Qualla: Yellowstone National Cemetery

Yellowstone National Cemetery: Introduction

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. The federal government did not build Yellowstone National Cemetery. The veterans of Yellowstone County, Montana, did. Tired of traveling hundreds of miles to reach the nearest open national cemetery, they raised $1.7 million, purchased land from the city of Laurel, hired a local woman-owned design firm, and constructed a cemetery that met every federal standard. Then they petitioned Washington to take it. On May 26, 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs accepted their gift, making Yellowstone National Cemetery the first burial ground established under the Rural Veterans Burial Initiative.

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellowstone National Cemetery: A Century of Service

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. Montana's first national cemetery dates to 1879, when the Army established the fourth-class Custer National Cemetery at what is now Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. The soldiers who fell at the Battle of the Little Bighorn lay there, along with those who died in the ...

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellowstone National Cemetery: Building From the Ground Up

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. By the early 2000s, the state had three veterans cemeteries in Helena, Missoula, and Miles City, but nothing near Yellowstone County. The state legislature authorized a cemetery but provided no funding. So the veterans organized. Yellowstone County purchased land from Laurel, fif...

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellowstone National Cemetery: From County to Country

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. Senator Jon Tester of Montana led the campaign to convince Veterans Affairs that rural states needed smaller national cemeteries closer to where veterans actually lived. In 2011, the Department launched its Rural Veterans Burial Initiative, identifying eight states lacking access...

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellowstone National Cemetery: Sacred Ground

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. The dedication ceremony on May 27, 2014, wove together the many strands of Montana's history. Leaders of the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne Nation performed tribal blessings in their native languages. Federal officials stood alongside local civic leaders and the veterans who h...

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellowstone National Cemetery: Hallowed Ground Today

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ed Saunders, CC BY-SA 4.0. The cemetery sits one mile north of Laurel on Buffalo Trail Road, administered by the Continental Division of the National Cemetery Administration with oversight from Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver. The grounds occupy land that once belonged to the city of Laurel, with ad...

Image: Ed Saunders | CC BY-SA 4.0