Nearby is the Eu tombstone, with three smaller markers, each with initials and the Eu insignia. Mudge reported that Laughinghouse's grave was first topped by a flat tombstone with brick sides. The Wake Forest Cemetery was designated for whites alone and did not have, as many other cemeteries did, a segregated section for blacks and free people of color. Instead, local black families began burying their dead just beyond the boundaries of the white cemetery. The plan proposes linking the two parts separated by Taylor Street with a set of stone pillars on either side at Walnut Street along with cobblestone paving in the street to make people aware they are traveling through a cemetery.
Many Confederate soldiers rest here in graves marked only by simple rocks or nothing at all.
The college buildings and some homes served as hospitals during the Civil War, and the disruptions of the war combined with the wretched state of North Carolina's roads in the 1800s meant most people were buried where they died. The 12 known Confederate veterans in the cemetery include a father and son, William Royall and William Bailey Royall, both also distinguished members of the college faculty. William Royall was a Baptist minister and was named professor of Latin at the college in 1860. In 1862, he became the chaplain of the 55th Regiment N.C. Troops but had to resign in July of 1863 because of a physical disability. After the war, William Royall was first president of Raleigh Female Seminary and Louisburg Female College, then went to Texas to take the post as president of Baylor Female College.