Sitka National Cemetery

Sitka National Cemetery
Details
Established	1868–1870
Location	Sitka, Alaska
Country	United States of America
Coordinates	57°03′18″N 135°19′26″W / 57.0549581°N 135.3238021°W / 57.0549581; -135.3238021, Elevation: 43 feet (13 m)
Type	United States National Cemetery
Owned by	United States Army
Size	4.3 acres (0.017 km2)
No. of graves	~1,500 (2021)
Website	Official
Find a Grave	Sitka National Cemetery
Sitka National Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
Show map of Downtown Sitka Show map of Alaska
Location	803 Sawmill Creek Road, Sitka, Alaska
Coordinates	57°03′18″N 135°19′26″W / 57.0549581°N 135.3238021°W / 57.0549581; -135.3238021
NRHP reference No.	12000057[1]
AHRS No.	SIT-029
Added to NRHP	March 7, 2012

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.

History[edit]

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.

The cemetery was enlisted as a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.^[1][2]

Notable monuments[edit]

• There are two cannons that serves as a memorial to all those who are interred at the cemetery.

Notable interments[edit]

• John Green Brady, governor of the Territory of Alaska from 1897 to 1906.
• Captain Charles William Paddock, Olympic gold and silver medalist from the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Olympics.
• Staff Sergeant Archie Van Winkle, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Korean War. (Cenotaph – his remains were cremated and scattered at sea.)

See also[edit]

• List of cemeteries in Alaska
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Sitka City and Borough, Alaska

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Sitka National Cemetery at Wikimedia Commons

• National Cemetery Administration
• Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. AK-3, "Sitka National Cemetery, 803 Sawmill Creek Road, Sitka, Sitka Borough, AK", 26 photos, 3 photo caption pages
• Sitka National Cemetery at Find a Grave
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sitka National Cemetery