The Confederate cemetery by UTC and its older, crumblier neighbor

By Ian-Alijah Bey and William Newlin

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly conflated the Confederate cemetery, maintained by a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Citizens’ Cemetery, in the City of Chattanooga’s care. We’ve updated the headline and article to correct the error.

There are actually three cemeteries, side by side by side, between the northern edge of UTC’s campus and E. 3rd street. The two smaller parcels, kept in good condition, belong to Mizpah, a nearby Jewish congregation and a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, respectively.

A two-acre strip running between its two neighbors, the Confederate site was created in 1867 and expanded in 1901. It includes individual headstones as well as a mass grave site for unidentified Confederate soldiers.

While volunteers from the Confederate lineage society manage the cemetery today, private residents originally served as trustees of the land. The City of Chattanooga became a trustee in 1942, although its term as steward technically lapsed in 1947.

No one appointed a new trustee until 2018 when the Sons of Confederate Veterans asked the city to let them take permanent responsibility for the cemetery, according to court records.

“If this cemetery serves us a purpose, it is to generate conversation,” local historian Linda Moss Mines told Chattamatters. “We are way too divided. … If we could talk through issues, we could all see that we are all very much the same.”

Next to the Confederate-only section lies the much larger Citizens’ Cemetery. It predates the Civil War by decades, spanning about 10 acres of unmowed grass, fallen trees, and moss-covered and broken tombstones. Some Southern soldiers rest there, too.

The actual owner of the land is unclear — a common mystery for many of Chattanooga’s oldest cemeteries — but the city established it as a public park decades ago. Parks and Outdoors contracts out lawn work and some maintenance, said interim Parks Administrator Brian Smith, though it falls to family members and volunteers to care for individual graves.

Email any questions or comments to ian-alijah@chattamatters.com.