13 Cemeteries, 35,000 Stories: The Untold History of Alexandria’s Wilkes Street Complex

ECW welcomes back Madeline Feierstein.

The urban hub of Alexandria, Virginia has not only been a center of history, but also of faith. Numerous denominations have a home in Old Town, and many established churchyards attached to their historic structures.

A devastating yellow fever epidemic shattered this colonial sea port’s accepted burial practices. In 1803, victims of this plague were not authorized to be buried within the city limits. The solution: place the unfortunate souls in unmarked graves at what is known as “Penny Hill.” Over the next few years, the individual churches established official burying grounds adjacent to this mass grave. Thus, the Wilkes Street Complex was born.

Regarded as the most historic cluster of cemeteries in the United States, the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex is the final resting place of countless people who influenced and impacted Civil War America. With over 35,000 total burials – not to mention the potential hundreds or thousands of lost, unmarked graves – there are many stories to tell right below our feet.

The complex is often interpreted as a smattering of historic people scattered across a large, unconnected landscape, but this is simply not the case. Wilkes Street’s story is intricately tied to the narrative of Alexandria and the greater nation. A public complex, visitors are welcome to wander the headstones on their own or through a guided experience with the tour company Gravestone Stories. David Heiby, owner and operator, serves as the superintendent of the Presbyterian Cemetery in the complex.

Called to serve his congregation, Heiby gives those buried in his, as well as the surrounding sections, a “second life,” not only by recounting their tales on tours, but also online for generations to come through high-quality digitization and plot profiles. The personal connection that he shares with the site has enabled him to take on this massive project as an extension of himself. I joined David’s team officially in spring 2024 when I learned of his mission at Wilkes Street. Together, we hope to designate the entire complex as a historic site to preserve the physical remnants of these oral and virtual stories.

Often overlooked in the listings of places to see in Old Town, it is more critical than ever not only to preserve the headstones and those buried underneath, but also their richly lived lives. Heiby remarks in this Museum of American History that you die twice: when you take your last breath, and when your story is no longer told.

Alexandria’s Civil War history is entrenched in its streets and carved into its very buildings. Cemeteries, too, can continue to hold scars of physical trauma and detail emotional turmoil long after suffering or death. Citizens of Alexandria City and Fairfax County were deeply divided by wartime loyalties during the conflict; many returned to their family homes after the surrender at Appomattox and resumed their prewar lives, no matter their allegiance. Several families had longstanding history in Alexandria long before discussions of secession reached Senate floors.

Interred in the Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery are prolific members of the Lee family. Since so many Lees moved to Old Town Alexandria in the antebellum period, the blocks at Washington, Oronoco, Queen, and Princess streets are informally referred to as “Lee’s Corner.” Syndey Smith Lee (1802-1869), elder brother to Robert E., died one year before his more famous sibling. Christ Church and the neighboring plots in Trinity Methodist’s section are littered with symbolic obelisks, one of which marks Sydney Lee’s resting place. A few yards away lies the Mason family of Gunston Hall, where notable statesman and drafter of the consequential 1850 Fugitive Slave Act rests: James Murray Mason (1798-1871).

The Presbyterian Cemetery, physically the largest section of the complex, contains the plot of Samuel Richard Johnston (1833-1899). A member of Robert E. Lee’s staff during the battle of Gettysburg, Johnston is regularly criticized for his faulty reconnaissance on Little Round Top.

Numerous members of the Fendall Family, intertwined with Lee branches in their tree, are laid to rest near blooming dogwood trees and a state champion magnolia. Philip Fendall II (1794-1868), first cousin to Robert E. Lee, is surrounded by seven of his eleven children. His eldest son to achieve adulthood, Philip Fendall III (1832-1879), almost came to blows with his Confederate younger brother James Young Fendall (1838-1869) while both were stationed near Sewell’s Point, Virginia and their vessels caught sight of one another.^[1]

St. Paul’s Cemetery is famous for the most visited grave in Alexandria: the Female Stranger. Thousands pay their respects to a woman who disembarked at the wharf, came down with an unconfirmed illness, and passed away at Gadsby’s Tavern. Her even more obscure death and lack of details about her life shroud her in mystery – and her spirit is said to roam the halls of this colonial establishment. While she and her story date to 1816, this section boasts a familiar name to Civil War buffs: Wilmer McLean. He is noteworthy for his catchphrase: “The war started in my front yard and ended in my front parlor.” Visitors are shocked to learn that this prominent figure in the narrative is buried in Alexandria. After tourists and looters picked his Appomattox home to shreds, McLean relocated to Alexandria in search of employment. His headstone is the cleanest and most well-maintained in the McLean family plot.

The complex is home to both Union and Confederate advocates, many of whom followed their respective battle flags into combat or supported their cause behind-the-scenes. These burials illustrate the sectional divisions within Alexandria’s founding families, which is a feature across many denominations of Wilkes Street.

The national cemetery system began here at Wilkes Street. While the formal establishment month and date is undetermined and competes with another site in Keokuk, Iowa, the military government of Civil War Alexandria declared this section of the complex the “Soldier’s Cemetery” in 1862.^[2]

Divided into two main sections (A & B), it was the quartermaster’s immediate solution to an unpredicted problem in the city: the growing number of war dead. At the war’s peak in summer 1864, hundreds were dying from wounds and disease across Alexandria’s thirty military hospitals. Upon their death during incarceration, a number of Union prisoners confined in one of the city’s five military prisons were also buried alongside their brothers-in-blue, no matter their alleged crime or conduct during their service.

What makes Alexandria National Cemetery even more special is the dedicated section initially reserved for United States Colored Troops (USCT). Regarded as the first instance of military desegregation in the United States, a petition filed in 1864 urged the military governor to bury African American troops with military honors in the Soldier’s Cemetery, rather than in the civilian “Contraband Cemetery.” Head Surgeon Maj. Edwin Bentley, who was charged with the medical care of the city’s newly-freed people along with his other duties, hand-delivered the petition himself. In January 1865, 118 USCT were reinterred from the civilian site to Section B. By the end of Reconstruction, 230 USCT had been laid to rest in the National Cemetery.

Several sections of the complex are well-maintained, while others face significant preservation challenges. “Gravestones are deteriorating, inscriptions are fading, and irreplaceable history is disappearing before our eyes,” Heiby stresses, “This urgent situation was a significant catalyst for founding Gravestone Stories to raise awareness, foster community connection, and inspire active stewardship. People are far more likely to preserve what they understand and value.”

 

Madeline Feierstein is an Alexandria, VA historian specializing in the American Civil War’s hospitals and prisons. A native of Washington, D.C., her work has been showcased across the Capital Region. As a historian for the Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden, Madeline leads efforts to document the sick, injured, and imprisoned soldiers that passed through Civil War Alexandria. Additionally, she interprets the burials in Alexandria’s historically-rich cemeteries with Gravestone Stories. Madeline holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from George Mason University and a Master’s in American History from Southern New Hampshire University.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Philip Fendall III was stationed on USS Susquehanna and James Young Fendall on CSS Jamestown. James received orders which removed him from Jamestown just prior to Susquehanna firing at the Confederate steamer for trying to maneuver through these Virginia waterways.

[2] Keokuk National Cemetery split from the already-established Oakland Cemetery at an unknown date. The area was declared a National Historic Site in 1997, but it was foremost an informal burying ground for the local hospitals and prisoners-of-war at nearby forts. Later burials were interred in the early 20th century from other Civil War burial sites to help construct what is today the Keokuk National Cemetery.