Historic Nashville City Cemetery Vandalized

NASHVILLE, TN — At least 18 grave markers at the historic Nashville City Cemetery were knocked over or vandalized some time in the last few days.

The Nashville City Cemetery Association, which oversees the site, made the discovery late this week and reported the damage to the Metro Nashville Police and the historical commission. It was not immediately clear which graves were damaged.

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City Cemetery opened in 1822 and by 1850 was the final resting place for more than 11,000 people. Now, there are more than 22,000 people buried there. Generally, new burials are prohibited, unless the decedent is a member of a family with a plot. For example, country songwriter Harlan Howard, who died in 2002, was buried in his family's plot. Former Nashville mayors may also be buried at City Cemetery by right, though none has exercised this right since Ben West, who died in 1974 and who spearheaded restoration efforts of the cemetery in the 1950s. In 1972, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 but then fell into disrepair and was largely neglected until the 1990s when then-Mayor Bill Purcell allocated $3 million for its restoration.

Among the people who are buried there are James Robertson, the founder of Nashville, and his family, along with Revolutionary War soldiers and both Union and Confederate soldiers and officers from the Civil War, though many of the former were relocated to the National Cemetery on Gallatin Road and many of the latter to Confederate Circle at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Also there is William Driver, the sea captain and Unionist whose massive American flag was the first to be called "Old Glory." When Tennessee seceded from the Union, Driver supposedly told Confederate soldiers who game to seize his famous flag "If you want my flag you'll have to take it over my dead body." When Nashville fell to the Union, Driver reported to Gen. Bull Nelson with his flag — now hanging in the Smithsonian's Museum of American History — and said "This is the flag I hope to see hoisted on that flagstaff in place of the damned Confederate flag set there by that damned rebel governor, Isham G. Harris."

It is also the burial ground for at least 6,000 African-Americans — free and slave. The City Cemetery Association has made a concerted effort in recent years to recognize and commemorate the people of color buried there, who were often buried in unmarked plots or with wooden markers which, obviously, did not survive the centuries. Recently, for example, new markers were placed on the burial plots of Elias Polk and Matilda Polk, two slaves of President James K. Polk. President Polk himself was initially buried at City Cemetery, the first of his many burial spots.

Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-74-CRIME.

Image via Metro Nashville