VA national cemetery
Danville National Cemetery
Danville, Virginia
Location
721 Lee Street
Danville, VA 24541
Visiting
- Address
- 721 Lee Street, Danville, VA 24541
- Phone
- 704-636-2661
- Visiting hours
- Open daily during daylight hours.
- Office hours
- This cemetery is administered by Salisbury National Cemetery .
- Time zone
- Eastern Time
- Burial space
- Cremation Only
- Accessibility
- Not yet verified
- Official page
- cem.va.gov
Flowers and grounds policy, from the VA
Our floral and grounds policy exists to reflect the honor and respect we hold for our Nation's Veterans, by preserving the dignity and solemnity of their final resting place.
These items are welcome:
- Fresh-cut flowers (Anytime)
- Temporary Floral Containers (Located throughout the cemetery for public use)
- Artificial Flowers (November 1 through April 1)
- Flags (Anytime)
- Potted Plants (a week before until a week after Easter Sunday)
- Holiday Wreaths & Grave Blankets less than 2 x 3ft (December 1 through January 10 and will be removed after January 20).
All items placed at gravesite are inspected daily and:
- May be removed when they become withered, faded, or unsightly.
- May be removed for mowing and trimming, in season.
- May NOT stand taller than the headstone.
- May NOT be secured to the headstone.
These items are prohibited: permanent plantings and vases, statues, vigil lights, breakable objects, and similar items. This includes, but is not limited to, hazardous materials, glass, metal, toys, candles, balloons, wind chimes, and pinwheels.
The Department of Veterans Affairs does not permit adornments which might be considered offensive, inconsistent with the dignity of the cemetery, or considered hazardous to cemetery personnel. For example, items incorporating beads or wires which may become entangled in mowers or other equipment and cause injury. Unauthorized items will be removed immediately.
Weapons Policy
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
General information, from the VA
The Salisbury National Cemetery administers this cemetery. Please contact them at the telephone number listed above.
Directions from Nearest Airport
Travel Route 360 from Richmond to Danville. Travel Route 86 South, then turn left onto Industrial Drive and left again on Jefferson Avenue. Turn right on Lee Street to cemetery on your right.
Pay your respects
Visitors to veterans’ graves sometimes leave a coin on the headstone to show that someone came. You can leave a symbolic coin here. No money is involved, and nothing about you is published. About the custom, and what each coin is said to mean.
History
Reproduced from the VA National Cemetery Administration’s page for this cemetery, retrieved November 11, 2026. This is the VA’s text, unedited; it is not independent research by this site.
Danville National Cemetery is located in Pittsylvania County, VA, about 144 miles southwest of Richmond.
During the Civil War, Danville was an important railroad center. A great number of recruits, supplies and war materiel were transported to Danville to provision the Army of Northern Virginia. As an important transportation hub, Danville was also the logical site for a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp.
Once the Civil War began, the Confederates found themselves with large numbers of Union prisoners captured in the Battle of Manassas. These POWs were then transported to Richmond, where they were initially housed in facilities such as Ligon's Warehouse and Tobacco Factory and many others like it. However, to reduce the high prison population in the Confederate capital, hundreds of Union POWs were relocated to six tobacco warehouses in downtown Danville, VA. Today, at 300 Lynn Street, Civil War Prison No. 6 still stands. It is a brick structure, originally built for Major William T. Sutherlin in 1855. These six facilities held just over 7,000 officers and enlisted men, 1,400 of whom died of such scourges as smallpox and dysentery brought on by starvation.
By 1864, the South's resources were disastrously depleted due to General William T. Sherman's successful destruction of the railroads. With no access to supplies of food, clothing and munitions, the civilian population of Richmond could no longer feed and cloth themselves, let alone their soldiers. To eliminate the drain on these limited resources, thousands of Union prisoners — mostly officers — were sent to the Danville prison. In winter 1864–1865, there were 2,400 prisoners of all ranks living here in overcrowded conditions.
Danville National Cemetery was established in December 1866 on 2.63 acres, about a mile from the railroad station. With the exception of the remains of four soldiers from the Sixth Army Corps, all original interments in the cemetery were Union POWs who died in the prison. The principal cause of death was disease. Many of the bodies of Union Soldiers who died in Danville's prisons were buried in mass graves. These graves were later exhumed and the bodies buried beneath individual markers.
Danville National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Monuments and Memorials
Danville National Cemetery has no monuments or memorials.
Notable burials and memorials
Reproduced from the VA’s page for this cemetery, retrieved November 11, 2026, including Medal of Honor recipients where the VA lists them. Links lead to the VA’s own records. To correct an entry, contact the VA; to tell us our copy is out of date, report it.
Nearby veterans cemeteries
Sources
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Find a Cemetery: all national cemeteries, and each cemetery’s own page. U.S. government work (public domain). Retrieved November 11, 2026. Used for: name, address, phone and burial-space status, hours, policies, history and notable burials.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Danville National Cemetery (official cemetery page). Retrieved November 11, 2026.
- Map position: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. VA National Cemetery Sites (dataset).