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Early 1860s
Old Tallahassee Cemetery
In 1829 the Territorial Legislative Council established a burial ground outside the limits of Tallahassee. From the start, this cemetery was segregated, with the eastern half for white persons and with the western half reserved for negroes and persons of color. As the town's only burial ground for many years the cemetery contains the graves of a true cross-section of residents of Territorial Tallahassee and vicinity.
The Old Tallahassee Cemetery contains two soldier plots. On the eastern side, near the southern boundary, is a Confederate soldiers plot. This is reported to contain the remains of Confederate soldiers killed in the March 6, 1865 Battle of Natural Bridge. This battle was fought only a few miles south of town, with many of the Confederate troops being citizens of Tallahassee. It is likely that the dead from the battle were indeed brought to town for burial.
The Confederate plot includes the grave of George Center, who died in 1864 and who was a Captain with the 2nd Florida Cavalry, CSA. His headstone indicates that he received the Medal of Honor which is a post-war honor bestowed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).
In the western side of the Old Tallahassee Cemetery, reserved for Negroes and persons of color, is a Union soldiers plot. Also located along the cemetery's sourthern edge, this Union plot is reported to contain white and African-American soldiers killed at the Battle of Natural Bridge. It is generally believed, and certainly plausible, however, that US dead were either buried on the battlefield or left unburied after the battle. It is likely that the graves of unknown US soldiers in this plot are soldiers wounded in the Battle of Natural Bridge and brought to Tallahassee for care, and who subsequently died and were buried in the town cemetery.
The US soldiers plot also contains a number of headstones of soldiers from the 7th US Infantry, several with dates in the late 1860s after the end of the Civil War. The headstone of Edward Hays indicates that he died in Quincy in 1866. Quincy is a few miles west of Tallahassee and was a major Confederate depot during the Civil War. These 7th US Infantry troops were likely part of the troops that occupied Tallahassee between the end of the Civil War and the end of the US occupation of Florida at the end of the Reconstruction era (early 1870s).
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