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After the Civil War, the U.S. government closed the [Camp Chase] and dismantled the prison barracks and other buildings. The government continued to lease the cemetery property, and finally purchased the two-acre site in 1879. The cemetery fell into disrepair, receiving little funding for maintenance until after 1886 when Congress appropriated some money to erect a stone wall around the cemetery.
When William Knauss, a former Union soldier, settled in Columbus in 1893, he found the cemetery in a state of disrepair and set out to clean up the cemetery. At this time, a large boulder was placed in the center of the grounds with the inscription “2260 Confederate Soldiers of the war 1861-1865 buried in this enclosure.” Knauss held the first Memorial Day service at the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in 1895. The Memorial Day events continued under Knauss’ leadership, and the Camp Chase Memorial Association was founded in 1899 to solicit funds for decorating graves and erecting a monument to the soldiers buried at the cemetery. The monument, dedicated in 1902, consists of a stone arch surmounted by a zinc sculpture of a Confederate soldier at parade rest. The arch’s keystone is inscribed “AMERICANS.”
In 1906, the Federal Commission for Marking the Graves of Confederate Dead began the research needed to mark the graves of the men buried in the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery. The old wooden headboards had long since deteriorated. White marble headstones began arriving in 1908 with the last ones set in 1910.
Other improvements to the cemetery included iron fencing placed atop the stone wall to protect the cemetery from trespassers and a set of iron gates at the entrance. Later, to accommodate the memorial ceremonies held on site, a covered rostrum was constructed.
With the exception of Memorial Day and Confederate Decoration Day, Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery remained closed to the public. It finally opened year-round in the 1980s. Today, this roughly two-acre cemetery is the only reminder of the original Camp Chase facility. Beyond the cemetery’s walls are residential neighborhoods, a baseball field, and retail stores. The Camp Chase site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.