Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

A large monument commemorating the Civil War services and soldiers and sailors from Illinois stands in the center of Mound City National Cemetery. This at a cost of $25,000, was erected in 1874. The Hon. N.R. Casey, member of the Illinois Legislature, introduced the appropriation bill authorizing the monument, and Gov. John L. Beveridge appointed W.L. Hamilton, J.C. Willis and W.A. Looney as commissioners to direct the work of erecting the monument. By 1874, the number of unknown soldiers and sailors was as high as 2,637.

The inscription reads: "There are buried here 2,637 soldiers and sailors, names unknown, who lost their lives in defense of their country. Their services are here commemorated although their names are lost from the roll of honor."

"Known but to God" are the identities of 2,759 who rest in the hallowed ground of Mound City National Cemetery. Twenty-seven Confederates who died in the wartime hospitals of the area are also have honored sepulcher in this cemetery. Over the years since the great conflict of 1861-1865, this cemetery is the final resting place of veterans, their spouses and dependent children, from the Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf. More than nine thousand interments have been made in Mound City National Cemetery since its establishment in 1864.

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