National Cemetery Administration

FEDERAL STEWARDSHIP 

OF CONFEDERATE DEAD
This page intentionally left blank. 
Federal Stewardship 

of 

Confederate Dead

Prepared for the

History Program

National Cemetery Administration 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Washington D.C. 20420 

July 2016

This publication evolved out of a historic-resource study that the National Cemetery Administration initiated in 

2008 as one of several activities to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial, 2011-2015. The purpose is to share 

historic and cultural information with a broad audience. This publication is available as a free downloadable eBook 

at www.va.gov.
ii

Images in Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead have been used with 

the consent of their respective owners. No replication of copyrighted 

material may be made without permission from the copyright holder.

ISBN 978-0-16-093255-7

Cover: Entrance to Confederate Stockade Cemetery, Sandusky, OH. Library of Congress
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

iii

Table of Contents

Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxiii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Confederates in NCA Cemeteries ................................................................................................4

Part I: Historic Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Confederate Prisoners of War, 1862 ..........................................................................................10

Prison Records, Rotting Headboards, Reinterments ............................................................12

National Cemeteries and Union Dead .....................................................................................14

Confederate Memorial Associations and the “Lost Cause,” 1870 .....................................17

Confederate Decoration Day .......................................................................................................18

The Spanish-American War and Reconciliation ....................................................................22

Arlington National Cemetery .......................................................................................................23

Confederate Headstones ...............................................................................................................25

The Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead ..............................................27

Responsibility for the National Cemeteries ............................................................................39

Part II: Cemetery Histories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Camp Butler National Cemetery .................................................................................................55

Camp Butler Prisoner-of-War Camp...................................................................................56

Camp Butler National Cemetery .........................................................................................58

The Commission .......................................................................................................................61

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery .........................................................................................65

Camp Chase Prisoner-of-War Camp ..................................................................................65

The Camp Cemetery ................................................................................................................66

The Commission .......................................................................................................................69

Confederate Mound Oak Woods Cemetery ............................................................................77

Camp Douglas ...........................................................................................................................77

Camp Douglas Cemeteries ...................................................................................................78

John C. Underwood and the Confederate Monument ...............................................80

The Commission .......................................................................................................................84

Confederate Stockade Cemetery Johnson’s Island ..............................................................89

Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Camp ...........................................................................89

Prison Cemetery ........................................................................................................................91

The Commission and Mary Patton Hudson ....................................................................92
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Crown Hill Confederate Cemetery ..........................................................................................101

Camp Morton ..........................................................................................................................101

Reactivation of the Prisoner-of-War Camp ...................................................................103

Confederate Dead and Greenlawn Cemetery .............................................................105

Cypress Hills National Cemetery ..............................................................................................113

Civil War Prisons and Hospitals in New York City ......................................................113

Union Grounds at Cypress Hills Cemetery....................................................................116

The Commission ....................................................................................................................119

Finn’s Point National Cemetery ................................................................................................123

Fort Delaware Prisoner-of-War Camp ............................................................................123

Prison Cemeteries..................................................................................................................124

Finn’s Point National Cemetery ........................................................................................126

The Commission ....................................................................................................................126

Fort Smith National Cemetery ..................................................................................................133

Fort Smith National Cemetery ..........................................................................................133

Marking the Confederate Graves .....................................................................................137

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery ...................................................................................141

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery ...........................................................................141

Gratiot Street and Myrtle Street Prisons ........................................................................142

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 1865–1906 ...................................................144

The Commission ...................................................................................................................147

Little Rock National Cemetery ..................................................................................................151

Little Rock National Cemetery ..........................................................................................151

Confederate Cemetery ........................................................................................................152

The Commission ....................................................................................................................156

North Alton Confederate Cemetery .......................................................................................159

Alton Prisoner-of-War Facility ...........................................................................................159

Confederate Cemetery ........................................................................................................160

The Commission ....................................................................................................................163

Philadelphia National Cemetery ..............................................................................................171

Confederate Interments In and Near Philadelphia....................................................171

Philadelphia National Cemetery ......................................................................................172

The Commission ....................................................................................................................175

Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery ...................................................................................179

Camp Hoffman Prisoner-of-War Camp ..........................................................................179

The Prison Cemeteries .........................................................................................................180

State-Established Cemetery .............................................................................................182

The Commission ....................................................................................................................183

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery ........................................................................................191

Rock Island Arsenal ...............................................................................................................191

Rock Island Prisoner-of-War Camp ..................................................................................192

The Prison Cemetery ............................................................................................................193

The Commission ....................................................................................................................195

Commemorating the Confederate Dead ......................................................................200

Springfield National Cemetery .................................................................................................203

Confederate Cemetery .......................................................................................................204

Merging the National and Confederate Cemeteries .................................................207
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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Union Cemetery Confederate Monument ...........................................................................211

The Commission ....................................................................................................................211

Woodlawn Cemetery Confederate Monument ..................................................................215

Woodlawn Cemetery ...........................................................................................................215

The Commission ....................................................................................................................216

Moving the Monument .......................................................................................................218

Woodlawn National Cemetery .................................................................................................221

The Prison Burial Ground ....................................................................................................222

Woodlawn National Cemetery .........................................................................................224

The Commission ....................................................................................................................228

Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
vi

Figures

Figures not otherwise credited were created by Cultural Resources Analysts, Inc., 

or their subcontractors for this study.

Figure 1 . Confederate monument and artillery at Oak Woods Cemetery, 

Chicago, Illinois. 1

Figure 2 . Map showing the locations of cemeteries included in this study. 

States that were part of the Confederacy are south of the dashed line; 

those above the line remained in the Union. 4

Figure 3 . Union guards outside the gate at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, 

Indiana, 1864. Francis Trevelyan Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War, 

Volume 7. 10

Figure 4 . Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman stands in front of the 

Commissary General of Prisons office, Washington, D.C., 1865. Library of 

Congress. 11

Figure 5 . View of Woodlawn National Cemetery, Elmira, New York, in 

1875 shows headboards painted with names. The feet-to-feet pattern of 

burial is evident by the headboards; every other row is blank because the 

inscription is on the other side. Chemung County Historical Society. 13

Figure 6 . Remains of U.S. soldiers being exhumed from Cold Harbor 

battlefield, Virginia, ca. 1866. Library of Congress. 15

Figure 7 . Alexandria National Cemetery, Virginia, ca. 1869, with wood 

headboards and picket fence. Library of Congress. 16

Figure 8 . Ladies’ Memorial Associations were responsible for establishing 

Confederate cemeteries at Little Rock, Arkansas, and Springfield, Missouri, 

and elsewhere. LMA pin, ca. 1892. Photograph courtesy of Phillips County 

Museum, Helena, Arkansas. 17

Figure 9 . Lithograph, “Decoration Day at Philadelphia: Orphans 

decorating their fathers’ graves in Glenwood Cemetery,” 1876, illustrates 

early Decoration Day activities. Library of Congress. 18

Figure 10 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois, 

photographed pre-1890, shows small U.S. flags on graves. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum. 19

Figure 11 . Confederate section of Springfield National Cemetery, 

Springfield, Missouri, in 1959 with the flagpole donated by the United 

Daughters of the Confederacy; the First National Confederate flag is flying. 

National Archives and Records Administration. 20

Figure 12 . The Shohola Monument at Woodlawn National Cemetery, 

Elmira, New York, photographed post-1912, shows small U.S. flags among 

the Confederate graves. Chemung County Historical Society. 21

Figure 13 . The 1980 Memorial Day observance at Woodlawn National 

Cemetery, Elmira, New York, included U.S. flags on graves and Confederate 

reenactors. Courtesy Woodlawn National Cemetery, Elmira, New York. 21
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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Figure 14 . This Arlington National Cemetery Confederate headstone 

design was used to mark 264 graves in the Confederate section in 1901. 

