America has long been a land of paradoxes. Celebrated for its diversity and freedoms, while haunted by unresolved tensions and deep social fissures. In recent years, a chorus of voices on the far-right fringe, including White Nationalists and provocateurs within Trump’s MAGA faction, have ominously warned of a coming “Civil War.”
Whether such threats are cynical fearmongering, sincere paranoia, or some combination of the two, they invite unsettling questions about how such a conflict could unfold. Predicting the exact catalysts and course of a modern civil war is impossible, but one aspect begs a serious examination.
What would the potential death toll be, and the grim logistics of burying the deceased? The premise sounds like a plot from a dystopian science fiction movie, but it is not an unforeseeable possibility. What might happen if such ominous predictions materialized, with particular attention to Milwaukee’s cemetery capacity and how this city might handle a sudden need for mass burials?
THE RHETORIC OF CIVIL WAR: FROM HUSHED TONES TO LOUD WARNINGS
For years, whispers of another internal conflict remained confined to extremist message boards, stoking fears among radical outlying groups. But with the rise of Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric, these discussions have entered the general public’s consciousness, facilitated by viral social media posts and mainstream political figures who repeatedly hint at “Second Amendment remedies.”
Right-wing militias, many aligned with White Nationalist ideologies, have expressed beliefs that a conflict is inevitable. Their stated motives span everything from “taking back the country” to resisting “tyrannical government overreach.”
Many political analysts argue that talk of another Civil War is more a rhetorical device than an actual blueprint for revolution. Certainly, repeated warnings can serve as a tool for radical groups to recruit members, raise funds, or intimidate opponents.
However, even if such predictions are far-fetched, ignoring the potential consequences of civil unrest would be detrimental to the future of the United States. In the catastrophic fallout of America’s First Civil War in the 19th century, more than 600,000 Americans perished. That number is greater than in any other conflict in American history. Such a monumental loss also offers a tragic historical precedent.
MODERN WARFARE, MODERN CASUALTIES
Should a hypothetical Second Civil War break out in America, drawing parallels to the 1860s can be misleading. Warfare has changed drastically. Rather than densely lined regiments marching across open fields, a modern Civil War could look more like a series of urban insurgencies, scattered terrorist attacks, cyber warfare, or targeted violence within communities.
The death toll from such a fragmented, guerrilla-style conflict is inherently difficult to predict. Estimates among security experts vary widely. Some analysts envision a short but intense burst of violence with casualties in the tens of thousands, while others foresee prolonged chaos potentially leading to millions of deaths over time.
Still, even by a conservative estimate of 100,000 to 500,000 fatalities nationwide, how would our country handle such a sudden onslaught of death?
In 2022, the United States recorded about three million deaths from all causes, including natural causes and diseases. An additional half a million deaths concentrated over a shorter period because of a full-scale right-wing insurrection could strain local funeral services, hospital morgues, and cemetery capacities in unprecedented ways.
THE GRIM LOGISTICS OF CEMETERY SPACE
Milwaukee might not be the most obvious epicenter for Civil War violence, but as a reasonably populous city with significant cultural and economic importance, it could easily witness significant turmoil. If even 1% of a projected death toll were to occur in Milwaukee, that would mean 2,500 bodies would require burial in a rapid time frame.
To grasp how 2,500 additional burials might be handled in Milwaukee, the capacity and infrastructure of local cemeteries must be understood. According to available data, many American cemeteries operate at or near capacity, especially those located in urban centers where space is at a premium.
Newer cemeteries on a city’s outskirts have more capacity, but transportation logistics could become complicated in a conflict scenario. When funeral homes, crematoriums, and city facilities are overwhelmed, city officials and hospital administrators could face harrowing decisions about storage and identification of remains.
An estimated rule of thumb is that each traditional grave requires about 30 square feet of space. This includes the plot, walkways, and some additional buffer space. Therefore, 2,500 extra burials would require roughly 75,000 square feet, about 1.7 acres.
While 1.7 acres of land may sound small in the abstract, that number is deceiving. It does not account for logistical space, administrative facilities, and the inherent limitations of cemetery design.
Additionally, the question is not simply whether a city has 1.7 acres lying fallow, but whether that space is immediately prepared and designated for burials. Cemeteries cannot just tear up sidewalks or turn parking lots into burial grounds without facing substantial legal, environmental, and zoning constraints.
MILWAUKEE’S HISTORIC RESTING PLACE
Situated on Milwaukee’s near south side, Forest Home Cemetery is one of the city’s most historic burial grounds, dating back to 1850. Spanning about 200 acres, it is home to numerous historic monuments, the final resting places of prominent Milwaukee families, and is lauded for its arboretum-like environment.
Over the years, Forest Home Cemetery has expanded and adapted, offering conventional plots, mausoleum spaces, and green burial options. But as with many urban cemeteries, much of its prime burial space is already used or earmarked for future needs. While there is still capacity for traditional burials, an influx of thousands of war-related casualties could tax the existing infrastructure.
