The Mt. Zion Baptist Association, composed of thirteen area Baptist churches, was organized on this property in 1857. The cemetery's name comes from the use of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church sanctuary and grounds as a campsite by Confederate General John A. Wharton's cavalry troop in 1864-1865. Although the first recorded burial is that of Guss Christopher in 1910, a number of unmarked grave sites suggest earlier burials. The cemetery contains about 140 burial sites and continues to serve as a graveyard for the surrounding rural community.