Foote, 88, died at a Memphis hospital Monday night.
His three-volume history, ''The Civil War: A Narrative," provided the main research for Ken Burns's 11-hour PBS documentary on the war, which first aired in 1990. Foote's appearance in the series made him a national figure.
Foote, a native of Mississippi and longtime Memphis resident, also wrote six novels, all set in the South. But it was the Civil War history for which he likely will be most remembered.
His soft Southern drawl, passion for storytelling and gentlemanly manner made Foote an instant hit after Burns picked him to be the leading historian on ''The Civil War."
Foote's grave is beside the family plot of former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the war's most celebrated, and sometimes reviled, commanders. Forrest was buried at Elmwood in 1877, but his remains were moved in 1904 to a city park that bears his name.
Though a native Southerner, Foote was no apologist for the South or champion for the Southern cause in his novels or history.
''We're all glad secession didn't work," he once said in an interview.
The service for Foote drew several rangers from Shiloh National Military Park near the Tennessee River.
Foote often visited Shiloh, the scene of some of the Civil War's most vicious fighting and one of his favorite battlefields. He wrote ''Shiloh" in 1952
Stacy Allen, Shiloh's chief historian, said park flags were lowered to half-staff in Foote's honor.
''He had a deep place in his heart for Shiloh, and he wrote one of the most readable and emotional histories of the Civil War," Allen said.
