Thornrose Cemetery

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This is the

Thornrose Cemetery Confederate Monument

which is located in Staunton, Virginia. This cemetery is the municipal cemetery and is very old and very large. It is also beautiful and well maintained. If you are ever in the Staunton area, I would highly recommend a visit to the Thornrose Cemetery.

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The Confederate Monument is just a small part of the cemetery and dedicated to the war dead.

On the front side is this Historical Marker is a Transcription to Honor the brave.

870 men lie here.

Recorded by name, company & regiment: from

• Virginia 305,
• N. Carolina 176,
• S. Carolina 59,
• Georgia 208,
• Alabama 49,
• Florida 8,
• Mississippi 11,
• Louisiana 19,
• Tennessee 12,
• Arkansas 20,
• Texas 3,

and 207 recorded by name only.
Confederate Dead

On the back side of the monument is the following inscription “As unknown and yet well known.” Around this shaft are gathered also the remains of about 700 Confederate soldiers, not recorded by name, from fields of Alleghany, McDowell, Cross Keys, Port Republic, Piedmont &c.

Virginia forgets not any, who died in her defense

The monument stands in the middle of a grassy area which is in reality a mass grave for approximately 1500 confederate soldiers. It sits atop a small hill….very quite and peaceful. My great-great grandfather is one of the 176 soldiers that are recorded from North Carolina. He is buried here. To say the least, it was a very moving experience to have visited this site thinking that my great-great-grandfather, William F Woods, was one of those interned in this mass grave. An official list of people buried here does not exist because many bodies were never identified.

Some folks think that William F Woods was buried here because it was reported that he died in the military hospital in Staunton. There is still some mystery here.
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Story of William F. Woods

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