Culpeper National Cemetery Culpeper National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the town of Culpeper , in Culpeper County , Virginia . It encompasses of land , and as of the end of 2005 , had 9 , 880 interments . History . During the American Civil War , the territory around the city of Culpeper was defended vigorously by both sides , as it was a strategic point almost exactly between Washington D . C . and the capital of the Confederacy , Richmond , Virginia . Numerous battles took place in the region , including the Battle of Cedar Mountain and the Battle of Chancellorsville . The dead from those conflicts were buried nearby in makeshift grave sites . After the war a reburial program was initiated , and in 1867 , Culpeper National Cemetery was established to reinter many of the remains from the makeshift sites . The original cemetery comprised , bought from Edward B . Hill of Culpeper for US $ 1 , 400 . The original Second Empire Victorian caretakers lodge was built in 1872 and was designed by Montgomery C . Meigs . Many improvements to the grounds and facilities at the cemetery were made during the 1930s as part of the New Deal . These make - work improvements included replacing the original 1870s tool house at the cost of $ 8 , 000 in 1934 , raising and realigning 912 headstones in May 1934 , by the Civil Works Administration , and realignment and re - setting 402 headstones in 1936 though a Works Project Administration project . Having operated without any major improvements since the 1930s , the cemetery was closed to new interments on November 17 , 1972 . On September 1 , 1973 , administration of the cemetery was transferred from the U . S . Army to the Veterans Administration ’ s new National Cemetery System created by the National Cemetery Act of 1973 . In 1975 another was donated by the Veterans of Foreign Wars , Burton - Hammond Post 2524 , and in 2001 another plot of was purchased , which has been developed for future interments . The cemetery was reopened to interments on January 16 , 1978 . Culpeper National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 . It is included in the South East Street Historic District . Lincoln Rockwell Funeral . The cemetery was the scene of an unsuccessful attempt to have American Nazi Party leader , retired Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell , buried there after his assassination on 25 August 1967 . On August 27 , a National Socialist White People ’ s Party ( NSWPP ) spokesman reported that Federal officials had given verbal approval to a planned military burial of Rockwell at Culpeper National Cemetery , as an honorably discharged veteran of the U . S . Armed Forces . On August 29 , several dozen NSWPP troopers and about 100 party supporters formed a procession and drove from Arlington , Virginia to Culpeper . At the cemetery gates they were met by General Carl C . Turner and 60 MPs who had been rushed in from Vint Hill Farms Station to enforce the U . S . Army ’ s burial protocol , backed by other police from various jurisdictions . No mourners bearing Nazi insignia would be allowed into the cemetery but the NSWPP troopers refused to remove their uniforms , which led to a day - long standoff . They unsuccessfully tried to force their way into the cemetery three times . Several arrests resulted . Towards the end of day , General Turner declared that Rockwell could not be buried until the NSWPP made a new request to the Pentagon and agreed to follow protocol . The Nazis returned to Arlington with Rockwell ’ s body . After plans to bury him in Spotsylvania County fell apart under protests by local Jewish organisations , and fearing that Arlington County officials might seize the body , the ANP had Rockwell cremated the next morning , and a memorial service held at party headquarters . In 1968 , the NSWPP filed suit to obtain a Nazi burial for Rockwell ’ s remains at any National Cemetery but on March 15 , 1969 , a Federal district judge upheld the Army Secretary ’ s ruling that Rockwell was ineligible for a burial with full military honors in a National Cemetery . His ashes were ultimately placed in the memorial room of New Order headquarters in New Berlin , Wisconsin .