Gaining control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River cost more than 10,000 Union lives, and in the aftermath of battle the dead were often buried hastily in makeshift graves while at hundreds of Civil War battle sites the remains of fallen soldiers lay nearly forgotten in woods, fields, and roadside ditches. National cemeteries were created in 1862 to provide proper and honorable burials for men who died in service. Established in 1866, Vicksburg National Cemetery holds the remains of 17,000 Union servicemen, more than any other national cemetery, as well as about 1,000 veterans of other U.S. conflicts. At the close of the Civil War, the federal government conducted a massive search for the temporary graves of Union soldiers and sailors, and the remains of nearly 300,000 men were eventually reburied in national cemeteries. Many were never identified, and their graves were marked by simple square blocks. National cemeteries were initially for Union burials only, while about 5,000 Confederate veterans who died at Vicksburg lie in Cedar Hill Cemetery in an area called Soldiers' Rest.
