This cemetery was established in May of 1864 as a final resting place for Civil War dead, both Confederate and Union soldiers alike. Approximately 132 Confederate prisoners of war were buried at Chalmette until the Ladies' Benevolent Association of New Orleans requested that these soldiers be moved out of Chalmette to the Confederate Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans. Eventually, the cemetery took in an additional 7,000 interments of Union soldiers moved from abandoned cemeteries located all over southern Louisiana, Ship Island, and Mississippi. Civil War burials at Chalmette number well over 12,000, but almost 7,000 are unknown.
