Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Cemetery, Event

Location

221 Summit St, Lockport, NY 14094, USA

Lat/Long

43.154784, -78.70223

Grant Recipient

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln Camp 6 Rochester NY

Mount Calvary is a Roman Catholic cemetery located in the city of Lockport, New York, believed to contain around 100 burials dating from about 1844 to 1908, the vast majority being individuals of Irish descent. There are at least four known Civil War veterans buried in Mount Calvary, including Hugh Gleason, James Morris, Michael Owens, and Michael Slattery.

Hugh Gleason served in Company A, 140^th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment and died in 1887. Gleason was a prisoner of war from August 19, 1864 to March 2, 1865. He was imprisoned at Salisbury Prison, in Salisbury, North Carolina. In consequence of the deplorable conditions he faced during this time, including starvation and a lack of basic necessities, Gleason suffered an amputation of both legs upon arrival back home in New York. During his imprisonment, 10,000 prisoners arrived at Salisbury in October 1864 after the fall of Atlanta and the ongoing siege of Richmond. This was a massive increase for the prison, which was supposed to hold only 2,500 individuals, resulting in starvation and rampant disease (Brown, Louis A, “Confederate Prison (Salisbury),” NCpedia, State Library of NC, 2006, ncpedia.org/confederate-prison-salisbury).

Other Civil War veterans buried in Mount Calvary include James Morris, who served in Company B, 105^th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment and died in 1867. Michael Owens served as a Corporal in Company A, 2nd Regiment, Mounted Rifles, New York Volunteers, and died on October 15, 1865. He had mustered out shortly before this on August 10, 1865 at Petersburg, Virginia. Michael Slattery is also buried here, who served in Company B, 105^th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment and passed away in 1872.

Mount Calvary was eventually replaced by St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Lockport, and by the early 1900s, was largely abandoned. There have since been community efforts to clean and maintain this once neglected cemetery.