In addition to our general site search in the main menu above, you can search our database of burials or our short biographies of veterans of World War II, World War I, or the Civil War, or all three wars combined.
January 21: Major General Fitz John Porter, described as “the most magnificent soldier in the Army of the Potomac,” made the mistake of being a Democrat in a Republican administration; he was court martialed and dismissed from the Army on this date in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, but was restored to the Army in 1886.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, was appointed in January to the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force. With his almost-daily appearances at nationally-televised press conferences, and his science-based approach, he has become famous. Dr. Fauci has had an extraordinary career … Read more
Yes, it was indeed quite a weekend. Our Memorial Day Weekend was in preparation for what seems like forever; it was actually only a year. And it was an amazing and moving experience. Since 2002, hundreds of volunteers have been identifying Civil War veterans at Green-Wood. We’ve written a biography for each of the 4,600 … Read more
As Memorial Day rapidly approaches, we think of the men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to this country. We honor their service. In 2002, we launched Green-Wood’s Civil War Project. We wanted to identify and locate the graves of Civil War veterans who are interred at Green-Wood. And, over the years, … Read more
Driving around Green-Wood a few years ago, I noticed a small obelisk along Central Avenue that seemed to have some sort of ship carved into it. It took me a while to get back to that monument to take a closer look, and here’s what I saw: This is the detail that caught my eye: … Read more
We have a new Historic Fund volunteer–Patty. She was interested in doing something, and, it turned out, she is quite the genealogical researcher. Once I learned that, I suggested that she might do follow-up research on the biographies of some of our Civil War veterans, looking for census entries, obituaries, and more, to improve their … Read more
Green-Wood is many things: sculpture garden, historic park, bird-watcher’s paradise, suburb for the dead. But it is also a great arboretum, with one of New York City’s great tree collections. Our 478 acres are home to almost 7,000 trees. An expert from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, after touring the grounds recently, told us that Green-Wood … Read more
On September 10, 2001, Steven Vincent was an art critic, living in the East Village. But the next day, September 11, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, and the world changed. And so did Steven’s world. Steven decided that he had a new calling in life: he would go to Iraq to … Read more
I have long-known the story of Samuel Chester Reid (1783-1861). Reid was a naval officer and hero of the War of 1812–commanding the privateer General Armstrong off the Azores, he took on a British fleet, delaying its arrival in Louisiana, and enabling General Andrew Jackson to triumph over the British at the Battle of New … Read more
In 2002, after Green-Wood restored and rededicated New York City’s Civil War Soldiers’ Monument, we launched Green-Wood’s Civil War Project. Its aim was to identify as many Civil War veterans as possible, to write a biography for each, and to mark, with gravestones obtained from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the graves of those that … Read more
