Soldiers’ Lot [Section 75 Lot 7]
Burial site of 149 Civil War Soldiers
The Soldiers’ Lot was created in 1862 when the trustees of Albany Rural Cemetery donated a 0.16-acre lot to the Federal Government so that “a sufficient and suitable ground be set apart to inter the remains of officers and soldiers who have fallen or may fall in endeavoring to suppress the present rebellion.” Those interred are all from the Civil War. Many of the soldiers buried here came from local military hospitals, but some had been transferred from graves in the South. The Soldiers’ Lot was also provided for veterans whose families could not afford to bury them in private plots.
Within the Soldiers’ Lot, a total of 149 Civil War soldiers are buried, the last burial occurring in 1897. The graves consist of orderly rows of white marble stones which face the only monument on the lot, a 15-ft tall Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) memorial. Erected in 1873, it includes a life sized Union soldier on the top and plaques with names of over 648 men who were killed in action. The plaques were cast from captured Confederate cannons by Eli Perry, former Mayor of Albany and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. It also includes an oval bas-relief of Abraham Lincoln.
Some of those buried include soldiers from the Civil War's 69th Regiment, the Irish Brigade, and the Irish Legion. Founded in 1861 and 1862, they were Union Army brigades which were almost exclusively made up of Irish immigrants from New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. One member of the 69th Regiment in the Soldiers’ Lot is Pvt. Bernard Trainor who enlisted in August of 1862, a month before the regiment fought at Antietam. He was only slightly wounded, but the battle seriously wounded or killed half of the regiment. Later in the War he was severely wounded at Gettysburg and was discharged and likely sent to Albany to convalesce.
Other Irishmen buried in the Soldier's Lot include Musician Joseph Maguire, member of the 63rd Infantry of the Irish Brigade; Corporal Richard Jefferson, 170th Infantry; and Private Michael Curtain, 164th Infantry of the Irish Legion.
In 2013 and 2014 the site of the Soldiers’ Lot, which is overseen by Saratoga National, was cleaned and releveled because the ground was sinking.
This site does not include black Civil War soldiers. Some are located in the G.A.R. plot [Section 100A, Lot 100] near the western edge of the North Ridge as well as in Section 111, though not in any special plot. A few of the soldiers buried were part of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first African-American units to serve in the Civil War. They are famous for their heroism in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner which was highlighted in the 1989 film Glory, starring Denzel Washington who received an Academy Award for his portrayal of Private Silas Trip.
Throughout Albany Rural Cemetery a total of 1,030 veterans of the Civil War are buried . Of those, six are recipients of the Metal of Honor, 26 are Generals, and three are Confederate soldiers.