Soldiers’ Cemetery in Alexandria

An unidentified white man walks along a pathway in Soldiers' Cemetery (now Alexandria National Cemetery) in a Civil War-era photograph by Andrew J. Russell. This cemetery was established in Alexandria in 1862 for federal soldiers who had fought and died for the Union. Initially the cemetery was reserved for white soldiers only; however, in 1864, some members of the United States Colored Troops successfully petitioned that fallen Black soldiers be interred in the same burial ground.