In 1833 the first church in Marietta is built on the site which today holds the Marietta Confederate Cemetery. In 1839 this Baptist Church moved closer to downtown, on the aptly named Church Street just north of Marietta Square. John Glover, who was Marietta's first mayor, bought the land as part of a larger parcel shortly after he arrived in 1848. Jane Glover, his wife, officially gave the land to the "Memorial Association" in 1867, but the city began using land to bury Confederate war dead 4 years earlier, with Glover's permission.

That year a train wreck near Emerson, Georgia, not far from Allatoona Pass brings the war home for the people of this small Georgia town. The dead are buried on the hill beneath an oak tree.

As the Marietta Operations commence the city girds for inevitable dead. By now Marietta has witnessed the carnage of battle a number of times. Confederate wounded from Chickamauga are transported through the railway station at Dalton to Marietta. A number of buildings, including the Kennesaw House, serve as hospitals and the cemetery accepts its first men killed in battle.

With the launch of The Atlanta Campaign on May 4, 1864, Marietta becomes a major hospital town for the Confederacy and the number of dead in the Confederate Cemetery begins to rise. Burials of Confederate soldiers on the site continued until July 2, 1864, when William T. Sherman took the city.

Prior to 1867 Henry Cole, a prominent businessman and ardent Unionist, proposed the Marietta National Cemetery, intended to include the bodies of men who died on both sides during The Atlanta Campaign and The March to the Sea. Southerners in many towns, including Marietta, are outraged at the idea of burying Confederate dead in the same graveyard as Yankees. When the national cemetery is approved, Mrs. Glover donates the land containing the Confederate war dead.

Over the years the Confederate Cemetery suffered. Unlike the nearby National Cemetery, the Confederate Cemetery had to rely on donations, mainly from Marietta citizens. The area fell into disrepair over the years, however, thanks to the efforts of many local groups over the past twenty years many repairs and improvements have been made, returning the cemetery to its former glory.

Location: South of downtown Marietta
Directions: Take I-75 to exit 263, GA Highway 120 known locally as the South 120 Loop. Go west on Highway 120 and turn left on Powder Springs Road. The cemetery is immediately on your left.
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Date added: November 16, 2003
Last update: December 5, 2003