On the peak of a quiet hilltop, located between the towns of Columbiana and Calera, the Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery sits nestled in the dense woods of central Alabama. Often referred to as “The Old Soldiers Graveyard,” the cemetery holds the remains of 189 known Confederate soldiers, as well as the remains of 180 unidentified Confederate soldiers from the American Civil War. A feature which makes this cemetery unique is that it not only holds the remains of Alabama soldiers, but also soldiers from Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and even Missouri. Before the Civil War, the cemetery was used by the local public, but in 1863 the burial grounds were expanded for Confederate soldiers.
In 1863, after the Siege of Vicksburg ended, Father Leary and the Sisters of Mercy, who ran a Confederate Army hospital in Vicksburg, were forced out of the city due to the vast amount of destruction left by Union forces. It was in the late summer of 1863 when they arrived in the Alabama resort town of Shelby Springs. When Father Leary and the Sisters left Vicksburg by train, they brought with them the wounded soldiers from their hospital. The Sisters, Father Leary, and their fellow surgeons who traveled with them, set up the Shelby Springs Confederate Hospital. The soldiers they brought with them were from various Confederacy states. They served in units ranging from infantry, artillery, cavalry, and even engineers. Many of these soldiers were stricken with mortal wounds and spent their last remaining months at Shelby Springs. The soldiers who died at the hospital were taken up to the hilltop behind the hospital and buried in the Shelby Springs Cemetery.
During the war, soldiers were shipped from field hospitals all over the South to the Shelby Springs Hospital. The cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who served in many conflicts throughout the Civil War. The Sisters of Mercy and army surgeons Warren Brickell and Benjamin Thomas continued to care for wounded Confederate soldiers until the end of the war in 1865. Interred in the cemetery are soldiers who fought at the Battle of Chickamauga, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and even the Battle of Petersburg. This makes the Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery one of the most diverse military cemeteries in Alabama.
Following the conclusion of the Civil War and the closing of the hospital, the Sisters of Mercy continued to perform burials at the cemetery when the bodies of 180 unknown Confederate soldiers were sent to Shelby Springs after the war. Four soldiers who died in 1862 in Vicksburg were exhumed at the conclusion of the war and reinterred at the cemetery to be buried with their fellow brothers in arms. Public burials at the cemetery continued until 1921. Today the cemetery can be visited and sits off the side of the road of Shelby County Highway 42. Down the hill from the cemetery are the remains of the entrance to the former hospital. This final resting place for Confederate soldiers and others is considered by many to be a hidden historical gem.
Additional resources
- Reports, Staff. “Resting Place for Confederate Soldiers.” Shelby County Reporter, 29 Mar. 2010, www.shelbycountyreporter.com/2010/03/29/resting-place-for-confederate-soldiers/.
- Seales, Bobby Joe. “Shelby County Alabama.” ALGenWeb. Accessed 2 Apr. 2024.
- “Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery.” Shelby County, AL, www.shelbyal.com/Facilities/Facility/Details/Shelby-Springs-Confederate-Cemetery-52. Accessed 2 Apr. 2024.
About the author
Brodie Coolidge is a senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Spanish. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and currently lives in Chelsea, Alabama. Brodie is a Military Police Officer in the Alabama Army National Guard. After graduating he plans on pursuing a career in law enforcement.
