Cedar Grove Cemetery

Cedar Grove Cemetery. A Final Resting Place. The city of Lebanon purchased the land for this beautiful cemetery in 1846. Beneath its trees lie more than 150 soldiers who served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, including many Wilson County men who enlisted in the 7th Tennessee Infantry. The focal point of Cedar Grove Cemetery is the Confederate Monument, which was erected on July 27, 1899. The eighteen-foot-tall memorial features a statue of an infantry man standing with his rifle at parade rest. A large crowd gathered to hear Tennessee governor Benton Macmillan and several other speakers pay tribute to the qualities, struggles, and triumphs of the Southern soldier., Gen. Robert H. Hatton, a former U.S. congressman whose statue stands in the town square, is one of the notables buried here., Col. John K. Howard, Col. Sam G. Shepard, and Cape. A.K. Miller, all of the 7th Tennessee Infantry, all are interred here. James L. Barry of (Smith's) 4th Tennessee Cavalry, Tennessee's last surviving Confederate veteran, is buried here, as is Robert L. Caruthers, Confederate governor of Tennessee and a founder of Cumberland University. Martha "Mattie" Ready, the widow of Gen. John Hunt Morgan and their daughter, Johnnie, are buried in the cemetery., Nine men of Morgan's 2nd Kentucky Cavalry who were killed on May 5, 1863, during the Battle of Lebanon also are buried here. The names of the Confederate soldiers buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery are etched on the sides of this memorial; others will be added as they are discovered., "A whole community will assemble around the stricken widow of our general [Hatton]; and the mothers of the noble boys who fell by his side will mingle their tears with hers." , Lt. Colonel John K. Howard, 7th Tennessee Infantry (CSA)