Beaufort National Cemetery

Beaufort National Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Beaufort National Cemetery
Location	1601 Boundary St., Beaufort, South Carolina
Coordinates	32°26′59″N 80°40′47″W
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

• Colonel Donald Conroy, known as The Great Santini.
• Private First Class Ralph H. Johnson, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Vietnam War.
• Captain John J. McGinty III, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Vietnam War.
• John N. McLaughlin - 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.
• Chuck Taliano, United States Marine drill instructor featured in the "We don’t promise you a rose garden" recruitment poster during the 1970s and 1980s.
• General Edwin Pollock
• Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the African-American 54th Massachusetts Regiment, subject of the movie Glory.
• General William G. Thrash
• Major General Reuben Henry Tucker III Commandant of Cadets, The Citadel 1963 - 1968.
• Capt. Albert L. Schlegel, Jr., World War II fighter pilot and flying ace, reportedly captured by German troops and executed. Originally interred in France as an "unknown" until 2016, re-interred in Beaufort on March 30, 2017.

Twilight at Beaufort National Cemetery

• Ian Ronald Atherton Adamson, Lieutenant of Royal Navy, only one of Commonwealth war dead in World War II.

External links

• National Cemetery Administration
• Beaufort National Cemetery
• Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. SC-1, "Beaufort National Cemetery, 1601 Boundary Street, Beaufort, Beaufort County, SC", 34 photos, 4 photo caption pages
• HALS No. SC-1-A, "Beaufort National Cemetery, Wall", 16 photos, 1 measured drawing, 6 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Beaufort National Cemetery
• Beaufort National Cemetery at Find a Grave
• CWGC: Beaufort National Cemetery