Confederate cemetery · VA-listed site
Rock Island Confederate Cemetery
Rock Island, Illinois
Location
Rock Island Arsenal, Rodman Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61299
Visiting
- Address
- Rock Island Arsenal, Rodman Avenue, Rock Island, IL 61299
- Phone
- 309-784-0000
- Visiting hours
- Not yet verified
- Office hours
- Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
- Time zone
- Central Time
- Burial space
- Closed
- Accessibility
- Not yet verified
- Official page
- cem.va.gov
Flowers and grounds policy, from the VA
All items placed on gravesites will be removed as soon as they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations.
A limit of three (3) floral arrangements may be placed on the grave as the conclusion of the committal service.
Fresh cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time of the year. Plastic floral cones are available for use within the cemetery and are located in containers throughout the cemetery.
One (1) small American flag may be placed on the grave and will be removed when it is damaged, faded or tattered and will be disposed of properly.
No objects or items, such as stickers or balloons shall be attached to a grave marker or protrude above the top of the stone or encroach on an adjacent gravesite.
Year-Round Decorations:
- Artificial flowers will be permitted on graves during the period of November 1 through March 31 and will be removed as soon as they become unsightly.
- Holiday wreaths and grave blankets are permitted on graves during the holiday season beginning on Thanksgiving. All holiday items will be removed starting March 1.
- Status, vigil lights, breakable objects of any nature and similar commemorative items are not permitted on graves at any time. These will be removed and stored in a holding area for thirty (30) days prior to disposal.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs does not permit adornments that are offensive, inconsistent with the dignity of the cemetery or may be considered hazardous to cemetery personnel.
- Every Wednesday, cemetery personnel inspect each grave for unsightly or unauthorized items.
- Please exercise caution if placing personal, sentimental or valuable items on graves. Rock Island National Cemetery is not responsible for any items placed on gravesites and cannot replace or reimburse items that have been damaged, lost or stolen. All items placed on graves become the property of the United States Government.
Help us maintain the solemn dignity of our Veterans' final resting place at this national shrine.
- The use of the cemetery grounds for any form of sports or recreation to include but not limited to bicycling, jogging, exercise walking, skating, riding snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicle as well as hunting or fishing are not permitted at any time on federal property.
- Picnicking on cemetery grounds is forbidden. Littering the grounds will not be tolerated.
- Do not cut, break or injure trees, shrubs, grass or other plantings.
- It is against National Cemetery regulations to use the cemetery for public gatherings of a partisan nature, or any activities or boisterous actions that could be viewed as demeaning.
- Pets, such as dogs or other animals, leashed or unleashed shall not be brought upon cemetery grounds.
- Service animals, including those that guide the blind, assist the hearing impaired or act as warning systems for the seizure prone, are welcome.
- Please do not sit on headstones or markers.
- Alcohol is not allowed on the grounds, in any building, or the committal shelter.
- Potted plants are not allowed to be placed at the gravesite at any time.
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 private and community cemeteries that contain NCA soldiers' and government lots, and Confederate cemeteries, do not always have staffed offices on site. When administrative information for the larger cemetery is available, it is provided below.
This cemetery is overseen by Rock Island National Cemetery. Please contact the national cemetery for more information.
Directions from Nearest Airport
Cemetery is located on the Rock Island Arsenal.
From Quad-Cities Airport and East: Take Interstate 74 West (see note below). Take the 7th Avenue exit, the last exit in Illinois. Turn left (west) at the bottom of the ramp onto 7th Avenue. Follow 7th Avenue west to 16th Street. Turn right (north) onto 16th and follow it to the ramp for the bridge onto the island. Rock Island National Cemetery is immediately to your left after you pass the island guard posts and the Confederate Cemetery is further ahead on your left.
From the North and West: Follow Interstate 80 East to Interstate 74 East. Take Interstate 74 East to the 7th Avenue exit. Turn right (west) at the bottom of the ramp onto 7th Avenue. Follow 7th Avenue West to 16th Street. Turn right (north) onto 16th and follow it to the ramp for the bridge onto the island. The cemetery is immediately to your left after you pass the island guard posts and the Confederate Cemetery is further ahead on your left.
Note: Although Interstate 74 is labeled on Highway signs as being Interstate 74 East and Interstate 74 West, the road is actually North-South through the Quad-Cities.
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.
Rock Island Confederate Cemetery is located just 2,500 yards northwest of Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois. During the Civil War, the federal government established a prison on Rock Island to ease the crowded conditions at other prisons in the Midwest. The first prisoners, taken at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, arrived from Chattanooga in December 1863. In a little over two years more than 12,000 prisoners passed through the gates of the prison. As in many other prisons on both sides of the war, smallpox and other diseases presented a significant problem at Rock Island. Located in a low-lying area, the prison suffered from a lack of drainage, which contributed to the unhealthy living conditions. Over the course of the war, hundreds of Confederates died from disease and exposure.
Two separate cemeteries were developed on the island, one for Confederates and one for Union soldiers who served as prison guards. The latter became Rock Island National Cemetery after the war.
As early as January 1864, rumors began to circulate regarding the conditions at Rock Island. Critics of the camp began to refer to it as the “Andersonville of the North.” When burials in the Confederate cemetery were discontinued on July 11, 1865, interments totaled approximately 1,950. Smallpox and pneumonia accounted for most of the deaths in the prison.
After the war, the federal government transferred all the extant prison structures—including the barracks, hospital, and garrison building—to the Rock Island Arsenal. Subsequently, all of the buildings associated with the prison have been destroyed. Today, Rock Island Confederate Cemetery is the last vestige of the Rock Island Confederate prison.
The Rock Island Arsenal, including Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
Monuments and Memorials
A granite obelisk on a block base was dedicated on Nov. 2, 2003, at the entrance to the cemetery by a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Engraved in the front of the block is “In Memory of the Confederate Veterans Who Died at the Rock Island Prison Camp. May They Never Be Forgotten…”
There are four 12-lb Confederate artillery monuments within Rock Island Confederate Cemetery.
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. Rock Island Confederate Cemetery (official cemetery page). Retrieved November 11, 2026.
- Map position: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. VA National Cemetery Sites (dataset).