National Cemetery Administration. 24

Figure 15 . Graves at the Confederate Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas, 

were originally marked with small rounded stones (shown above). Later 

burials were marked with a variety of headstones that were inconsistent 

with those purchased by the Ladies’ Memorial Association. Photograph by 

Mudpuppy & Waterdog, Inc. 25

Figure 16 . Left: An original Confederate headstone design at Camp Butler 

National Cemetery, Illinois. 26

Figure 17 . Right: A pre-1940s Confederate headstone design with the 

Cross of Honor and punctuation; the latter would be eliminated. 26

Figure 18 . Left: Confederate headstone drawing, 1946, depicts changes 

instituted in the 1940s. National Cemetery Administration. 27

Figure 19 . Right: A 1970s version of the Confederate headstone with a 

circle around the Cross of Honor removed. 27

Figure 20 . Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, ca. 1905. Library of 

Congress. 28

Figure 21 . Commissioner William Elliott (seated), his son and grandson, 

both also named William Elliott, ca. 1900. South Caroliniana Library, 

University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. 28

Figure 22 . Commissioner William Elliott (third from right) with L. Frank 

Nye (far right) and others at Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana, 

September 1906. National Archives and Records Administration. 29

Figure 23 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department site plan of Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery, New Jersey, 1892. Confederate burial trenches (shown 

in gray) have been enhanced to make them more visible. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 31

Figure 24 . Monument erected by the State of Maryland as photographed 

in 1876, at Point Lookout, St. Mary’s County, Maryland. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 32

Figure 25 . William C. Oates, commissioner from December 15, 1907, until 

his death on September 9, 1910, photographed as a brigadier general in 

1898. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 32

Figure 26 . Confederate Monument at Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, 

Indiana, in 1910. National Archives and Records Administration. 33

Figure 27 . James Henderson Berry, ca. 1890, commissioner from October 

1910 until December 1912. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. 34

Figure 28 . Commissioner James Berry finished many projects that William 

C. Oates started, including the Point Lookout Confederate Monument in 

Maryland. National Archives and Records Administration. 35

Figure 29 . Monument at Confederate Mound, Oak Woods Cemetery, 

Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1935, after it was raised and plaques added to the new 

base. National Archives and Records Administration. 36
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Figure 30 . Samuel E. Lewis, photographed in 1904, was the last 

commissioner, 1914 to 1916. U.S. Library of Medicine. 37

Figures 31–32 . Left to right: Little Rock Confederate Cemetery, Arkansas, 

ca. 1911, and Springfield Confederate Cemetery, Missouri, ca. 1901, shown

with original headstones that were later replaced. From Program for UCV 

Reunion, Little Rock, Arkansas, May 1911. 39

Figure 33 . Entrance to North Alton Confederate Cemetery, Illinois, ca. 

1936. National Archives and Records Administration. 40

Figure 34 . The Maryland Confederate Monument, 1876 (left), was moved 

to Point Lookout by the Works Progress Administration in 1938. 41

Figure 35 . Map showing the original and second locations of Camp 

Butler, and Camp Butler National Cemetery. Based on 1876 Warner & Beers 

map of Sangamon County, Illinois. 54

Figure 36 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Camp Butler 

National Cemetery, 1892. National Archives and Records Administration. 60

Figure 37 . The cemetery entrance, photographed in 1937, had changed 

little from the layout shown on the 1892 Army map. Photograph by Emma 

Eliza Parrotte, from Emma Eliza Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, MA Thesis, 

Butler University, 1938. 60

Figure 38 . The irregular arrangement of Confederate headstones at Camp 

Butler suggests they are in their original 1908 location. 61

Figure 39 . The lodge in 1937. Photograph by Emma Eliza Parrotte, from 

Emma Eliza Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, MA Thesis, Butler University, 1938. 61

Figure 40 . The lodge in 2009; the porch was enclosed in 1942. 61

Figure 41 . Plat of Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. 

Construction Division, Office of the Quartermaster 6th Corps Area, November 

8, 1935. 62

Figure 42 . The Confederate Monument at Camp Butler, photograph 2009. 63

Figure 43 . Map of Greater Columbus, Ohio, showing the locations of 

Camp Chase and the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery. Based on 1872 

Caldwell and Gould map of Franklin County, Ohio. 64

Figure 44 . Camp Chase Confederate Prison, print ca. 1865. Library of 

Congress. 66

Figure 45 . William Knauss, 1839–1912. From William H. Knauss, The Story 

of Camp Chase. 67

Figure 46 . Memorial Day ceremony 1897. Note the absence of 

headboards in the cemetery. From William H. Knauss, The Story of 

Camp Chase. 68

Figure 47 . Left: Union veteran William Knauss helped raise funds to erect 

the monument, which was dedicated in 1902. 69

Figure 48 . Right: Camp Chase monument in 1940, with urns flanking the 

arch. National Archives and Records Administration. 69

Figure 49 . Remains from the City Cemetery in Columbus or Camp 

Dennison near Cincinnati were reinterred at the back, or east end, of the 

cemetery. 71
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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Figure 50 . The U.S. government paid for the stone wall in the 1880s; the 

fence was added in 1907. 72

Figure 51 . Layout plan of Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, 1934, 

with a tool shed and rostrum on the north wall. National Cemetery 

Administration. 73

Figure 52 . Layout plan of Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, 1948, with 

a new tool shed on the east wall. National Cemetery Administration. 74

Figure 53 . Cannonball mounted inside the cemetery entrance. 74

Figure 54 . Historically there have been irregular gaps among headstones, 

shown here just after being cleaned and raised as part of a turf renovation 

project. 74

Figure 55 . Map of Greater Chicago showing the locations of Camp 

Douglas, City Cemetery (now Lincoln Park), and Oak Woods Cemetery. 

Based on a 1903 railroad terminal map. 76

Figure 56 . Prisoners at Camp Douglas, ca. 1864. Some are wearing 

blankets and what appear to be Union uniforms or top coats.. From Francis 

Trevelyan Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 7. 78

Figure 57 . Illustration of Camp Douglas, ca. 1863, probably prior to major 

camp improvements in 1864. The Soldier in Our Civil War, 1896. 78

Figure 58 . John C. Underwood, ca. 1895. From John C. Underwood, 

Report of the Proceedings Incidental to the Erection and Dedication of the 

Confederate Monument. 80

Figure 59 . The monument in 1895 with a gun and cannonball in the 

background. From Underwood, Dedication of the Confederate Monument. 80

Figure 60 . Oak Woods Confederate Mound flagstaff for the U.S. flag. 81

Figure 61 . Dedication procession at the Leland Hotel on Michigan 

Avenue where the bell was rung on May 30, 1895. From Underwood, 

Dedication of the Confederate Monument. 81

Figure 62 . Left: A huge crowd gathered at Oak Woods Cemetery for the 

monument dedication. Library of Congress. 82

Figure 63 . Right: A poignant act in the dedication ceremony was 

the consecration of the guns, when four cannons were spiked. From 

Underwood, Dedication of the Confederate Monument. 82

Figure 64 . A cast-iron plaque provides a brief history of the monument 

and site, located in cemetery Division 1, Section K. 83

Figure 65 . Left: Section and elevation drawing of proposed changes to 

the monument by Van Amringe Granite Company, 1910. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 85

Figure 66 . Right: Plan view of granite mound and concrete monument 

foundation, changes proposed by Van Amringe Granite Company, 1910.

National Archives and Records Administration. 85

Figure 67 . As the Commission could not identify all 6,000 soldiers 

reputedly buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, the monument’s bronze 

plaques list only 4,275 names; this number is cited on the rededication 

plaque. 86
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Figure 68 . The 1911 recognition plaque on the Confederate Mound 

Monument, Oak Woods Cemetery, 2009. 86

Figure 69 . The only surviving cannonball pyramid at Confederate Mound. 87

Figure 70 . Above: A tinted photograph, 1895, shows the Union 

headstones between two stacks of cannonballs and close to the 

monument. From Underwood, Dedication of the Confederate Monument. 87

Figure 71 . The Cenotaph Monument, donated by prominent Chicagoan 

Thomas D. Lowther ca. 1890s, opposite Confederate Mound in Oak Woods 

Cemetery. 87

Figure 72 . Johnson’s Island and Sandusky Bay, Ohio. Based on U.S. 

