美国政府于1862年7月17日下令兴建国家公墓

当士兵们在战场上战死时，他们的尸体该怎么处理呢？在内战期间，凡是死在战场、战地医院，或者是在战俘营里的士兵，他们的尸体都会被就地掩埋。到了战争退出之后，搜索队会到所有可能埋葬士兵的地点进行搜寻，把剩余的尸骨挖出来带回他们的家乡。美国政府一共花了五年的时间完成这些搜寻工作，并且查找超过25万具尸骨。

在1862年7月17日，林肯总统签署法案，正式授权美国政府兴建国家军人公墓。到了1870年，已经兴建了73处国家公墓，其中大部分是在战争时期发生最多战争与拥有最多战地医院的美国东南部地区。


What happens to soldiers when they die during a battle? During the Civil War, soldiers who died on the battlefields, in field hospitals, or in prison camps were buried where they fell. At the end of the war, search and recovery teams visited all the places where soldiers might have been hastily buried and dug up the remains to bring them home. It took five years to complete this process, and more than 250,000 sets of remains were recovered.

On July 17, 1862, President Lincoln signed legislation authorizing the creation of national cemeteries by the U.S. government. By 1870, 73 national cemeteries had been established, many in the southeastern United States, the site of many battles and field hospitals during the war.

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