CB1100 Monthly Photo Challenge

[Lunchbag]

My goal for this month was to complete the photo challenge without saying anything about a boat.  Unfortunately that isn't possible, because a boat is the only reason this cemetery exists.

The USS Tulip Monument in Saint Inigoes, MD is the smallest federal cemetery in the U.S.  It is so small it is not even managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but rather by a nearby naval base.

The USS Tulip, a union gunboat, departed the Potomac Flotilla base at Cross Manor enroute to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs on November 11, 1864.  Shortly after entering the Potomac river, the Captain ordered full steam on both boilers, against the advice of the engineers who had declared the starboard boiler unsafe.

The boiler exploded, killing 49 of the 57 men onboard.  Most of the bodies were never found, but the unidentified remains of 8 men were recovered and buried at this site at Cross Manor.  The site was purchased by the federal government in 1937 and a monument was erected in 1940 and placed under the management of the U.S. Navy.