Engineers Chart of a Portion of Sandusky Bay, 1887. 88

Figure 73 . Map of Johnson’s Island Confederate Prison, ca. 1863. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 90

Figure 74 . Interior view of the fort overlooking the Johnson’s Island 

prisoner-of-war camp. From Francis Trevelyan Miller Photographic History of 

the Civil War, Volume 7. 91

Figure 75 . A typical headstone placed at Johnson’s Island in the 1880s. 92

Figure 76 . Mary Patton Hudson, ca. 1906. National Archives and Records 

Administration. 93

Figure 77 . One of the books L. Frank Nye used to research Johnson’s 

Island burials. National Archives and Records Administration. 93

Figure 78 . Confederate cemetery at Johnson’s Island, ca. 1910, 

surrounded by a utilitarian wire fence. Archives of Sandusky Library-Follett 

House Museum, Sandusky, Ohio. 95

Figure 79 . A crowd at the dedication of the “Lookout” monument at 

Confederate Stockade, 1910. Archives of Sandusky Library—Follett House 

Museum, Sandusky, Ohio. 96

Figure 80 . Cemetery entrance facing the bay and fence erected by the 

Robert Patton Chapter UDC in 1912, framing the “Lookout” Monument in 

2009. 97

Figure 81 . One of two monuments erected in 1935 to honor Alice 

Davenport Mack, Elizabeth Morrison Houk, and Mary Patton Hudson. 97

Figure 82 . One of two monuments erected in 2003 by the Johnson’s 

Island Committee. 98

Figure 83 . Map of Indianapolis showing Greenlawn and Crown Hill 

cemeteries, and other sites related to Camp Morton and Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead work. Based on 1908 G. W. Baist Index 

Map and Basken-Foster 1876 Map of Indianapolis. 100

Figure 84 . The elaborate gate and house with “gingerbread” trim were 

part of the old fairgrounds complex; the house, right, served as the prison 

guard house. From Francis Trevelyan Miller, Photographic History of the Civil 

War, Volume 7. 102
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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Figure 85 . Plan of Camp Morton, 1865. 1. Headquarters; 2. Old hospital; 

3. Hospital tents; 4. Sutler; 5. Hospitals-built 1863; 6. New hospitals-built 

1864; 7. Barracks; 9. Gates; 10. Quartermaster; 11. Commissary; 12. Bakery; 

13. Baseball grounds; 15. Bridges; 16. Pumps; 17. Sheds; 19. Dining room; 

20. Kitchen; 21. Dining room; 22. Consulting room; 23. Reception room; 

24. Engineer; 25. Prescription, supplies. Dashed line (———) indicates the 

guard line. 103

Figure 86 . Camp Morton prison camp at Indianapolis, winter 1864. 

The ditch (foreground) was an unnamed creek the prisoners called the 

“Potomac.” Library of Congress. 104

Figure 87 . Map of Greenlawn Cemetery showing areas from which 

Confederate remains were removed (brown) to where they were interred 

(gray). 107

Figure 88 . Monument and fence at Greenlawn Cemetery, surrounded by 

industrial buildings in 1910. National Archives and Records Administration. 108

Figure 89 . The original Confederate Monument at Garfield Park in 2009. 109

Figure 90 . Greenlawn Cemetery, ca. 1876, indicates that the area was 

already becoming industrialized. From the “Illustrated Historical Atlas of 

Indiana,” 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. 109

Figure 91 . Map of Crown Hill Cemetery showing national cemetery and 

Confederate plot. 110

Figure 92 . Left: The Confederate monument placed by the federal 

government in 1931. National Archives and Records Administration. 110

Figure 93 . Right: The 1931 monument with revised inscription added in 

1993. 110

Figure 94 . Confederate soldiers’ lot in Section 32, Crown Hill Cemetery, 

ca. 2009. 111

Figure 95 . Greater New York City area map showing prison and hospital 

facilities associated with Confederate burials at Union Grounds, Cypress 

Hills Cemetery. Based on New York City map, ca.1915. 112

Figure 96 . The Tombs, ca. 1870; the building was razed in 1902. 

Appletons’ Journal, “New York Illustrated. No. 1“ Art Supplement,” April 24, 

1869. 114

Figure 97 . Fort Lafayette was a coastal fortification that housed 

Confederate prisoners. Library of Congress, ca. 1904. 114

Figure 98 . Barracks at Fort Columbus on Governors Island in New York 

harbor housed Confederate officers. Historic American Buildings Survey 

photograph, ca. 1934, Library of Congress. 114

Figure 99 . Castle Williams on Governors Island housed Confederate 

enlisted men, photograph ca. 1912. Library of Congress. 115

Figure 100 . De Camp General Hospital on Davids’ Island as it appeared in 

1863. From U.S. Army Regulations for the De Camp General Hospital, 1864. 116
xii

Figure 101 . Map showing Union Grounds within Cypress Hills Cemetery 

and Cypress Hills Cemetery on Jamaica Avenue. 117

Figure 102 . By the time the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department issued 

this 1892 map, Cypress Hills National Cemetery was composed of two 

discontiguous tracts; the older Union Grounds is on left. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 118

Figure 103 . Union Grounds, Section 1F: Round-top Union and pointedtop Confederate headstones are intermingled (foreground), and three 

short rows of upright headstones mark the graves of World War I 

veterans (back). 120

Figure 104 . Map showing the Delaware River with Fort Delaware 

and Finn’s Point National Cemetery. Based on George H. Cook and C. C. 

Vermeule’s U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map, 1887. 122

Figure 105 . G. D. Chenoweth’s sketch of the boxes used to hold the 

remains of Pea Patch Island prisoners, provided to the Quartermaster 

Department. National Archives and Records Administration. 125

Figure 106 . The federal government placed this monument in Finn’s 

Point National Cemetery in 1879 to identify Union soldiers buried there; 

the neoclassical shelter was added in 1936. 126

Figure 107 . The Finn’s Point Second Empire-style lodge in 1933. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 126

Figure 108 . Bivouac of the Dead plaques were installed at national 

cemeteries in the early 1880s; at Finn’s Point they have been relocated 

close to the lodge. 127

Figure 109 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department site plan of Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery, 1892; locations of the trench burials (gray) have been 

digitally enhanced. National Archives and Records Administration. 127

Figure 110 . Left: Elevation drawing of Confederate monumentat Finn’s 

Point by Van Amringe Granite Company, 1909. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 129

Figure 111 . Center: Section and course plan drawing of Confederate 

monument at Finn’s Point by Van Amringe Granite Company, 1909.

National Archives and Records Administration. 129

Figure 112 . Right: Finn’s Point monument, 1910. The east face includes 

four bronze plaques, the dedication (shaft) and three containing the 

names of Confederate dead. 129

Figure 113 . Finn’s Point Confederate monument dedication plaque, 

whose inscription omits any eulogy or words of bereavement. 130

Figure 114 . The new cast-concrete neoclassical portico built over the 

1879 Union monument and the Bivouac of the Dead plaques in their 

original location (background), photograph 1936. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 130

Figure 115 . The old stable at Finn’s Point prior to renovation in 1936. 

National Archives and Records Administration. 131
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Figure 116 . Layout of Finn’s Point National Cemetery ca. 1950, after 

expansion and renovations during the 1940s were complete. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 131

Figure 117 . World War II prisoners of war were buried at Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery near the Confederate monument. 131

Figure 118 . Map showing Fort Smith National Cemetery, the old fort, and 

vicinity. Based on the “Map of the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas” by James B. 

