Established 1868–1870 Owned by United States Army Owner United States Army Burials Charley Paddock | Location Sitka, Alaska Phone +1 907-747-3913 Added to NRHP 7 March 2012 | |
 | ||
Country United States of America Coordinates , Elevation: 43 feet (13 m) Type United States National Cemetery Address Tongass National Forest, 803 Sawmill Creek Rd, Sitka, AK 99835, USA Similar Sitka Lutheran Church‑E, St Michael's Orthodox, Sheldon Jackson Museum | ||
Sitka National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Sitka, Alaska. It encompasses 4.3 acres (1.7 ha), and as of the end of 2005 had 1,049 interments. It is administered as part of the Fort Richardson National Cemetery by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Contents
History
Laid out by General Jefferson C. Davis, at some point between 1868 and 1870 during his time as the first commander of the Department of Alaska, as a place to inter military personnel who died while serving at the local Marine base or were under care at the Naval hospital. In 1912, the military withdrew from the area and the cemetery was neglected until 1921 when the Sitka American Legion petitioned the Secretary of the Navy for an allocation of funds to maintain the site.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge gave an executive order declaring the site a National Cemetery, and the maintenance responsibility was turned over to the United States Department of War. A 1925 revision of the executive order reduced the area of the site, but donations of land in 1957, 1959, and in the mid 1980s made it larger than it was originally.