New Bern National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of New Bern, in Craven County, North Carolina. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 7.7 acres (3.1 ha), and as of the end of 2005, had 7,517 interments. It is currently closed to new interments.

History
First established on February 1, 1867, New Bern National Cemetery was initially used to reinter remains from the numerous battlefield cemeteries around the area, including nearly 1,000 unknown soldiers and the remains of Union soldiers who died at the Battle of New Bern.[2]

New Bern National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.[1]

Notable monuments
The 9th New Jersey Infantry Monument, a granite monument erected in 1905[3]
The Massachusetts Civil War Monument, a granite monument erected in 1908[3]
The Connecticut Monument, erected in 1908[3]
The Rhode Island Civil War Monument, a granite monument with a bronze statue on it, dedicated in 1909[3]

Source: Wikipedia
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From: New Bern National Cemetery - American Battlefield Trust

Among the 6,500+ veterans buried in the New Bern National Cemetery are more than 404 United States Colored Troop (USCT) soldiers and an unknown number of Black sailors who fought for freedom.

To protect the graves of Union fallen scattered throughout the Inner Banks region from neglect or desecration by defeated Confederates, the U.S. Army removed and reburied soldiers here between 1867 and 1869. In the 1870s, the brick wall and stone markers replaced the original whitewashed fence and wooden headboards. Freedmen, who in 1868 became citizens, likely performed much of labor to landscape the cemetery and bury the dead.

Although listed in the Roll of Honor alphabetically alongside their white comrades, the graves of USCT men, who served in some 15 different regiments, are found segregated in sections 14, 16, and 17. The vast majority of the known USCT soldiers buried here died of disease in the early months of occupation after the war. Nearly half of the USCT soldiers buried here remain unknown. Perhaps reflecting the more integrated nature of their service, it is impossible to distinguish the graves of Black and white sailors on the roll or on the ground.

The African Americans honored here include: Private George Peppers (section 16, site 2797) of North Carolina’s 37th USCT who died April 18, 1865; Sergeant Luke Letcher (section 14, site 2548) of Maryland’s 39th USCT, who was the subject of a post-war property claim by his former master; J. Coffee, (section 14, site 2385) a Black woman who cooked for the white 2nd Iowa Infantry; and Lofton Irons (section 16, 2838), who was one of a few civilian “pioneers” — freedmen who labored in support of the troops — laid to rest here.
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