Gass, 1894. 132

Figure 119 . Fort Smith, ca. 1860. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 

October 7, 1865. 134

Figure 120 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map, 1892, shows the 

cemetery changed little during its first two decades. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 134

Figure 121 . The UDC planned this 1903 Confederate monument for Fort 

Smith National Cemetery, but the War Department rejected it; it stands on 

the Sebastian County Courthouse lawn. 135

Figure 122 . The federal government installed this replacement 

Confederate monument at Fort Smith by 1904. 135

Figure 123 . The lodge at Fort Smith National Cemetery in 1941. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 136

Figure 124 . The formal main gates at Fort Smith were replaced in 1942 

when the entrance was moved from South Sixth Street to Garland Street; 

they are inside the cemetery today. Undated photograph. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 136

Figure 125 . Headstones at Fort Smith feature the Confederate Cross of 

Honor, an emblem authorized in the 1930s. 137

Figure 126 . Fort Smith site map showing proposed cemetery updates, 

1940s, but not the circle drive and flagstaff added in 1942. National 

Cemetery Administration. 137

Figure 127 . Photograph of the new entrance to the cemetery,1940s, with 

a wider driveway and substantial limestone gateposts. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 138

Figure 128 . A grave marker for multiple unknown Confederate dead next 

to a 2006 interment. 138

Figure 129 . Greater St. Louis map showing the locations of hospitals and 

prisons, ca. 1870, and Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. 140

Figure 130 . View of Jefferson Barracks, ca. 1861. Library of Congress. 142

Figure 131 . McDowell Medical College in St. Louis; this building became 

Gratiot Street Prison. From Holland Thomason, editor, Photographic History 

of the Civil War: Volume 4, Prisons and Hospitals, 1910. 143

Figure 132 . Superintendent’s lodge, 1872, at Jefferson Barracks 

with gatehouse (background), photograph 1933. National Cemetery 

Administration. 145
xiv

Figure 133 . Jefferson Barracks brick rostrum, 1872, was renovated by the 

WPA in 1936, and later removed. Photograph 1939. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 145

Figure 134 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Jefferson 

Barracks National Cemetery in 1893; this area encompasses burial Sections 

1–69 today. National Archives and Records Administration. 146

Figure 135 . Civilian headstones are intermingled with those of prisoners, 

placed by the commission in 1909. 148

Figure 136 . The Confederate Dead Monument, erected 1988. 149

Figure 137 . At Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 66, modern 

headstones mark five graves on the perimeter of a Confederate section in 

what was open space. 149

Figure 138 . Little Rock map showing Mount Holly Cemetery and Little 

Rock National Cemetery. Based on Little Rock Railway and Electric Company 

map, 1913. 150

Figure 139 . Little Rock’s octagonal rostrum was built after 1875 and 

removed in 1942, photograph ca. 1930. National Archives and Records 

Administration. 152

Figure 140 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Little Rock 

National Cemetery, 1892; the Confederate cemetery was located 

immediately west of the national cemetery. National Archives and Records 

Administration. 153

Figure 141 . Confederate cemetery in Little Rock, ca. 1911, with 

monument and headstones (foreground); the headstones and 640 remains 

came from Mount Holly Cemetery in 1884. From Program for UCV Reunion, 

Little Rock, Arkansas, May 1911. 154

Figure 142 . The Confederate Monument encircled by headstones, 2009; 

this configuration dates from ca. 1948. 154

Figure 143 . Left: UDC rostrum at Little Rock, photograph ca. 1940. 

National Archives and Records Administration. 155

Figure 144 . Right: UDC rostrum at Little Rock in 2009. 155

Figure 145 . Most headstones in Little Rock National Cemetery reflect the 

commission’s design (right); the headstone with the Southern Cross of 

Honor (left) was added after 1930. 156

Figure 146 . Map of Little Rock National Cemetery: the Confederate 

section is shaded red, the original national cemetery acreage is shaded 

purple. 157

Figure 147 . Historic map of Alton, Illinois, showing the military prison 

and North Alton Confederate Cemetery. Based on Map of Bond County, 

Union Atlas Co., 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. 158

Figure 148 . A small section of wall (left) near the Mississippi River in 

downtown Alton is all that remains of the old Illinois State Penitentiary. 160
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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Figure 149 . Undated property sketch of North Alton Confederate 

Cemetery (outlined in dark purple). The federal government enclosed the 

triangular 0.44-acre parcel (left) with chain-link fence. National Archives 

and Records Administration. 162

Figure 150 . The UDC gave this postcard of the Confederate monument in 

Lynchburg, Virginia, to Commissioner Oates to illustrate its vision for North 

Alton Confederate Cemetery. National Archives and Records Administration. 164

Figure 151 . Elevation drawing of North Alton monument, submitted by 

Van Amringe Granite Company in February 1909. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 166

Figure 152 . Sectional drawing of North Alton monument, showing 

concrete foundation and steel rods connecting the upper base and obelisk 

apex, submitted by Van Amringe Granite Company in February 1909. 

National Archives and Records Administration. 166

Figure 153 . The North Alton Confederate Monument dedication plaque 

reflects the War Department’s 1893 directive which limited inscriptions to 

“a brief historical legend, compiled without praise and censure.” 167

Figure 154 . North Alton Confederate Monument was completed in 1910; 

its original earthen base was covered in concrete, probably by WPA labor 

repairing the foundation in the 1930s. 167

Figure 155 . The Sam Davis Chapter, UDC, paid for North Alton’s memorial 

entrance gates. 168

Figure 156 . Army plat of the North Alton Confederate Cemetery, 1957.

National Cemetery Administration. 168

Figure 157 . Steps lead up a steep hill to the North Alton monument 

in 1936; the fading gatepost inscriptions are visible. National Cemetery 

Administration. 169

Figure 158 . The concrete storage shed at North Alton in 2009. 169

Figure 159 . The cemetery property includes decorative iron fence 

(foreground), and chain-link fence (left) around the 0.44-acre parcel. 169

Figure 160 . City of Philadelphia map showing the locations of hospitals 

where Confederate prisoners were treated and died, and the many 

cemeteries where they were buried before being consolidated in 

Philadelphia National Cemetery. 170

Figure 161 . Greater Philadelphia map showing the location of Rural 

Cemetery and Crozer Theological Institute in Chester, Pennsylvania. 172

Figure 162 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Philadelphia 

National Cemetery, 1892. National Archives and Records Administration. 173

Figure 163 . UDC plaque installed in Philadelphia National Cemetery, ca. 

1900; the number ‘224’ has never been explained. 174

Figure 164 . Left: Confederate Monument, completed 1912, at 

Philadelphia National Cemetery. 176
xvi

Figure 165 . Above: The Confederate monument’s dedication plaque 

omits both praise and censure. 176

Figure 166 . Left: Philadelphia National Cemetery has changed little from 

this 1961 photograph. National Archives and Records Administration. 177

Figure 167 . Above: One of four corner markers that delineate the 

Confederate Section, Philadelphia National Cemetery. 177

Figure 168 . Though modest in size, the Confederate monument is a 

prominent feature in Philadelphia National Cemetery. 177

Figure 169 . Map showing the cemeteries at Point Lookout, ca. 1870. 

National Archives and Records Administration. 178

Figure 170 . Bird’s-eye view view of Point Lookout, Maryland, ca. 1864.

Library of Congress. 180

Figure 171 . General Gilman Marston, first commander of Point Lookout, 

ca. 1863. Library of Congress. 180

Figure 172 . The commander and officers of Point Lookout, ca. 1864. 

