Fort Meade National Cemetery is managed by the Black Hills National Cemetery located at 20901 Pleasant Valley Drive in Sturgis, S.D.

Burial Space
Fort Meade National Cemetery is closed to new interments. The only interments that are being accepted are subsequent interments for veterans or eligible family members in an existing gravesite. Periodically however, burial space may become available due to a canceled reservation or when a disinterment has been completed. When either of these two scenarios occurs, the gravesite is made available to another eligible veteran on a first-come, first-served basis.

The cemetery is located along a gravel road leading from the Fort Meade VA Medical Center and is surrounded by land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This road is closed during the months of November through March.

Office Hours: Contact Black Hills National Cemetery
Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays.

Visitation Hours: April thru October open daily from sunrise to sunset. Closed November thru March.

Fort Meade National Cemetery is located approximately two miles east of the Department of Veterans Affairs Fort Meade Hospital, South Dakota. The Quartermaster Corps established the 2-acre cemetery here on Sept. 24, 1878, and the first interment was made on the same day. The cemetery closed 70 years later after only 188 interments.

Fort Meade was built in 1878 by the surviving troops of General George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry, to keep the peace among the Lakota and Cheyenne tribes and the prospectors. It was named in honor of Major General George G. Meade, whose victory in the Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War. In addition to being the home of the horse Comanche, sole cavalry survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, Fort Meade was also the birthplace of the national anthem. In 1892, Colonel Caleb Carton, appalled by the lack of a national anthem, ordered that the "Star-Spangled Banner" be played at the close of all concerts and parades, and later brought this effort to the attention of authorities in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, Secretary of War Daniel E. Lamont issued an order requiring the "Star-Spangled Banner" played at every army post every evening at retreat. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order making the "Star Spangled Banner" America's national anthem, and in 1931 the bill was signed into law.

Fort Meade National Cemetery contains both government-furnished headstones and private monuments installed by family or friends. As a result, there are a number of distinctive gravesites, including some enclosed by wooden boards and ornamental pipe fencing. The diversity of the graves reflects the array of those laid to rest at Fort Meade. Enclosed by a wrought-iron fence, for example, is the gravesite of Otto Von Wargowski, only 30 when he died and apparently a member of the Prussian nobility. Not far away are two side-by-side graves marked as "Child of Civilian Refugee" and "Lucy, Child, Sioux Indian."

Fort Meade National Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973.

Monuments and Memorials
An obelisk monument honors the memory of two soldiers from the 7th cavalry who, according to legend, died as a result of drinking wood alcohol while on patrol.

Bivouac of the Dead erected 2004.

Medal of Honor Recipients
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Recipients receive the Medal of Honor from the president on behalf of Congress. It was first awarded during the Civil War and eligibility criteria for the Medal of Honor have changed over time.

Recipients buried or memorialized here:

Private Abram B. Brant (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company D, 7th U.S. Cavalry, for actions at the Little Big Horn River, Montana Territory, June 25, 1876. Brant died in 1878 and is memorialized in Section 2, Row 4, Site 187.

Sergeant Albert Knaak (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company B, 8th U.S. Cavalry, for actions in the Arizona Territory, from August to October 1868. Knaak died in 1897 and is buried in Section 2, Row 1, Site 101.