If you’re a cemetery enthusiast who is interested in Black military history, Civil War History, and especially the story of the US Colored Troops, you do not want to miss Historic Mt. Olive Cemetery in Clarksville. As an added bonus, if you love tree sanctuaries this has to be one of the best examples of a forested cemetery in Tennessee!
I’ve been to a lot of cemeteries, and I think this may be one of my favorites. A cemetery set within a forest. A cemetery honoring the deep and powerful histories of the African Americans who built, served and sacrificed for this nation. An unassuming plot of land that is tucked away behind a church, houses and a subdivision, hardly noticeable from the street, and yet enormous in its importance. Historic Mount Olive Cemetery is amazing, and just as remarkable is the community that has risen to restore and preserve it.
One of three African American cemeteries in Clarksville (Golden Hill and Evergreen Cemetery being the others), Mt. Olive is only 7.24 acres, yet it is Clarksville’s largest, private Black-owned cemetery. It is estimated that 1,350 graves are located within the cemetery, but based on ground-penetrating radar surveys it is estimated that more may be buried here. Although records state it was established in 1848, It is believed that African Americans were interred here as early as 1817 until 1958 based on the headstones that have been found, yet more than 90% of those buried here have unmarked graves. Since the site is not large and covered by trees and has gullies, it is likely that the cemetery simply ran out of room for new internments after 1958.
Aside from a well-made sign for the cemetery along Cumberland Drive, you may not even realize the cemetery is there! The sign is not in front of the entrance to the cemetery but rather a few houses away from the actual entrance, which is behind the Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 931 Cumberland Drive.
The first thing you'll notice is the forest. I have personally never encountered a well-preserved cemetery whose grounds are primarily trees. I was there in Winter and can only imagine how beautiful it is here in Summer and Fall. In 2022 the forest was officially recognized as a Tree Sanctuary by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council, and 17 species of trees have signs with their Latin and American names. Wounded Warriors, Girl Scouts and students from APSU along with monthly AARP volunteers work hard to maintain the health of the forest and beautify the cemetery. It is due to this forest that you may not immediately recognize that it is a cemetery! But look closely and you will begin to notice modest headstones, many of them handmade, as well as small, beautiful metal crosses for unmarked graves. You will also begin to see that throughout this site there are many sunken graves, which are found in most places in this forest. This can make it more difficult to walk around if you stray off the paths, so be careful and watch your footing.
The second thing you will notice is the sign for the cemetery. Be sure you walk right up to it, as there are two QR codes listed on the entrance sign that allow you to learn interactively about the veterans buried here and the Black history of the area. The Mount Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society which created this information was established as a non-profit in 2004 by Geneva Bell so that the property, and its history, would not be forgotten and its stories told. A bronze plaque memorial at the front of the cemetery is dedicated to Bell and her hard work and commitment to this place. This is one of the things that makes this cemetery stand out to me as one of the most interesting historical sites I’ve been to. So much research has gone into learning about the history of the pioneers, slaves, businessmen and soldiers of Clarksville’s African Americans of this area, and to engage you personally with the stories of those buried here. In 2020, the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Beneath the sign is a beautiful piece of art with the silhouettes of six soldiers. This is the Missing 6 Project installed in 2023 to honor and remember the six US Colored Troops interred here whose grave and headstones have not been located.
In front of the sign is a flagpole and a small memorial gravestone with these words: "In memory of the hundreds of African American souls with unmarked graves resting in honored glory at Mt Olive Cemetery. May they live on forever, and this memorial record their loss to the world."
There are three information panels throughout the cemetery. Take the time to read the boards, as you will undoubtedly learn something new about the US Colored Troops, the Buffalo Soldiers and the Civil War! I was pleasantly surprised to see so much research here into the known US Colored Troop soldiers buried here at Mt Olive. It’s a fascinating part of Civil War history that is not taught nearly as much as it should be.
Thanks to the Mt Olive Cemetery Veteran Locator Map we know that here in Mt Olive there are 31 African American soldiers representing Union Army Units dating from 1863 to 1866, including the following:
The 4th US Colored Heavy Artillery, organized in Maryland, which saw action in Virginia and North Carolina
The 12th, and 13th US Colored Infantries, recruited from Tennessee and Nashville respectively, and whose primary missions included the Defenses of Nashville, the Northwestern Railroad and the Department of the Cumberland.
The 14th US Colored Infantry, organized in Gallatin to serve there.
The 15th US Colored Infantry, organized in Nashville and serving the Post of Chattanooga, the Department of the Cumberland, and the district of the Etowah.
The 59th US Colored Infantry, organized from the 1st Tennessee Infantry (African Descent), attached to the 1st Colored Brigade in Memphis.
The 101st US Colored Infantry organized in TN and attached to the Defenses of Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the Department of the Cumberland and the Department of Tennessee.
The history of the USCTs is a fascinating one, and gut wrenching as well. Imagine the courage of men volunteering their lives to fight for the Union, knowing the cost should they be captured by the Confederates. They were known to have suffered more violence at the hands of their captors than their white counterparts, and during battles such as at Fort Pillow in Tennessee they were often the victims of massacres and other atrocities. The stance of the Confederacy was that all former slaves who fought for the Union were traitors and were to be immediately executed. It’s amazing the death rate for these soldiers wasn’t higher. These were true heroes, who put their lives at risk for their highest ideals, at great cost to many.