Excluding two men holding flags in background (left to right): Dr. A. Heger, 

Captain C. H. Drew, Captain J. W. Goodwin, Lieutenant H. C. Strong, General 

James Barnes, Major A. G. Brady, Dr. T. H. Thompson, Captain J. W. Welch, 

Lieutenant Wilson, and Lieutenant J. T. Cantwell. From Francis Trevelyan 

Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 7. 181

Figure 173 . Map of Point Lookout, 1866, by Colonel M. I. Ludington, 

Quartermaster Department of Washington, D.C. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 182

Figure 174 . Maryland Confederate Monument, photograph ca. 1908, 

showing wood-plank fence (right). National Archives and Records 

Administration. 183

Figure 175 . Left: Elevation drawing of Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument by Van Amringe Granite Company, September 1910. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 184

Figure 176 . Center: Section elevation drawing of Point Lookout 

Confederate Monument by Van Amringe Granite Company, September 

1910. National Archives and Records Administration. 184

Figure 177 . Right: Course plans for Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument by Van Amringe Granite Company, September 1910. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 184

Figure 178 . Point Lookout Confederate Monument, ca. 1911. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 185

Figure 179 . Map showing locations of the two monuments before the 

Maryland Confederate Monument was moved in 1938. Based on Point 

Lookout, MD, USGS topographic quad, 1942. 187

Figure 180 . Former utility shed behind the Point Lookout monument. 186

Figure 181 . Southeast corner of the cemetery and replacement fence 

post. 186

Figure 182 . The Army of Northern Virginia-pattern Confederate battle 

flag, flown on private property immediately behind the cemetery fence, 

2009. 188
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

xvii

Figure 183 . Point Lookout Confederate Monument in 2009. 188

Figure 184 . Map of Rock Island, 1819, with Fort Armstrong on the west 

(left) end of the island. Library of Congress. 190

Figure 185 . Bird’s-eye view of Rock Island Prison Barracks, ca. 1864. 

Library of Congress. 190

Figure 186 . Map of Rock Island by W. Otto Gronen, 1870, which depicts 

the island about 1867, before arsenal manufacturing buildings were 

constructed along the high ground in the middle of the island. The prison, 

cemetery, roads, and railroad are highlighted in red and blue. Library of 

Congress. 192

Figure 187 . Map of Rock Island Arsenal, 1919. Library of Congress. 194

Figure 188 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, photograph after 1890, 

with few headstones and an inverted cannon (buried from mouth to 

trunnions) used as a fence post. Rock Island Arsenal Museum. 195

Figure 189 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery on May 4, 1904; it must 

have looked very much like this when Nye and Elliott visited in 1907. Rock 

Island Arsenal Museum. 196

Figure 190 . Headstone on grave 395 (left) in 2009, one of six placed in 

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery prior to the work of the commission. 196

Figure 191 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, pre-1908 photograph. 

The headstone of W. W. Jackson, Co. A, 38th Alabama (foreground), was 

replaced by a government-issue Confederate headstone. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum. 197

Figure 192 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery with commission 

headstones, ca. 1908. The gap in the front row is an empty gravesite; 

friends or family had the body removed after the Civil War. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum. 197

Figure 193 . Entrance to the Confederate cemetery, 1919. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum. 198

Figure 194 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery on May 30, 1953, with 

small Confederate battle flags placed in front of headstones. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum. 199

Figure 195 . Entrance to Confederate cemetery on November 8, 1963. 

Rock Island Arsenal Museum. 199

Figure 196 . The UDC monument erected in 2003, photograph 2009. 200

Figure 197 . Entrance to Confederate cemetery in 2009. 201

Figure 198 . Map of Springfield showing the location of Springfield 

National Cemetery and the Confederate cemetery. 202

Figure 199 . The Bailey/Union Monument, erected 1873 in burial Section 

23, Springfield National Cemetery. 203

Figure 200 . The French Second-Empire–style lodge, ca. 1930. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 204
xviii

Figure 201 . Original bronze identification plaque on a gun monument. 

All Civil War-era national cemeteries contained one of these plaques, 

inscribed with the number of known and unknown dead buried there, and 

typically affixed to gun monuments. 204

Figure 202 . Sketch map showing the location of Springfield National 

Cemetery and the Confederate cemetery in Springfield, 1880s. National 

Archives and Records Administration. 205

Figure 203 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Springfield 

National Cemetery, 1892, before the Confederate burial ground was 

incorporated. National Archives and Records Administration. 205

Figure 204 . The intersection of the original Springfield National Cemetery 

wall with its simple coping (right), and more ornate Confederate cemetery 

wall (left); utilizing the national cemetery wall saved the UCV several 

thousand dollars. 206

Figure 205 . Hand-tinted photograph of the Confederate monument and 

cemetery wall (background) that appeared on the cover of the monument 

dedication booklet. Photograph from Missouri UCV, United Confederate 

Veterans’ Reunion souvenir booklet, 1901, Springfield, Missouri. 206

Figure 206 . Confederate cemetery in 1901, showing the small 

rectangular markers on graves. Photograph from Missouri UCV, United 

Confederate Veterans’ Reunion souvenir booklet, 1901. 207

Figure 207 . Confederate graves and monument (designated Sections 1-2 

N, 1-2 S) visible beyond a post-1984 burial section of flat grave markers 

(foreground), photograph 2009. 209

Figure 208 . Map of Kansas City and Westport, Missouri, showing 

the cemeteries and hospitals associated with the 1911 Confederate 

monument. 210

Figure 209 . Congressman William P. Borland, a Democrat from Kansas 

City, took a personal interest in the Commission for Marking Graves 

of Confederate Dead and facilitated its work to mark the unknown 

Confederate dead in Union Cemetery. From William P. Borland (a late 

representative from Missouri) Memorial addresses delivered in the House of 

Representatives of the United States, Sixty-fifth Congress, 3rd session, 

March 2, 1919. 212

Figure 210 . The original drawing of the Union Cemetery Confederate 

Monument, by M. H. Rice of Kansas City, 1911. National Archives and 

Records Administration. 212

Figure 211 . The Confederate Monument is stop No. 15 on the Union 

Cemetery walking tour, photograph 2009. 213

Figure 212 . The south face of the Union Cemetery Confederate 

Monument, erected 1911. 213

Figure 213 . Map of Terre Haute, Indiana, showing the locations of 

Woodlawn Cemetery, the railroad depot, and building where Confederate 

prisoners were held, 1876. Based on the “Illustrated Historical Atlas of 

Indiana,” 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. 214
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

xix

Figure 214 . This grassy strip along the west edge of Woodlawn Cemetery, 

which was reserved for paupers during the Civil War era, is the most likely 

the location of Confederate prisoner burials. 217

Figure 215 . Undated sketch by M. H. Rice of Kansas City, Missouri, of 

the proposed monument to Confederate prisoners buried at Woodlawn 

Cemetery. National Archives and Records Administration. 218

Figure 216 . Plaques added to the monument when it was moved in 1951: 

recognition (leftmost), and two on the east and west faces inscribed with 

names of the dead. 218

Figure 217 . Map of Woodlawn Cemetery showing the area reserved 

for paupers and the original and current locations of the Confederate 

monument. 219

Figure 218 . East face of the Woodlawn Cemetery Confederate 

Monument, set in a circle at the intersection of Central Avenue and Walsh 

Avenue in 2009. 219

Figure 219 . Map of Elmira, New York, showing locations of the prison 

and Woodlawn Cemetery. Based on the Atlas of the City of Elmira, New York, 

1896. Chemung County Historical Society. 220

Figure 220 . Barracks at Elmira Military Prison, ca. 1865. Library of Congress. 222

Figure 221 . Plan of the Elmira Military Prison compound, ca. 1865. Library 

of Congress. 223

Figure 222 . Wood headboards on Confederate graves at Woodlawn 

National Cemetery, Decoration Day 1875. Chemung County Historical 

Society. 226

Figure 223 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Woodlawn 

National Cemetery showing the location of Confederate and Union burials, 

1893. National Archives and Records Administration. 227

Figure 224 . Woodlawn National Cemetery in 1906 when the commission 

began its work; Union graves are visible on the left side. Chemung County 

Historical Society. 227

Figure 225 . Private grave marker for Confederate soldier “John Smith T.” in 

the Civil War Section, erected by his son in 1905. 227

Figure 226 . Private headstone on the grave of Confederate Private 

William E. D. Crawford, photograph 1906. Chemung County Historical 

Society. 228

Figure 227 . A standard 1930s government-issue headstone on the grave 

of sailor E. K. Lindsay, who died in 1865. 228

Figure 228 . Newly marked Confederate graves at Woodlawn National 

Cemetery prior to seeding in 1908. Chemung County Historical Society. 230

Figure 229 . One of the photographs Charles G. Blake & Company sent to 

Commissioner James Berry to document the finished Shohola Monument.

