Trains and the Cemetery
A National Cemetery Story
by Thomas Zei
(c) 2026 by Thomas Zei. Used by permission by Friends of Stones River National Battlefield and all rights reserved by the author.
When walking through the national cemetery, it is often impossible to ignore the neighbor to the north. Lying just over the wall runs a single railroad track using the same railbed existing before The Civil War. Long freight trains run throughout the day back and forth breaking the serenity of the graveyard.
The railroad was a big factor during the Battle of Stones River as the Union Army defended their position. Once the battle was over, the railroad became the key to the construction of Fortress Rosecrans, the major forward supply depot for the campaigns to Chattanooga and Georgia.
But for the national cemetery, there was a key relationship with the railroad through the first seventy years of its existence, through the soldiers that died protecting it, the construction of the cemetery, the community built around it and the veterans that visited.
Protecting the Rail
The railroad running from Nashville down to Decherd, TN near the Cumberland Plateau was a vital resource for the Union Army. The ability of moving troops and vital supplies was much quicker by rail then over the rugged, muddy roads up and over the many hills in Middle Tennessee. Even though the Union controlled the territory after the battles of Stones River and Tullahoma, the Confederate Army and local guerrilla forces were a constant menace taking actions to ruin the tracks and capture supplies. As a result, many Union regiments during the last two years of the war were assigned to the small towns along the rail line to protect the supply line.
The constant danger of coming under attack was very real for these small isolated garrisons positioned in the small towns and key locations. The story of the garrison at Shelbyville in the tale of James Henshaw describes the possible consequences of isolation. Although some died in these attacks, the greatest peril came from the hidden dangers. Most of the casualties were from diseases caused by poor sanitation conditions and exposure to diseases. Many were transported to the hospitals in Murfreesboro. Some just had their final days in their assigned locations. Almost 400 Union soldiers were buried in the small railroad towns south of Murfreesboro.
Visitors to the national battlefield know the Hazen Brigade, Artillery and the U.S. Regulars Monuments. But there is an additional memorial rarely seen. In Decherd, Tennessee, the troops of the 43rd Wisconsin regiment created a small monument to recognize their own, the 180th Ohio regiment and the railroad workers for their defense of the railroads and the fellow soldiers that died. This “railroad memorial” was placed in the graveyard in Decherd.
It reads "Erected By The 3rd Reg't. Wis, Vol. Inf. in memory of deceased soldiers in that Reg't and of the 180th Ohio, Tennessee Union Soldiers, Railroad Employees & c. 1865"
When the task of moving the dead into the newly created Stones River National Cemetery began, the 111th United States Colored Infantry first worked to bring in all of the dead from the battlefield, Murfreesboro and the surrounding area. The men then secured a train to retrieve the Union dead in the towns along the rail line.
Chaplain William Earnshaw, in his final report, wrote:
"We also collected all the dead north of the cemetery, on the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, as far as Lavergne (sic), including Smyrna, Stewart’s Creek, and Florence; thence south of the Cemetery, as far as the summit of the Cumberland Mountains, distant eighty-five (85) miles, including Christiana, Fosterville, Bellbuckle (sic), Wartrace, Shelbyville, Estell Springs, Normandy, Tullahoma, Decherd and Cowan, making in all about six hundred (600) bodies.”
To remove the bodies from the train, a wooden platform was constructed on the north side of the cemetery directly behind the central plaza. This platform served much longer than the initial task of bringing the dead to the national cemetery. It would eventually be marked with a sign for the train engineer reading “Cemetery”.
As to the railroad monument, it was removed from Decherd along with the deceased and taken to the national cemetery. It sits largely unnoticed at the back of the cemetery near where the platform once stood. It was largely thought that the monument was placed next to the graves of the soldiers from Decherd. But when further studies showed that the soldiers from Decherd were buried in Sections H and J, it is now assumed that the placement by the railroad was to recognize the importance of the rails to the cemetery. In the 1998 Stones River National Cemetery Cultural Landscape Inventory on page 20 noted that “The 43rd Wisconsin and 180th Ohio monument was placed near the railroad tracks by “Tennessee Union Soldiers Railroad Employees” in 1865.” It faces the tracks for all who pass by to read.
Cemetery Community
When the 111th USCI mustered out, some were hired by the military to maintain the cemetery. These men were able to secure land nearby to create a Freedmen’s Community on the same land that was part of the Stones River battlefield. Their small settlement became known as the Cemetery Community.
It’s an odd name for a community. Most towns were named after a leader of the community or for a nearby geological feature. Since the settlers just were mustered out of the army, you would think they would name the community after Chaplain Earnshaw or a fellow non-commissioned officer of the 111th like Sgt. William Holland. Although the cemetery was a nearby feature of the landscape, it certainly isn’t an uplifting name for a settlement. But the cemetery was a source of employment for the newly freed slaves residing in the area and a symbol of their freedom earned in the Civil War.
But there is one idea that does make sense for this community out in the country. If any visitors, supplies or mail were coming to the area, the directions would address the train platform as the nearest stop and the sign marking it. There would also be signs in both directions down the tracks advising the train engineer of the upcoming Cemetery platform giving the train time to slow down for the stop.” Cemetery” in the after-war conditions near Murfreesboro would be recognizable. The post-Civil War map below shows how important the "Cemetery Station" was for identifying the area. The boldness of the name certainly indicates the importance of the railroad platform.
Whether the residents named the community after their proud work to create the national cemetery or the railroad platform, we don’t know for sure. There is no known record of how the name was chosen.
Civil War Tourism
The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway line (prior to 1873, just known as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad) recognized the value of selling passenger tickets to Civil War veterans from both the North and the South to allow them to visit the battlegrounds where they fought. Stones River certainly was high on the list since the railroad went right through the battle.
The railroad would make a prolonged stop at the Cemetery platform to allow the passengers time to walk through the cemetery. The railroad later created a horse-drawn carriage ride down McFadden Lane to see the river crossing where the battle ended on January 2, 1863. Later in 1906, the railroad built a large obelisk at McFadden Farm recognizing the soldiers from both armies who fought at that location. The obelisk was tall enough so it could be seen from the train platform. [Note that the obelisk later became mis-named as the Artillery Monument in recognition of the Union cannon located on the bluff overlooking the river but it was the intention to recognize soldiers from both sides with the monument.]
Civil War tourism by rail became less of a source of income for the railway. As the years went by, survivors of the battle died shrinking the targeted audience. The Great Depression of the 1930’s led to fewer tourists. Americans were also owners of automobiles. They could travel by car down the Dixie Highway (The Nashville Pike) to see the newly established military park rather than buying a train ticket.
The carriage tours continued until at least 1934 when this picture was taken of the Cemetery stop.
The platform can be seen on the left. The sign on the right points visitors toward the McFadden Ford 1200 yards away. This photo was taken around the time that the battlefield was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service. Shortly thereafter, the National Park Service stopped the carriage tours to the river.
The Park Service not only stopped the carriage tour but also stopped the railroad from using the Cemetery platform. NPS took steps to complete the stone wall of the cemetery blocking off access to the platform with the railroad losing their convenient stop at the cemetery. In addition, many of the residents of the Cemetery Community were forced to sell their property to the War Department for the newly established Stones River National Military Park so there was no longer a need for a stop for the local residents.
The platform was disassembled. Trains now speed their way back and forth between Nashville and Chattanooga without stopping. The loud rumble breaks the silence in the cemetery.
© 2026 by Thomas Zei. Used by permission by Friends of Stones River National Battlefield and all rights reserved by the author.