Our Confederate Dead

The Confederate Home Cemetery became the final resting place for more than 800 people and was established early in the history of the Confederate Soldiers Home of Missouri. The first interment took place in 1891, and the last came in 1950 when John T. Graves, the last resident Confederate veteran, died at age 108; his headstone reads, "JOHN T. GRAVES, THE LAST OF SHELBY'S MEN." In June 1906, the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the large granite monument that dominates the cemetery. Designed by sculptor M.H. Rice of Kansas City and built of Vermont Barre granite at a cost of $5,000, it was dedicated to all who served the Confederacy. Its statue was inspired by the Lion of Lucerne in Lucerne, Switzerland, honoring Swiss Guards killed while protecting French King Louis XVI during the French Revolution, and Rice chose the mortally wounded yet proud and defiant lion as a symbol for the Confederacy. The lion's forepaw rests on the Seal of the Confederacy, with a mounted George Washington surrounded by a wreath of agricultural products vital to the South, while the United Daughters of the Confederacy emblem appears below the lion against various Confederate flags. Unveiled on June 2, 1906, before a crowd of more than 5,000 people, the monument weighs about 50 tons and stands 18 feet tall.

Higginsville, Missouri · United States