National Archives and Records Administration. 231
xx

Figure 230 . Two rows of Confederate graves and Shohola Monument in 

Woodlawn National Cemetery, between a tree-lined interior road and a 

picket perimeter fence, ca. 1912. Chemung County Historical Society. 231

Figure 231 . United Daughters of the Confederacy monument by F. 

William Sievers, erected in Woodlawn National Cemetery in 1937. 232

Figure 232 . Map showing the Woodlawn National Cemetery layout after 

Spanish-American War and World War I burials were added to the Civil War 

Section, 1934. National Cemetery Administration. 233

Figure 233 . A group of nine students from Elmira’s Southside High School

donated the John W. Jones Monument to Woodlawn National Cemetery 

in 1997. 233

Figure B .1 . First national Confederate pattern, in use from the beginning 

of the war to May 1863. Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. 279

Figure B .2 . Second Confederate national pattern, in use May 1863 to 

March 1865. Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. 279

Figure B .3 . Third Confederate national pattern, in use from March 1865 to 

war’s end. Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. 279

Figure B .4 . One of two flags carried by all Union regiments. Quartermaster 

General of the U.S. Army, Civil War Battle Flags of the Union Army and Order of 

Battle, reprint edition, Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1997. 280

Figure B .5 . Union infantry regiments carried the eagle flag; the cavalry 

carried a variation of it. Artillery regiments carried a yellow flag with 

crossed cannon centered in the field. Quartermaster General of the U.S. 

Army, Civil War Battle Flags of the Union Army and Order of Battle, reprint 

edition, Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1997. 280

Figure B .6 . The presentation flag of the Phillips County (Arkansas) Guards. 

Phillips County Museum, Helena, Arkansas. 280

Figure B .7 . The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag had several variants. 

This is the first design with twelve stars, of which there were three 

versions. 281

Figure B .8 . The 1st Arkansas Infantry flag, one of the later variants of 

the Hardee-pattern, carried by the Army of Tennessee. Old State House 

Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas. 281

Figure B .9 . The Polk-pattern flag was used at many early battles in the 

West, including Shiloh and Perryville. 282

Figure B .10 . The Army of Tennessee battle flag, issued in May 1864, is 

similar to the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag except it is rectangular. 282

Figure B .11 . The Beauregard-pattern battle flag, used in the 

Trans-Mississippi, was issued in square (shown) and rectangular formats. 282

Figure B .12 . A Van Dorn flag used by the 15th Arkansas Infantry. Old State 

House Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas. 283
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

xxi

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xxii

Acronyms

CCA Confederate Cemetery Association 

GAR Grand Army of the Republic

GPR Ground-penetrating radar

LMA Ladies’ memorial association

NCA National Cemetery Administration

SCV Sons of Confederate Veterans

UCV United Confederate Veterans

UDC United Daughters of the Confederacy

VA U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and prior to 1989, Veterans 

Administration
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

xxiii

Acknowledgments

This work began when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Cemetery 

Administration (NCA), History Program developed a project to assemble primary 

historic information about a significant thematic group of NCA properties for which 

little original documentation had been compiled: Federal Stewardship of Confederate 

Dead. 

Thanks are due to Kathleen Schamel, VA Federal Preservation Officer, for making 

initial funds available for NCA’s Confederate Historic Resource Study project and its 

publication on paper and online; Patricia Tyson, NCA Director of Management and 

Communication Service, for her support of the project; and Sara Amy Leach, NCA 

senior historian, and historians Alec Bennett and Jennifer Perunko, for many aspects 

of the research including providing access to agency records, guidance, and insight to 

research objectives. Leach and Perunko served as periodic editors, copyeditors, and 

project coordinators during the publishing process. 

Joseph E. Brent and Maria Campbell Brent of Mudpuppy & Waterdog, Inc., conducted 

the primary and secondary research for the Confederate Historic Resource Study, to 

include locating images, creating maps, and writing the initial text. Their work was 

accomplished first as a subcontractor to Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. (CRAI), then 

to Labat Environmental, Inc. 

At CRAI, Charles M. Niquette, president and chief executive officer, and Steven 

Creasman, executive vice president, oversaw Mudpuppy & Waterdog’s participation; 

Craig Potts, director of architectural and cultural history, until 2009, and Karen Hudson, 

in this position starting in 2009, coordinated personnel and provided valuable guidance; 

architectural historian Elizabeth Heavrin helped guide research. 

Labat Environmental facilitated the completion of the Confederate Historic Resource 

Study. Jennifer Knuth served as copy editor and proofreader; Christine Modovsky 

oversaw the contract, peer review process, and coordinated among NCA historians and 

Mudpuppy & Waterdog. Landscape architect Ned Crankshaw, professor at University of 

Kentucky, produced the maps and descriptions of Confederate sites that helped direct 

historic research. 

John R. Neff, Ph.D., director of The Center for Civil War Research at the University 

of Mississippi, and Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D., University of Tennessee-Martin lecturer, 

served as peer reviewers of the draft Confederate Historic Resource Study; their careful 

consideration of historic information was essential.

Kris Leinke, curator, Rock Island Arsenal Museum, generously provided historic 

photographs of Rock Island Confederate Cemetery. Barbara Rogers, administrator, 

Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas, and LaKresha Diaz, author of the 

Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery National Register of Historic Places nomination, provided 

information about the United Daughters of the Confederacy monument at Little Rock 

National Cemetery. 
xxiv

Numerous NCA Field Programs staff took time from their busy schedules to answer 

questions about their properties, specifically: Gary Edmondson, administrative officer, 

Springfield National Cemetery; Jerry Parrott, program support assistant, Little Rock 

National Cemetery; John T. Spruyt, director, Fort Smith National Cemetery; and Gary 

Warner, gardener, Fort Smith National Cemetery.

We wish to recognize and thank the personnel affiliated with the following institutions 

for the assistance they rendered throughout the Confederate Historic Resource Study

research process: 

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 

Springfield, Illinois

Alabama Department of Archives and 

History, Montgomery, Alabama

Allen County Public Library, 

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Arkansas Historical Commission, 

Little Rock, Arkansas

Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 

Little Rock, Arkansas

Beaufort County Library, 

Beaufort, South Carolina

Brook Library, Chemung County 

Historical Society, Elmira, New York

Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, 

Little Rock, Arkansas

Chicago Historical Society, 

Chicago, Illinois

Fort Delaware Society, 

Delaware City, Delaware

Fort Smith National Historic Site, 

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith Public Library, 

Fort Smith Arkansas

Germantown Historical Society, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hayner Public Library, 

Alton, Illinois

Indiana Historical Society, 

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana State Library, 

Indianapolis, Indiana

Johnson’s Island Preservation Society, 

Sandusky, Ohio

Kansas City Public Library, 

Kansas City, Missouri

Kentucky Historical Society, 

Frankfort, Kentucky

Library of Congress, 

Washington, D.C.

Missouri Historical Society, 

St. Louis, Missouri

Museum of the Confederacy, 

Richmond, Virginia

National Archives and Records 

Administration, Washington, D.C.

New York Public Library, 

New York, New York

Ohio Historical Society, 

Columbus, Ohio

Rock Island Arsenal Museum, 

Rock Island, Illinois

Rock Island County Historical Society, 

Moline, Illinois

Rock Island Public Library, 

Rock Island, Illinois

Sandusky Public Library Archives,

Sandusky, Ohio

South Carolinian Library,  

University of South Carolina, 

Columbia, South Carolina

Springfield City Museum, 

Springfield, Missouri

Springfield-Green County Public Library, 

Springfield, Missouri
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

xxv

Steele Memorial Library, 

Elmira, New York

University of Kentucky Law School 

Library, Lexington, Kentucky

U.S. Army Armor School Research 

Library, Fort Knox, Kentucky

Vigo County Public Library, 

Terre Haute, Indiana

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield 

Library, Republic, Missouri
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

1

Introduction

Figure 1 . Confederate monument 

and artillery at Oak Woods 

Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

This study is the result of a project the History Program of the National Cemetery 

Administration (NCA), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), developed to 

assemble primary historic information about a thematic group of NCA properties—

cemeteries and memorials that exclusively or partially contain Confederate burials. 

