Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 39.943823, -83.076012
County: Franklin
Record count: 2,163

Ownership: National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Directions: Located in the Wilshire Heights community of Columbus, the cemetery sits along the north side of Sullivant Ave at the intersection with Chestershire Rd.

Background: Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, originated as a burial ground for Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Chase prison. Named after Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, the facility initially served as a Union training camp before becoming a prisoner-of-war camp early in the Civil War. Union victories at Fort Donaldson (February 16, 1862) and Island No. 10 (April 8, 1862) brought an influx of Confederate prisoners, with the camp holding 8,000 men by 1863.

Originally, Confederate dead were buried in Columbus city cemetery before being re-interred in the prison cemetery after its establishment. The federal government purchased the site in 1879. In the 1890s, wounded Union veteran William H. Knauss led efforts to mark graves, uniting Union and Confederate veterans organizations. Congress allocated maintenance funds in 1904. The cemetery holds an estimated 2,168 remains and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Burial Records

• Veterans Affairs Database, by Interment.net, April 17, 2025, (2,163 records)

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