Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainCivil War-era national cemetery holding Buffalo Soldiers, Nez Perce prisoners, and thousands of veterans on a military installation active since 1827.
395 Biddle Blvd, Leavenworth, KS 66027
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No admission fee; access subject to Fort Leavenworth base entry requirements
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved cemetery grounds on military installation; visitors must pass through base entry checkpoint
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1862 · Civil War National Cemetery · Buffalo Soldier Burials — 9th and 10th Cavalry · Nez Perce Prisoners of War · Oldest Active U.S. Army Post West of the Mississippi
Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 as a staging point for westward military operations. When the Civil War began, the post became a training and organizational hub, and the national cemetery was formally established in 1862 to receive the war's dead from the region.
Among the most historically significant populations buried here are soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry—the Buffalo Soldier regiments formed in 1866, which served on the Great Plains frontier under white officers while facing systemic discrimination within the Army. Their graves represent some of the most consequential and least commemorated service in American military history.
The cemetery also holds Nez Perce prisoners of war. In 1877, following Chief Joseph's surrender after the 1,170-mile fighting retreat known as the Nez Perce War, the chief and several hundred of his people were transported to Fort Leavenworth under military custody, where they were held for months in a low-lying, unhealthy camp near the Missouri River. A number died during this imprisonment and were buried on the post grounds. Chief Joseph survived and was eventually exiled to a reservation in Washington state, where he died in 1904.
Today the cemetery remains active, accepting eligible veterans. More than 25,000 people are interred here, with grave markers spanning from 1862 through the present day.
Sources
Published accounts from regional writers and paranormal researchers describe several persistent phenomena reported by visitors and base personnel over the decades. One frequently cited figure is 'Catherine Sutter,' described in these accounts as a pioneer woman whose apparition moves through the cemetery searching for children. The origin of this name and story has not been traced to documented historical records in the available sources.
The detention of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce people at Fort Leavenworth in 1877—under conditions Chief Joseph described as unhealthy and humiliating—left a documented human toll. Some Nez Perce died at the fort and are buried here. The site carries weight in Nez Perce collective memory for that reason; any reported spiritual significance should be understood in that historical context rather than through invented or sensationalized framing.
Civil War-era soldier apparitions have been reported in various locations across the broader Fort Leavenworth post. The cemetery, as the site of mass burials from the post's most lethal periods, is frequently named in regional ghost lore compiled by writers covering Kansas haunted sites.
Notable Entities
Visitors may walk the grounds of this active national cemetery, viewing grave markers spanning from Civil War soldiers to 20th-century veterans. Notable sections include graves of Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry and Nez Perce prisoners of war who died while held at the fort.
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