The Confederate Historic Resource Study encompasses nine Confederate cemeteries and 

nine national cemeteries that contain in excess of four hundred Confederate interments 

each (fig. 1). Confederate burials in smaller numbers are found elsewhere in the NCA 
2

Introduction

system, but they were not included in this project because the locations were not 

associated with the same level of organized planning as these eighteen sites. The initial 

phase of this project, 2008–2010, resulted in a draft historic context, site management 

recommendations, National Register of Historic Places nominations, and text and layout 

design for interpretive signs to be placed in the eighteen cemeteries. 

This publication marks the completion of the 2010 Confederate Historic Resource Study

context and allows NCA to make it available to users in print and online. The objective is 

to educate VA and its partners, Civil War scholars and enthusiasts, and the public about 

these lesser-known federal cemeteries. The accounts address property ownership and 

physical, administrative, and legislative history from the Civil War to present. NCA also 

sought to learn how and why other major Confederate burial grounds remained in nongovernment hands. 

NCA historians developed research goals and, in consultation with Cultural Resource 

Analysts, Inc. (CRAI) and Mudpuppy & Waterdog, Inc., the methodology to achieve 

it. As research and fieldwork unfolded, it became clear each cemetery site had a unique 

origin. 

NCA also tasked the authors with providing answers to some specific questions affiliated 

with post-Civil War commemoration, including the use of individual headstones versus 

a single memorial or monument, notable burials and memorial objects, and verification 

of the number of Confederate dead interred in the study sites. Further agency questions 

related to the government’s adoption of the Confederate headstone design, on-site 

commemorative activities, display of Confederate flags, identification of veteran service 

organizations originally affiliated with marking Confederate graves, and erecting 

Confederate memorials at these cemeteries and elsewhere. As a result, this product is a 

hybrid document that blends federal historic resource study content with Confederate 

history. 

Research began in August 2008 when the authors examined records in the NCA 

History Program collection, Washington, D.C. This was followed by research at the 

National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress and elsewhere that 

continued to May 2010. Local repositories provided sources about cemetery history 

in relation to each community, especially about interim Confederate dead interments 

prior to removal by the federal government. Events and facilities related to prisons and 

hospitals associated with Confederate dead were documented. In 2009, the authors 

visited the eighteen study cemeteries to assess the integrity of the section(s) containing 

Confederate burials based on the criteria for inclusion in the National Register of 

Historic Places. The cemetery’s current appearance was evaluated against historic images 

and written descriptions to verify the presence or absence of original features such as 

fences, gates, rostrums, memorials, monuments, and decorative and symbolic objects 

such as artillery. The overall condition of the cemetery and its headstones was recorded.

Part I of the study, the historic context, addresses the legislation and the broad social and 

political currents that affected the ownership and marking of some Confederate graves. 

One critical government program responsible for identifying and marking graves at 

many of the study sites was legislated by Public Act No. 38 in 1906: 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

3

An Act to provide for the appropriate marking of the graves of the 

soldiers and sailors of the Confederate army and navy who died in 

Northern prisons and were buried near the prisons where they died, 

and for other purposes.

1

This act was enacted after the Confederate section was created in Arlington National 

Cemetery, which in turn was prompted by President William McKinley’s speech in 

Atlanta, Georgia, in 1898 in which he said that it was the government’s responsibility 

to mark Confederate graves. The Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead was specifically authorized to mark “the graves of the soldiers and sailors of the 

Confederate army and navy in the late civil war . . . who died in federal prisons and 

military hospitals in the North and who were buried near their places of confinement,” 

and to recommend the purchase of Confederate burial sites by the federal government.2

Based on this, the Department of War eventually purchased several sites included in this 

study. However, markers were not authorized for Confederate soldiers who were killed 

in action, who died in Confederate camps or hospitals and were buried in southern 

national cemeteries, and for troops who survived the war. 

If national cemeteries were created exclusively for Union dead, how did Confederates 

come to be buried in some of them? Is the answer, as one author suggests, simply a 

“response to drastic need before the war’s end”?3 This study considers how and why 

some Confederate soldiers came to be interred in national cemeteries and others in 

private or community cemeteries, and who authorized them.

Part II of this study, the individual cemetery histories, describes their physical 

evolution in the context of nineteenth century geography, construction of Confederate 

monuments/memorials, individuals significant to decision making, the number of 

Confederate dead interred, and other themes applicable to multiple sites. Each of the 

national cemeteries, Confederate cemeteries, and soldiers’ lots has a unique origin; 

however, a shared directive or legislative impetus typically caused the burial, relocation, 

and marking of these Confederate graves.

Almost every cemetery in this study contains a group memorial. The Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead erected many of them; others were donated by 

private organizations or individuals well before and after the Commission. The study 

attempts to determine why they were erected in these places, when, and what individuals 

or organizations were responsible. 

Tangential but critical information associated with the history of these properties and 

NCA’s management is found in the appendices. This includes the legislation that guided 

the location, marking, and ownership of Confederate cemeteries; national and military 

flags of the Confederacy; and instances of commemorative events, including the display 

of Confederate flags. 
4

Introduction

Confederates in NCA Cemeteries 

The cemeteries examined in this study share common historic threads (fig. 2). Most are 

associated with Confederate prisoners of war. Two originated with post-Civil War ladies’ 

memorial associations, and one with Confederate occupation of a federal garrison. 

The prisoner-of-war camp properties are Camp Butler National Cemetery (Springfield, 

Illinois); Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio); Confederate Mound 

(Chicago, Illinois); Confederate Stockade Cemetery (Johnson’s Island, Sandusky, 

Ohio); Crown Hill Confederate Cemetery (Indianapolis, Indiana); Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery (Salem, New Jersey); Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (St. 

Louis, Missouri); North Alton Confederate Cemetery (Alton, Illinois); Point Lookout 

Confederate Cemetery (St. Mary’s County, Maryland); Rock Island Confederate 

Cemetery (Rock Island, Illinois); Woodlawn Cemetery (Terre Haute, Indiana); and 

Woodlawn National Cemetery (Elmira, New York). Confederate prisoners who died in 

private or city hospitals were interred in Philadelphia National Cemetery (Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania); Cypress Hill National Cemetery (Brooklyn, New York); and Union 

Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri). 

Confederates who died while incarcerated in prison camps were initially buried in 

cemeteries associated with the camps. At Camp Butler, Johnson’s Island, Terre Haute, 

and North Alton the dead are found in the original place of interment. Most men buried 

at Camp Chase, Elmira, Jefferson Barracks, and Rock Island also occupy their original 

graves; however, Confederate remains were added later. Some remains were moved more 

than once. Confederate prisoners who died in hospitals in Philadelphia, New York, and 

Figure 2 . Map showing the 

locations of cemeteries included in 

this study. States that were part of 

the Confederacy are south of the 

dashed line; those above the line 

remained in the Union. 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

5

Kansas City—initially buried in city or private cemeteries—were later reinterred into 

cemeteries now overseen by NCA. 

Public Act No. 38 directed that headstones were to be placed on individual graves at 

Camp Butler, Camp Chase, Jefferson Barracks, Rock Island, Elmira, Cypress Hills, 

and Johnson’s Island. However, due to inadequate record keeping, missing wooden 

headboards, relocated remains, and other factors, the occupants of many graves could 

not be identified. In these situations, the Commission erected a single monument 

featuring bronze plaques with the names of the Confederate dead. Examples include 

major monuments at Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery, Finn’s Point National 

Cemetery, North Alton Confederate Cemetery, Philadelphia National Cemetery, 

and Crown Hill Confederate Cemetery. Smaller monuments were erected at Union 

Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery. 

