Frederick County was central to the Civil War military campaigns of 1862, 1863, and 1864, while Frederick City served as a major hospital center for soldiers of both armies. Hundreds of men died here, prompting the need for local Burial. Many Southern families lacked the financial or transportation means to bring loved ones back home. Unlike their Union counterparts first placed in this cemetery, Confederate casualties were not afforded the later honor of reburial in nearby Antietam National Cemetery. Today, 275 identified soldiers lay beside 29 unknowns in Mount Olivet's famed "Confederate Row."
I went to Mount Olivet Cemetery. Went with a corpse of a Union soldier to be buried. His name was "Matthew Burk, Company G 59th Regiment New York." I helped carry him in the grave. The graves were a long trench about 7 feet wide and about 30 feet long. The last coffin being partly uncovered, we put him next to the last, about one inch apart, and left ready for the next one. They bury some days 8 or 10. Those of the Rebel Army are buried in another row the same way and up to that time numbered sixty. Some of the headboards were marked with their names. One was "Lieut. Col. T. C. Watkins, 22 Regiment South Carolina." Another "Lieut. Raisin Pitts, 6th Regiment Alabama." — Jacob
Engelbrecht, September 29, 1862.
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