Blandford Cemetery

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Blandford Cemetery is located in Petersburg, Virginia. The oldest stone, marking the grave of Richard Fairbrough, reads 1702. Veterans of six wars are buried there, including 30,000 Confederates killed in the Siege of Petersburg (1864-65) during the American Civil War.

In 1866, Blandford Cemetery was the site of the first Memorial Day ceremony in the United States. While visiting the cemetery, the wife of Union General John A. Logan was present and spied Miss Nora Fontaine Davidson, a schoolteacher, and her pupils putting flowers and tiny Confederate flags on the soldiers' graves. Shortly afterward General Logan issued a proclamation calling for the observance of Memorial Day.

Former Confederate General William Mahone, his wife Otelia, and many of their kinfolk are interred there.

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