946 Summer Street
Union City, Tennessee

A simple marker in a small cemetery in Union City commemorates the sacrifice of 29 unidentified Confederate soldiers killed during the American Civil War. The monument was the first of several monuments erected to honor Tennessee Confederates in the immediate postwar years. The few monuments erected to honor Tennessee Confederates in the immediate postwar years often employed funereal symbolism compared to monuments erected later in the 19th and early 20th century that tend to be statues. The 40-foot tall white marble marker with the inscription "Unknown Confederate Dead" was erected in 1869 and dedicated on October 21 of that year. The location was at what was known as the "Old Soldiers’ Cemetery" on what was at that time the southern edge of the town. The dedication ceremony was preceded by a procession led by a martial band from the courthouse to the cemetery. It is believed that there were as many as 40 wooden markers to begin with that marked the graves of the remains of Confederate soldiers whose bodies were disinterred from battle graves located throughout Obion County and reburied at the cemetery. These men had either died in battle or had been the victim of the diseases that plagued soldiers during the Civil War.

The original grave delineators have been replaced with 29 small and simple concrete head and foot stones which face toward the cemetery’s center. The monument has laid exclusive claim to the designation of "first ever" dedicated to an "unknown soldier" as well as to the title of first monument to a Confederate soldier in the South. Three other graves are located in the cemetery. Two soldiers were buried, their names known but forgotten as time went by. The third was Charles Shepperd, an African-American of Union City who was a body servant of General George Maney of the Confederate army. Sheppard is the only one buried in the cemetery whose name is known.

The monument once had a lower cavity that was the resting place for a Bible, a Confederate rifle, a history of the monument’s inception, and some other items. At some point, vandals broke into the monument and removed the items and left an ugly hole. The monument was repaired sometime around 1940 in large part due to the efforts of the Leonidas Polk Chapter of United Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. However, the restoration failed to include the date of the monument’s erection which had been part of the original construction. A more recent restoration has taken place in the 21st century with the monument having been thoroughly cleaned and its cracks repaired. Another Confederate monument was dedicated in 1909 in Kiwanis Park on East Church Street in downtown Union City.

Visiting the First Monument To The Unknown Confederate Dead
The First Monument To The Unknown Confederate Dead can be accessed at any time.
There is no charge to visit the First Monument To The Unknown Confederate Dead.