Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery
Point Lookout Road, Scotland, MD, 20680
GPS Coordinates:
38.073470, -76.342195
County: St. Mary's
Record count: 3,379
Ownership: National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Directions: Located near the southern tip of Maryland. Take Point Lookout Rd (Highway 5) south towards the community of Scotland. The cemetery sits about 500 feet west of the intersection of Point Lookout Rd and Scotland Beach Rd.
Background: During the Civil War, the Union Army established a hospital on the site after General George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign failed to capture Richmond. Following the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union desperately needed a repository for Confederate soldiers in the region; as a consequence Point Lookout was transformed into a prison.
Between 1863 and 1865, more than 50,000 prisoners passed through the gates of Point Lookout. At various points over this period, the total population of Point Lookout reached 20,000 or more, double the intended capacity. Approximately 4,000 Confederates died at the site. Many of the inmates lived in tents instead of barracks, which contributed to the large number of deaths by exposure.
Confederate remains at Point Lookout are interred in a common grave. Originally, the soldiers were buried in two cemeteries near the prison camp. However, in 1870 the state of Maryland removed the remains to a more favorable site one-mile inland. After the transfer, the individual graves could not be identified; as a result the remains were buried in a common grave. In 1910, Maryland asked the federal government to assume care of the burial site and, toward that end, passed an act relinquishing all right, title, and interest in the cemetery.
Burial Records
- Veterans Affairs Database, compiled by Interment.net, April 17, 2025, (3,379 records)
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Location Map for Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery
