Although there were two military engagements in the Natchez area in 1863 and 1864, the town surrendered early to Union troops and was spared extensive damage. Natchez National Cemetery was established during this period, north of town near the river bluff. The original 11-acre site was purchased in 1866 from local residents. Original interments were brought from locations in Louisiana and Mississippi within a 50-mile radius of Natchez in Adams County. One of the old Natchez homes, "The Gardens", served as a military hospital for federal troops, and some of the earliest interments are the men who died there. In a report dated June 30, 1866, Quartermaster Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs informed the secretary of war that many bodies had been buried in the levees near the west shore of the Mississippi. Subsequently, the removal of these remains and their reinterment at Natchez National Cemetery began the following fall. Natchez National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.