Saturday, May 11, 2013

FORT YELLOWSTONE CEMETERY

FORT YELLOWSTONE CEMETERY


Pictured above is the gate that takes you into the Fort Yellowstone Army Cemetery. The information that I have about his cemetery comes from the document "Record of Interments at the Post Cemetery, Fort Yellowstone". Much information on deaths in Yellowstone can be found in the book by author Lee H. Whittlesley  who is the historical archivist at Yellowstone National Park.

This cemetery is the site of 57 or 58 burials from 1888 to 1957. Those people buried here are either US Army soldiers, members of the soldier's family, or civilian employees of the U. S. Army as well as members of their families. On July 4 – 5, twenty of these graves were moved to the Little Big Horn Battlefield which is located near the Crow Agency, Montana.

The cemetery is located adjacent to what is now the Mammoth horse corral. From the pictures I am able to see online, several headstones remain standing, some in good condition, some and not so good condition.

In looking through the records I see in the notes that there are numerous causes of death.  Some of those listed are - died from being killed by runaway team, being thrown from a wagon, freezing to death, alcoholism, scarlet fever, drowning in the Gardner River, falling 800 feet into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, being kicked by a horse, killed by typhoid, injuries inflicted by a grizzly, or stillbirths.

For more information on this cemetery please consult the book "Death In Yellowstone."

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