Throughout our history, Green-Wood has never wavered in our commitment to preserve the stories of the thousands of individuals interred here. Nowhere is this more evident than in our effort to honor the brave Americans—military and civilian—who served our country in time of war.

In September 2002, Green-Wood’s historian, Jeff Richman, and The Green-Wood Historic Fund launched the Civil War Project to identify veterans of that war. When we began, we naively thought that our research would identify about 500 Civil War veterans interred here. Were we wrong!

With the help of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, we scoured news sources, New York State Military Museum records, pension records at the National Archives, regimental histories, Green-Wood’s Burial Registry and monuments, online databases, and other resources too numerous to mention. The results were stunning.

To date, we have identified more than 5,200 individuals—Civil War generals and privates (both Union and Confederate), nurses, members of the Sanitary Commission, a 12-year-old drummer boy who was Brooklyn’s first casualty of the war, and even a woman who went off to war with her husband—all buried here at Green-Wood.

A crowning achievement of this effort is the creation of an online, searchable database containing biographies of every permanent resident we’ve identified who played a role in the Civil War. This important resource is the result of thousands and thousands of hours of volunteer work. We are deeply grateful to all who contributed to this extraordinary project.

We continue to identify and research additional individuals buried at Green-Wood who have a connection to the Civil War. So, the project is still a work in progress.

Those who sacrificed so much deserve to be remembered. We honor and remember them here. Enjoy their stories!

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