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Monongahela Cemetery Houses 'Grand Army of the Republic' Graveyard
By Paul Chasko

The crowd gathered at the Veterans Memorial in Monongahela Cemetery this Memorial Day to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers, sailors, and Marines. There were a lot of speeches, and the band played patriotic music and songs were sung of America the Beautiful.

Civil War rifled cannons protect the site.

Down a long, winding hill, in the oldest part of the cemetery on a beautiful wooded hillside, it was quiet. Here rest the graves of men who fought in the greatest conflict our nation has known – the Civil War. The Civil War tested the unity of our nation like no other war.

The men buried on this forgotten hillside fought with the Union Army. They came from the cities and farms of Southwestern Pennsylvania. They were the boys in blue, the Yankees that fought behind great generals such as Grant, Sheridan, McClellan, Meade, Hancock and Sherman. Their separate graveyard is flanked by rifled cannon used in the conflict as if to protect their final resting place. Dates on the gravestones are in the mid 1800s. More than 360,000 Pennsylvanians wore Union Blue during the war, scattered throughout 215 Pennsylvanian regiments. 15,000 of those died in combat and 12,000 died of disease. Some made it home, but many didn't.

They say that history is all around us in Western Pennsylvania. A visit to the Grand Army of the Republic graveyard is in the Monongahela Cemetery is a must for history buffs – and it's close to home.

Click on "Gallery" for more photos of the Civil War Cemetery by Paul Chasko

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