How the enslaved Black man became a soldier was an interesting process. First, Congress passed the Confiscation Act, which allowed Union soldiers to free slaves and use them as laborers, teamsters, cooks and other support duties. What was needed was an act that would allow these free blacks and former slaves to also become soldiers. President Lincoln was opposed to African Americans as soldiers, fearing the public opinion of Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland, who were Union states but were slave owners. However, once the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1862, the recruitment of freedmen and slaves began in earnest. The Militia Act was passed by Congress, and this gave the President the power to use free blacks and former slaves from rebel states in whatever capacity was needed. By May 22, 1863, the Bureau of Colored Troops recruited 175 regiments, including infantry, cavalry, light and heavy artillery and engineers, made up of more than 178,000 men. In the South, Tennessee was second only to Louisiana in the number of soldiers, at 20,133. In addition, Black soldiers could only rise to the rank of non-commissioned officers (those who did become COs were mostly surgeons and chaplains). These men were known to be fierce warriors and among the most respected of soldiers! Unfortunately, USCT soldiers were also the most likely to die, 35% more than white soldiers. This was from combat, diseases such as dysentery, and murderous violence at the hands of the Confederates. Of the 180,000 or so USCT, 36,000 died. Eighteen USCT soldiers earned the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award, for service in the war.
Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” – Frederick Douglass
One of the most notable contributions of the USCT regiments here in Tennessee was at the Battle of Nashville. This past December was the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Nashville, December 2-16, and Fort Negley featured prominently. (Fort Negley was built by USCT for the Union and today has a great interpretive center.) The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society puts on battle reenactments with volunteers acting as USCT, other Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers at Fort Negley. For more information about the reenactments, visit The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, Inc., which is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Civil War sites in Davidson County, or the Metropolitan Historical Commission! If you are interested in learning more about the USCT while in Clarksville, be sure to visit nearby Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center. There is a monument there honoring the USCT and the African Americans who sought safety there during the Civil War there. And the American Battlefield Trust has some great stories and history on their site regarding the USCT and the Civil War.
In addition to the USCT soldiers, there is one known Buffalo Soldier in Mt. Olive Cemetery: William H. Harris of the 24th Infantry Regiment, this being one of only two regiments with African Americans in 1869. I’m fascinated by Buffalo Soldiers, so allow me to share some of what I’ve learned. Buffalo soldiers were organized after the end of the Civil War and were exclusively African American, and some joined after serving for their regiments in Tennessee. They served throughout the American frontier in the Southwestern US and the Great Plains. The name Buffalo Soldier most likely has its origins in the names that some Native Americans called these soldiers with the wooly hair and/or bison coats. In time the name Buffalo Soldier applied to all African American soldiers, and today the US Army uses the term for units that can be directly traced back to regiments formed in 1866.
From 1879 to 1881 the Buffalo Soldiers would have seen action primarily in the Indian Wars: in the Pine Ridge Reservation, guarding against Native American Indians taking part in the Ghost Dance War and the Wounded Knee Massacre, fighting against Apache warriors in New Mexico, and fighting Yaqui natives in southern Arizona. Twenty-three Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their service in the Indian Wars. Some even participated in range wars, fought between small ranchers and farmers who were in direct conflict with large ranches for land, water and livestock; or were peacekeepers in wild west towns with unruly cowboys. But they were also known to have removed whites who were squatting illegally in native lands, so in this way ensuring the reservations were solely for Native American Indians. I wonder what William Harris was doing at this time??
I’m also really curious as to just what these Black regiments thought about being asked to fight against Native Americans who were clearly another oppressed people. Did they see themselves in the Natives, identify with their struggles for living free, without the rules imposed on them by the white man? I think that the fact that some of these soldiers chose to stay in the west and marry Native Americans probably answers this question for a percentage of them.
After the Indian Wars, regiments went on to fight in the Spanish-American War in Cuba, the Philippine-American War, and the Mexican Expedition against Pancho Villa. And this was a surprise to me: nine troops, including Harris's 24th Infantry, served as some of the nation’s first park rangers in Sierra Nevada, Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant (Kings Canyon) National Parks!
Cemeteries like these are the reason why we must try to remember the fascinating people and stories behind those who rest there. I learned a lot about the USCTs and Buffalo Soldiers from my visit and encourage you to dig deeper too. I hope you’ll visit this great cemetery along with the others in the area, such as the beautiful Greenwood Cemetery and historic Riverview Cemetery.
“"Mt. Olive Cemetery is a testament to the success of Clarksville’s post-Civil War Black community. It is significant because it reflects the history of African Americans in the town as they moved from slavery to freedom, from economic dependence to self-sufficiency, from exclusion by whites to forming their own institutions, as they struggled to overcome white imposed legal and social restrictions, and as they, all the while, supported the United States government with military service," the application for a grant said.
Mt. Olive Cemetery is at 955 Cumberland Drive, Clarksville, 37040
From Ashland City Road where it meets S. Riverside Dr., take a right on Cumberland Drive heading east. Take a right into the Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 931 Cumberland Drive. Pull into the driveway and go to the very back where you will see the best entrance to the cemetery. You can park here and start your tour.
Comments