HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Philadelphia National Cemetery is located in Philadelphia County, Pa., two miles north of Germantown in the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia National Cemetery was one of 14 national cemeteries established in 1862, and it was one of several established near large troop-recruitment and training areas. In its first year, the cemetery was composed of burial lots in seven different locations that were either donated to or purchased by the federal government. These were intended to be used specifically for soldiers who died in one of the many hospitals in the Philadelphia area. In 1885, the United States purchased a little over 13 acres from Henry J. and Susan B. Freeman to concentrate the scattered remains of soldiers into one geographic location. The remains were disinterred and consolidated at this location, occupied by Philadelphia National Cemetery today.

Philadelphia National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/philadelphia.asp

https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/nationalcemeteries/Pennsylvania/PhiladelphiaNational_Cemetery.html

Bernard Kavanaugh