Bellefontaine Cemetery and the Civil War

Posted by Notch

May 4, 2011

Last weekend I was in the St. Louis area for my nieces Communion. Afterwards we had lunch and then started our trek back to our home in south-central Missouri.

However, we decided to make a pit stop along the way at Bellefontaine Cemetery in north St. Louis to visit a few Civil War graves. I have been to Calvary Cemetery just down the road back in 2006 to see William T Sherman and Dred Scott’s graves, but did not stop at Bellefontaine. Bellefontaine is just as exciting as Calvary is.

They actually have it laid out a little better than Calvary in the markers reference a map that is specific to Civil War era figures buried there. There are approximately 31 Civil War individuals buried there, some extremely well known, others not so well known.

I’ll just mention the ones that are better known, with a little minor description of each and then list the rest by name.

Major General Francis Preston Blair Jr.
Missouri Senator, Union General and Vice President candidate in 1868. He was a key figure in keeping Missouri in the Union.

Major General Sterling Price
Former Missouri governor and Confederate General who lead troops at many of the battles within Missouri including Wilson’s Creek, Pilot Knob and Westport.

Major General John Pope
Union general who was appointed to lead the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln and commanded at Second Bull Run.

Major General Don Carlos Buell
Union general who commanded the Army of Ohio and came to Ulysses S. Grant’s aid at Shiloh .

Colonel Emmett MacDonald
Confederate Colonel who was captured at Camp Jackson but released and wound up fighting at Wilson’s Creek, Carthage, Pea Ridge and Lexington. Mortally wounded in the thigh in Hartville, MO.

Those five, in my opinion are the more noteworthy of the Civil War people buried here. Obviously, that leaves many who contributed a lot, but honestly are remembered more by historians and Civil War buffs than by the mainstream. They are:

John Richard Anderson (pastor to Harriet Scott)
Edward Bates (Lincolns first attorney general)
Brig. General Benjamin L.E. Bonnville (commanded at Benton Barracks)
1LT Francis E. Brownell (Medal of Honor)
CPT Given Campbell (escort for Jefferson Davis after fall of Richmond)
Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark (son of explorer William Clark)
James Buchanan Eads (built gunboats for Grant)
Roswell Martin Field (Dred Scott attorney)
Brig. General Thomas Clement Fletcher (Missouri governor after the war)
Hamilton Rowan Gamble (Missouri Governor 1861-1863)
Col. Hugh A. Garland (killed in Franklin, TN)
CPT Robert McCullogh (survivor of Pickett’s Charge)
Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell (Southern sympathizing St Louis doctor)
Brig. General John McNeil (shot prisoners at Palmyra Massacre)
MAJ (Dr.) William M. McPheeters (Medical director for Sterling Price)
LT Henry D. O’Brien (Medal of Honor at Gettysburg)
Col. James Peckham (became author)
MAJ Julius Pitzman (Topographical engineer for Halleck and Grant)
Maj General Andrew Jackson Smith (competent division and corps commander)
Col. Thomas Lowndes Snead (aide to Governor Jackson, congressman and author)
Brig. General John Dunlap Stevenson (led brigade at Vicksburg)
Lt General Alexander Peter Stewart (one of only 17 Confederate Lt Generals)
Col. William Wade (artillery at Wilsons Creek, KIA Grand Gulf, MS)
Brig. General William D. Wherry (Medal of Honor as staff officer to Gen Lyons at Wilson’s Creek)
Col. John M. Wimer (Former St Louis mayor, KIA as member of MO Cavalry)
James E. Yeatman (President, Western Sanitary Commission)