Fort Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

, United States. It was incorporated on May 15, 1851, under its official name: "Trustees of the Fort Hill Cemetery Association of Auburn". It is known for its headstones of notable people such as former Secretary of State

William H. Seward William Henry Seward (; May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States senator. A determined opp ...

, his son,

William H. Seward Jr. William Henry Seward Jr. (June 18, 1839 – April 29, 1920) was an American banker and brigadier general (United States), brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the youngest son of William H. Seward, the United St ...

and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

and

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

. It is built on what was once a fortified village of the

Cayuga Nation The Cayuga ( Cayuga: Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, "People of the Great Swamp") are one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), a confederacy of Native Americans in New York. The Cayuga homeland lies in the Finger Lakes regio ...

. The cemetery features a . high limestone obelisk monument to

Chief Logan Logan the Orator ( 1723 – 1780) was a Cayuga orator and war leader born of one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. After his 1760s move to the Ohio Country, he became affiliated with the Mingo, a tribe formed from Seneca, C ...

, famed chief of the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

Notable burials

The cemetery features headstones of such notable people as: * Elizabeth Hazelton Haight, a pioneering early female classicist, who worked at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

. * Myles Walter Keogh, civil war Brevet Lt. Colonel; fell at the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people, Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Si ...

with Custer. * Fannie E. McKinney-Hughey, music teacher who developed the Color-Music method to teach music to children. * Benjamin C. Mead, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York. *

Thomas Mott Osborne Thomas Mott Osborne (September 23, 1859 – October 20, 1926) was an American prison officer, prison reformer, industrialist and New York State political reformer. In an assessment of Osborne's life, a ''New York Times'' book reviewer wrote: "His ...

Warden of Sing Sing The Wardens of Sing Sing are appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. *Elam Lynds (1825–1830) *Robert Wiltse (1830–1840) *David L. Seymour (warden), David L. Seymour (1840–1843) *William H. Pec ...

* Sereno E. Payne (1843–1914), U.S. Representative and House Majority Leader *

Frances Adeline Seward Frances Adeline Seward ( Miller; September 25, 1805 – June 21, 1865) was the First Lady of New York and the wife of William Henry Seward, a senator in the New York legislature, Governor of New York, a senator from New York and United States S ...

, wife of William H. Seward and abolitionist *

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

, banker and brigadier general in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, who is resting on Fort Hill Cemetery's "West Lawn C", beneath a large tree with two small bushes on each side of her headstone *

Martha Coffin Wright Martha Coffin Wright (December 25, 1806 – January 4, 1875) was an American feminist, abolitionist, and signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments who was a close friend and supporter of Harriet Tubman. Early life Martha Coffin was born in Bos ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, and signatory of the

Declaration of Sentiments The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention to be organized by women. Held in Se ...

Other

The Bradley Mortuary Chapel (which also serves as the cemetery office and gatehouse) was designed by the architect Julius A. Schweinfurth in a Gothic Revival style and completed in 1893. Julius A. Schweinfurth was a brother and partner to Charles F. Schweinfurth.

Gallery

File:Fort Hill Cemetery gate.jpg, Gate File:Tubman grave.jpg, The

Harriet Tubman Grave Harriet Tubman Grave is a historic gravesite located in Fort Hill Cemetery at Auburn, in Cayuga County, New York. The granite gravestone marks the resting place of famed African-American abolitionist and Christian Harriet Tubman, who was born ...

is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

File:Monument to Chief Logan, taken at Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY (28 April 2013) 2013-04-30 10-50.jpg, Monument to Chief Logan at Fort Hill Cemetery File:Cemetery Bench.JPG, Morse bench in Fort Hill Cemetery File:Wadsworth family headstone.JPG , Wadsworth memorial File:Corning family's statue in Fort Hill Cemetery.JPG , Corning memorial File:Angel headstone scene.JPG , Angel headstone scene File:Case & Willard statue.JPG , Case & Willard memorial

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.forthillcemetery.net/ Buildings and structures in Auburn, New York 1851 establishments in New York (state) Cemeteries in Cayuga County, New York