Idol of His Command

The grave of Colonel Walter A. Van Rensselaer (1836-1879) is set into the slope of the Middle Ridge just above the Burden family vault (one of the sculpted Burden dogs can be seen in the background on the left). 

A descendent of two of Albany's most prominent families - the Van Rensselaers and the Schuylers, - he served with the 20th NY Militia and was wounded in the neck during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.  An 1858 graduate of Albany Medical College, he became a physician after the war. 

The inscription on his simple granite headstone reads:  Idol of His Command, Chosen Comrade of His Peers, Pet of His Superiors.