Battleground National Cemetery is a military burial ground, located along Georgia Avenue near Fort Stevens, in Washington, D.C.'s Brightwood neighborhood. The cemetery is managed by the National Park Service, together with other components of Rock Creek Park.Battle of Fort StevensThe Battle of Fort Stevens, which took place on July 11–12, 1864, marked the defeat of General Jubal Anderson Early's Confederate campaign to launch an offensive action against the national capital. During the battle, 59 soldiers were killed on the Union side. There were approximately 500 casualties on the Confederate side of the battle.BurialsAfter the battle, Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs seized of farm land to use for burying the dead. Under direction from President Abraham Lincoln and Meigs, forty were buried on the evening of July 12 on the battlefield site. That night, Lincoln came to the site to dedicate it as the Battleground National Cemetery. It was declared that anyone who fought in the battle was permitted to be buried at the location. But only one veteran of the battle, Edward R. Campbell, was buried in the cemetery in March 1936 at the age of 92. Four of the family members (the mother and three children) that lived in the caretaker's house on the site are also buried at the cemetery. All of them died within five years of each other. The cemetery is now a closed site and no more burials are permitted.
