A Nation At War
Fierce and Bloody Battles took place May 13 – 15, 1864 on the battlegrounds near the town of Resaca, Georgia. The Confederate survivors of the Battle of Resaca; beaten, tired, and on the move, had no time to give proper burial to their brothers-in-arms. Crudely dug shallow graves were not sufficient to cover the war dead. But those who had graves were the lucky ones. Most of the fallen soldiers had no burial what-so-ever. That is, until the Green family returned to their home in 1866.
Mary Jane Green Founds The Resaca Confederate Cemetery
Mary Jane Green was astonished by the site of half-buried soldiers in the battlefields of her hometown. By July of 1866, Mary Jane was raising money and finding land to give these soldiers a proper burial. Her father (Colonel John F. Green) donated 2.5 acres and Mary Jane began planning the cemetery layout.
By October 1866, all 450 burials in the cemetery were complete and a dedication occurred on the 25th of that month. Soldiers were buried according to their state of residence. Unknown soldiers were the majority and were buried around a central stone Cross.
Without a proper perimeter fence to protect the cemetery, the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy directed the construction of the stone wall surrounding the cemetery in 1925.
