Thirty Union soldiers killed in the 1864 Civil War Battles of Mine Creek and Marais des Cygnes are buried in the city cemetery. Ownership of the plots, known as the Soldiers' Lot, was later transferred to the federal government, which maintains them today. The remains of other Union and unknown soldiers were moved from different areas of the county to the Soldiers' Lot in 1888. A tall granite monument with a soldier statue was added in 1889. The cemetery is the final resting place of free-state activist James Montgomery; William Stillwell, a victim of the 1858 Marais des Cygnes Massacre; and local abolitionists Augustus and Susan Wattles.