The Battle of Dover/Confederate Mass Grave

On February 3, 1863, Confederate General John A. Wharton attacked from the south and west against three companies of the Union 83rd Illinois Infantry and several cannons positioned near the cemetery guarding the road to Fort Henry. After hours of fierce fighting to retake Dover, the Confederates failed and were forced to leave their wounded and dead behind. Reports said that 17 men under Wharton's command were killed here and that a total of 135 to 150 Confederates were killed during the Battle of Dover. The following day, Union officer Colonel Lowe reported the dead Confederates and ordered them buried in shallow unmarked mass graves or in a trench in this cemetery and other areas around Dover. One Union soldier wrote in his diary of digging a trench for this purpose.

Dover, Tennessee · United States