Culpeper National Cemetery burial schedule and eligibility

History of Culpeper National Cemetery

During the Civil War, the capital of the Confederacy and the federal government lay barely 100 miles apart, and Culpeper was located roughly midway between them. As a result of its strategic geographical location, both Union and Confederate armies occupied the region around Culpeper, VA, during the conflict. Confederates encamped and patrolled the region to thwart Union efforts to attack the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Union Army was ever-present to defend Washington, D.C., and federal supply lines, as well as to attack Richmond.

From 1862–1865, numerous battles waged throughout the region, including the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862, and the Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 through May 6, 1863. So great was the loss of life on both sides during these encounters that many scholars consider these battles to be the fiercest fighting of the war. Afterward, many soldiers died of wounds in field or military hospitals. Most were buried where they fell or were interred in make-shift graves around encampments, hospitals or the battlefield.

After the war, a reburial program was initiated by the federal government and carried out by the office of the quartermaster general. The objective was to locate the remains of all Union soldiers and reinter them in national cemeteries. As a result of the National Cemetery Act of 1862 and the number of scattered Union dead in the vicinity, Culpeper National Cemetery was established in 1867.

Land for the original six-acre cemetery was purchased from Edward B. Hill of Culpeper for $1,400. In 1872, a Second Empire Victorian-style caretaker's lodge designed by Quartermaster Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, was constructed on the property. A tool house, brick perimeter walls, and a flagstaff were most likely constructed during the 1870s as well. H.W. McCray of Washington, D.C., constructed a decorative brick rostrum with iron posts and a tin roof in December 1905.

Notable veterans buried at Culpeper National Cemetery

The National Cemetery Administration lists these people of note at Culpeper National Cemetery, with section and site where it has them.

• Sergeant Staunton Montgomery Brown (World War II). Brown (1918–1944) was a native of Culpeper, VA. The third of eleven children, Staunton's parents were Lafayette and Nina May Brown, both of whom hailed from nearby Madison County. Lafayette was a farmer by trade and when it came time for "Gummie" as he was called, to register for the draft in 1940 he too listed his occupation as "farmer." Staunton was assigned to Company B, 116th Infantry Division, 29th Infantry Division. The 29th shipped out to England in September 1942 and began to train for the invasion of France. On June 6, 1944, Staunton and Company B were aboard the second wave of landing craft assaulting the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach. Brown was killed almost immediately after the ramp of the landing craft dropped. He was buried in a temporary cemetery near Omaha Beach and the local community was stunned to hear of his loss. His parents published a note in the local newspaper thanking everyone for their love and support in the wake of such shattering news. Following the war, Staunton's remains were sent home, and he was reinterred on May 17, 1948. He now rests in Section A1, Site 1410.
• Peer de Silva was born in San Francisco on July 26, 1917. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1941 and followed with intelligence training. He was a security officer for the Manhattan Project, responsible for the transfer of atomic weapons abroad. After World War II, he was assigned to the Army's Strategic Services Unit, precursor to the CIA, and began a long career in Cold War intelligence. He was honorably discharged as a lieutenant colonel in 1953. He served as a station chief at numerous locations throughout his career, including Saigon in 1963. Injuries sustained from a 1965 car bomb forced a reassignment to Washington, DC. He retired from the CIA in 1972 and authored a book about his career, posthumously published in 1978. He died August 13, 1978. (Section G, Site 751).
• Rear Admiral John Marocchi was born in Bologna, Italy, on June 6, 1920. He was two when his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Clarksville, TN. He graduated from Austin Peay State prior to appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1942 (which graduated in December 1941). He was severely wounded on USS Birmingham (CL-62) during the Battle of Leyte Gulf during World War II. Marocchi served in the Korean and Vietnam wars as an intelligence officer and played a role in the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Pueblo Incident. He completed Army Airborne training at age 42 and was one of the few Navy officers to earn parachute wings. He retired in 1975 as deputy director, National Security Agency. Marocchi died July 12, 2014. (Section M, Site 83).

Visiting hours at Culpeper National Cemetery

Visitation Hours: Open daily from dawn to dusk. Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day. VA will continue its practice of honoring special requests for weekend burials for religious purposes, in cases of service members killed in action and on at least one day of any three-day Federal holiday weekend at all open VA national cemeteries.