Citadel 1963–68.
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- US Army General James Grimsley (1921–2013)
- William Pinckney (1915–1976), recipient of the Navy Cross.
- Major General Charles Spragins
- Capt. Albert Schlegel, Jr., US Army Air Corps, served as a fighter pilot with the Canadian Royal Air Force until the United States entered WW II. After transferring to the Army Air Corps, he qualified as an "ace", with 13.5 confirmed kills and 2.5 probables. On August 28, 1944, he was shot down on a mission over Valmy, France. Although he successfully bailed out, he was reportedly captured by German troops and shot. His body was interred in France as an "unknown" until 2016, when his body was identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency through medical records. He was reinterred in Beaufort on March 30, 2017.
- Ian Ronald Atherton Adamson, Lieutenant of Royal Navy, only one of Commonwealth war dead in World War II.
