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US Naval Academy Cemetery
Detail of baby grave
panoramic view of cemetery
The Huron Graves
The Jeanette cross
Oratorium Exterior
Oratorium Interior
A collection of grave markers

The Early Years

Following the American Civil War, and looking to expand, the United States Naval Academy purchased a parcel of land called Strawberry Hill from the Reece Family. The 67 acre tract of land included the 6.7 acres now designated as the Naval Academy Cemetery. The below map shows the peninsula which is now called Hospital Point and indicates that at that time it was owned by Dr. Mackubin.

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CAPT Edward Phelps Lull, a Graduate of the US Naval Academy Class of 1855 gives the following account writing in July of 1869:

 

On a high point of land in this last purchase, has been laid out a Cemetery for the burial of Officers and Seamen and others belonging to the Navy. Beyond the Cemetery there is a handsome Park. The park and cemetery consist of alternate wood and lawn, with considerable diversity of level. Winding woods and paths have been laid out in very tasteful manner, making all parts accessible. So attractive are these two places that although the improvements are scarcely yet begun, they have become a very favorite resort for the people in the vicinity, a large number of persons visiting each, every pleasant day.

Edward Phelps Lull, Description and History of the U.S. Naval Academy from its Origins to the Present Time, pp. 59-60.

The first monument to be placed in the Cemetery is a cenotaph placed at the top of the hill in Section 2. It is dedicated to the Mexicans who died in the Battle of Veracruz during the Mexican-American War. The inscription is one of only a handful not in English. It reads “A LA MEMORIA DE LOS AMERICANOS QUE SUCUMBIERON EN ESTA FORTALEZA EL ANO DE 1847” Translated: To the Memory of the Americans who perished in this Fort. The year 1847
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The first documented burial and epitaph would not be placed until 1872. In August of that year, the first burial took place and speaks to the humble beginnings of this place of rest. The burial was for the infant son of then LT Edward William Sturdy, Edward William Sturdy Jr.. His father, a graduate of the Class of 1867 would die at sea in 1898 and is buried in Key West, Florida. Mrs. Sturdy and all three of her and CDR Sturdy’s children are now buried side by side in Section 4, Plot 454 of the Cemetery.

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As the years passed, decorated admirals, mess stewards, blacksmiths, sailmakers, bandsmen, midshipmen would join Edward William Sturdy Jr. in finding their final place of rest or memorial on the grounds of the Naval Academy. 

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With the Naval Academy Cemetery's establishment some families’ loved ones were memorialized or moved to the newly founded cemetery. Nine markers in the cemetery predate the 1868 founding including this cenotaph in Section 6, Plot 1569 dedicated to the memory of Thomas Taylor who drowned in 1852 while serving on the USS Preble, a sloop-of-war. The USS Preble was the first training ship used by the midshipmen at the Naval Academy.  

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At the time of its founding the Naval Academy Cemetery was not exclusively for the use of her Staff, Students and Alum. As a Naval Cemetery the Academy Cemetery is the final resting place of the crew of the USS Huron. The Huron was an iron sloop-rigged steamer that ran aground on November 24, 1877 during a storm off the coast of North Carolina near Nag’s Head. The ship burial, in Section 5, consists of individual markers for each of the crew members and a group marker of those crew members lost at sea or resting under markers bearing the title “Unknown.”

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The largest and most prominent monument in the cemetery sits in Section 2 and is dedicated to the memory of the twenty men who perished in the U.S. Arctic Expedition aboard the USS Jennette. The voyage began on July 8, 1979 when the thirty-three men crew departed San Francisco in search of a passage from the Pacific Ocean to the North Pole through the Bering Strait. The passage proved nonexistent and the crew of the Jenette found themselves trapped for over two years in the frigid arctic conditions until the harsh conditions crushed and sank the ship. While some of the men did return home in October 1881, more than half of the crew never did. The monument was erected in 1890. 

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Its design is based off the cairn, a mass grave in the form of a mound, that a recovery team built to mark the remains of the explorers in the Arctic. The inscription reads: Commemorative of the heroic officers and men of the United States Navy who perished in the Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition. 1881. The icicles hanging from the cross are a visual reminder of the sub zero  environment that the crew had to endure.

 



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