Reuben Hammond

Tennessee · United States · Cemetery

Reuben Hammond

He was an infantryman and he is buried here. He takes his duty to be standing watch over the men around him, and he is lonely.

Reuben Hammond was a Civil War infantryman and he is buried in the national cemetery at Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

What is reported of him is unlike anything else in this archive. He understands his job to be standing watch and keeping his dead comrades safe, and he is by every account desperately lonely, because nobody speaks to him.

The advice that comes with the entry is to say hello, whether or not you can see anything.

Fort Donelson fell to Grant in February 1862, the Union's first major victory of the war and the one that made his name, when he demanded unconditional surrender. Thousands of Confederate prisoners were taken here.

The cemetery holds Union dead, and most of the men in it died of disease rather than in the fighting.

It is a national battlefield and a national cemetery, and it is open.

FAQ

Where is Reuben Hammond located?

Reuben Hammond is in Tennessee, United States.

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