Fort Winnebago Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 43.557294, -89.426452
County: Columbia
Record count: 140

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

Directions: Located east of the City of Portage, along the south side of Highway EE, about 200 feet before the intersection with Wild Rose Ct.

Background: Fort Winnebago Cemetery Soldiers' Lot is located near the site of Old Fort Winnebago, 2.5 miles north of Portage, Wisconsin. Established in 1828, Fort Winnebago was one in a series of forts along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, a portage used to link the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Jefferson Davis was stationed at Fort Winnebago as a young soldier, before going on to become the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Interments in the post cemetery began in 1835. Fort Winnebago closed in 1853 and was sold at a public sale. Although not exempted from the sale, the cemetery property was omitted from the deed. As a result, by default, the United States retained the post cemetery. The 2-acre site was designated as a soldiers' lot in 1862. There are 75 gravesites in the lot, including dead from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I. Monuments and Memorials. In 1924 the Wau-Bun chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a granite boulder monument dedicated to the memory of the unknown dead. The monument also marks the site of the surrender of Winnebago chief Red Wing in 1827 to the Euro-American settlers of the region.

Burial Records

• View All Transcriptions Combined, 140 records
  • Veterans Affairs Database, compiled by Interment.net, April 17, 2025, (69 records)
  • Anna Mae Axness Transcription, compiled by Interment.net, (71 records)

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