Cemeteries like Forest Home often plan decades ahead to accommodate both expected annual burials and future expansions. In a mass casualty situation, officials would face daunting questions. Can they repurpose land within the cemetery for mass graves? How would they handle the identification and record keeping for thousands of additional deceased? Would there be enough staff, equipment, and supplies – from caskets to headstones – to manage a surge in burials?
Even in a city with multiple cemeteries like Milwaukee, how such questions would be confronted collectively is hard to imagine, and that is based on the assumption that the city would still have a functional municipal government.
Forest Home is the final resting place for nearly 1,000 Union soldiers who served in the Civil War, making it the private cemetery with the most Civil War veterans interred in Wisconsin. The handling and transportation of fallen soldiers were logistically complex and deeply influenced by the limitations and systems of the time.
Bodies of soldiers who died in battle or from disease were often transported back to Milwaukee by rail if their families could afford the arrangements. The process involved embalming, a practice that gained prominence during the Civil War to preserve bodies for long-distance transport.
Embalmers, sometimes working near the front lines, would prepare the bodies before they were placed in sealed coffins for the journey. Trains carrying war dead would arrive in Milwaukee, where undertakers or family members claimed the remains. For soldiers without means or family connections to arrange such transport, burial near the battlefields was more common. However, in cases where Milwaukee soldiers’ remains were identified, community efforts or military arrangements sometimes ensured their return.
OTHER CEMETERIES IN THE MILWAUKEE AREA
Beyond Forest Home, Milwaukee has several cemeteries of varying sizes, including Wood National Cemetery, Graceland Cemetery, Holy Cross Cemetery, and others in the metropolitan area. Some of them cater specifically to veterans, while others serve particular religious communities.
In normal times, the diversity of the cemeteries is able to meet the city’s needs for burials, cremations, and ceremonies without undue strain. But in a scenario of rapid, large-scale deaths, any single cemetery would quickly reach its operational limits.
Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works, Department of Health, and private funeral homes would have to coordinate on a scale never seen before, establishing triage sites to process the dead.
One historical precedent that might offer insight is how cities managed mass burials during pandemics, notably the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the more recent COVID-19 crisis. Yet a Civil War scenario introduces additional complications, like damaged infrastructure, ongoing violence around funeral sites, and potential disruptions to supply chains critical to transporting bodies and burial materials.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TOLL AND CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
Modern Americans are unaccustomed to large-scale death events on their own soil, particularly events that produce fatalities on the scale of thousands or tens of thousands over a short period. The emotional and psychological impact would be incalculable. Rituals of mourning, funerals, and memorials provide closure and honor for the deceased.
Imagine the emotional distress if families had to wait weeks or months to retrieve the remains of their loved ones, buried hastily in mass graves with minimal documentation. Such traumas could haunt families for generations, much as the unmarked graves of historical conflicts have severed genealogical ties.
Additionally, a large surge of war-related deaths could create new memorial spaces that reflect deep societal fissures. The original Civil War left battlefields like Gettysburg and Antietam sacred landscapes that still draw visitors today, in part because they illustrate the high cost of division – and how each side in the conflict was honored.
If Milwaukee were to become a battleground, even if only briefly, it would join the tragic lineage of places marked by American-on-American violence. Forest Home Cemetery and other cemeteries would become not only the resting place for the departed but also historical symbols of a conflict that future generations would grapple with as they stroll among the gravestones.
THE INSTABILITY OF A FRACTURED SOCIETY
Conversations about a Second American Civil War may sound alarmist and indeed the odds of the United States dissolving into outright large-scale armed conflict remain low. Nevertheless, ignoring warnings from extremist corners could become perilous if it fostered complacency. At the very least, there is a potential for localized outbreaks of serious violence, especially given how polarized national politics have become.
The First American Civil War was fought over the fundamental moral crisis of slavery. A modern-day conflict, as prophesied by leaders of White Nationalist groups and their MAGA movement allies, would have no less severe ideological divides, spanning race, class, and political representation.
The best preventative measure for the nation’s health would be to address the underlying grievances fueling extremist rhetoric: inequality, racial resentment, and political alienation. By doing so, Americans can hopefully ensure that the conversation about mass graves and cemetery space in Milwaukee remains a hypothetical exercise and not an eventuality.
As the chilling rhetoric from certain factions continues, Americans have an opportunity, and responsibility to examine the deep political fractures in society. Any talk of Civil War should be taken seriously, if for no other reason than to reaffirm our collective commitment to avoiding the unthinkable – thousands of new graves in places like Forest Home Cemetery, turning one of Milwaukee’s most historic and peaceful sites into a lasting reminder of national tragedy.
© Photo
Shawn Hine and Paolo Gallo (via Shutterstock)
