On June 1, 1862, the City of Alexandria purchased two acres from John H. and Margaret Baggett for $800 to establish a burial ground for Union soldiers. Known initially as the Soldier’s Cemetery, it was among the first sites designated after Congress authorized national cemeteries later that summer. The cemetery originally interred white Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of war who died in Alexandria’s hospitals. African American soldiers of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and Black refugees were buried separately at the Freedmen’s and Contrabands Cemetery on South Washington Street. As casualties mounted, Union Quartermaster James Grafton Carleton Lee secured authorization in March 1864 to purchase additional land, doubling the cemetery’s size. The City leased the land to the federal government for 999 years for $1.00, and in 1875, full title was transferred. Permanent stone markers later replaced the original wooden headboards, honoring those who sacrificed their lives during the Civil War.