Ladies’ memorial associations founded separate Confederate sections at Springfield, 

Missouri and Little Rock, Arkansas national cemeteries, and in the early twentieth 

century deeded them to the federal government. Fort Smith (Arkansas) National 

Cemetery’s Confederate burials date to a brief period when Southern troops occupied 

the federal Fort Smith garrison. Confederate burials at Little Rock, Fort Smith, and 

Springfield were excluded from Public Act No. 38 because they were located in the 

South and the dead were not prisoners of war. However, these were marked after passage 

of “An act to provide for the appropriate marking of the graves of soldiers and sailors of 

the Confederate army and navy who died in Northern prisons and were buried near the 

prisons where they died, and for other purposes,” approved March 8, 1906 (34 Stat. L. 56), 

which authorized the Department of War to mark all Confederate graves regardless 

of location.4
6

Introduction

Notes

1

U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December, 

1905 to March, 1907. Vol. XXXIV in Three Parts—Part I, U.S. Government Printing 

Office, Washington, D.C., 1907, p. 56.

2

U.S. Congress, Congressional Record, 58th Cong., 2nd sess., January 25, 1906, Vol. 38, 

Part 2, pp. 1109–1110.

3

Cynthia Mills and Pamela H. Simpson, Monuments to the Lost Cause: Women, Art, 

and the Landscapes of Southern Memory, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 

Tennessee, 2003, p. 40.

4

U.S. Government Printing Office, Statutes at Large, p. 56.
Part I

National Cemetery Administration

HISTORIC CONTEXT
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

9

Part I. Historic Context

S

ocial and political events, and patriotic movements, have 

influenced or even dictated where Confederate burials 

were to be located, how they were marked, and the type 

of memorial that would be erected. Most, but not all, 

Confederate soldiers buried in these cemeteries died as prisoners 

of war. Some died in battle and military engagements; others 

passed away in post hospitals. Some veterans chose to be buried 

in Confederate cemeteries or relatives opted to bury them there. 

The range of historic scenarios ultimately leads to the same 

question—why did some soldiers’ lots, as independent properties 

or co-located in municipal or private cemeteries, fall under the 

jurisdiction of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA)? 

Post–Civil War events associated with these places were over time 

influenced by the “Lost Cause” mythology that guided memory and 

memorialization in the South. One of the most profound influences 

on southern culture, this postwar mythology held that, “the southern 

cause was not only undefiled by defeat but that the bloodbath of the 

war actually sanctified the values and mores of the Old South.”1By the 

last decade of the nineteenth century, as Reconstruction ended, and 

state and local governments were again under the control of white 

conservative leadership, the so-called Lost Cause held sway in the South. 

The Department of War had been content to allow Northern cemeteries 

where Confederates were interred to languish. However, after the 

Spanish-American War (1898), the federal government, led by President 

William McKinley, in the spirit of national reconciliation and in the 

postwar glow of recent victory, proposed that a loving nation would 

reach out and care for the graves of fallen Confederates. Recognition of 

these places as hallowed ground and the individuals interred in them as 

deserving of honor began with the creation of the Confederate section at 

Arlington National Cemetery in 1900, and continued with the renewal 

through 1916 of 1906 legislation that authorized federal funds to mark 

all Confederate graves.2
10

 PART I | Historic Context

Confederate Prisoners of War, 1862 

For more than a century, the soldiers and sailors who died during the Civil War has been 

estimated at 618,222. A new study using census manuscript data suggests this figure is 

closer to 750,000—or one in every ten white men of military age at the time. The exact 

total may never be determined, but it is a certainty that more men died in the Civil War 

than during all the conflicts in which the United States has participated through 2012. 

Records indicate that the Confederacy imprisoned 193,743 Union soldiers, and Union 

prison camps confined 214,865 Confederate soldiers during the war. Both sides suffered 

high prison mortality rates: more than 30,000 Union and 26,000 Confederate soldiers 

died in captivity—12 percent of those in Northern prisons and 15.5 percent in 

Confederate prisons (fig. 3). Although this study does not address the merits or failures 

of either prison system during the war, the fact of the high numbers of individuals who 

perished in Northern facilities is nonetheless germane to the overall context of the 

recognition of Confederate cemeteries.3

Soon after the start of the Civil War, the federal government undertook preparation 

to receive prisoners of war. Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman was appointed 

commissary-general for prisoners in October 1861 (fig. 4). His first assignment was to 

find a site suitable for a prisoner of war camp. Hoffman chose Johnson’s Island in Lake 

Erie near Sandusky, Ohio. Johnson’s Island is one-and-a-half miles long and just less 

than one-half mile wide. Forty or so acres had been cleared, with plentiful wood that 

Figure 3 . Union guards outside the gate at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1864. Francis Trevelyan Miller, Photographic History of the Civil 

War, Volume 7.
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

11

could be used as fuel. The Army paid $500 per year to lease 

half the island, and Hoffman was sure this new prison and 

one or two forts would be sufficient to house prisoners 

throughout the war. In 1861, few people had expected 

the Civil War to be so prolonged; neither he nor anyone 

else imagined that tens of thousands of Southern soldiers 

would be held as prisoners at any one time.4

The Union Quartermaster Department was not prepared 

for the first mass surrender of Confederates in February 

1862 at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. It urgently needed 

to house 15,000 officers and troops. Union commander 

General Henry Halleck wired Indiana Governor Oliver 

P. Morton and Ohio Governor David Tod to ask them 

how many prisoners could be accommodated in their 

respective states. Governor Morton offered to take 3,000, 

and Governor Tod agreed to take 1,000.5

The Army dispersed the prisoners taken at Fort Donelson 

among Camp Morton, Camp Douglas, Camp Chase, Camp 

Butler, and the old Illinois State Penitentiary at Alton, 

Illinois, which had been used as a military prison since 

February 9, 1862. The prisoners who died at the Illinois 

State Penitentiary are buried in North Alton Confederate 

Cemetery. General Halleck had insisted that enlisted men 

and officers be housed separately. Some officers went to 

Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and others were sent to 

Johnson’s Island.6

Figure 4 . Lieutenant Colonel 

William Hoffman stands in front of 

the Commissary General of Prisons 

office, Washington, D.C., 1865. Library 

of Congress.

A cartel—an official agreement to guide the exchange of prisoners—was worked out 

between the U.S. government and the Confederate States of America. The exchange was 

one-for-one of prisoners of equal rank. A sliding scale was developed for the exchange 

of high ranking officers for enlisted men; for instance, a commanding general or admiral 

could be exchanged for sixty privates or seamen. The massive influx of prisoners in 1862 

had forced the two sides into this agreement, which went into effect on July 22, 1862.7

The cartel was in force until Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation 

on December 23, 1862, denying prisoner of war status to African-American soldiers 

and sailors, and their white officers. In response, the federal government suspended 

the exchanges of officers five days later on December 28. The exchange of enlisted 

men continued until May 25, 1863, when the Confederate Congress endorsed Davis’s 

proclamation. Federal authorities thereafter suspended all prisoner exchanges.8

The July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg and the Chattanooga campaign resulted in a large 

number of prisoners. Ongoing arguments over paroles,9 exchanges, and the Confederate 

government’s refusal to treat U.S. Colored Troops and their officers as prisoners of 

war hindered the exchange program, which had resumed on a limited basis. During 

this period prisons opened at Rock Island and Elmira, and by 1864, the number of 

Confederate prisoners far exceeded that of Union prisoners.10
12

 PART I | Historic Context

General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the cartel suspended on April 17, 1864, citing as the 

rationale that the Confederacy had not maintained the paroles granted to their soldiers 

captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, as well as their refusal to exchange AfricanAmerican soldiers equally for white soldiers. In August 1864, Grant sent two letters 

outlining his position on prisoner exchanges. The first letter was directed to General 

Benjamin Butler. He explained to Butler that he understood that not exchanging 

the men was hard on the Union soldiers in Confederate prisons. He suggested that 

if Confederate prisoners were exchanged, Union soldiers would then have to fight 

them. On the other hand, if they remained incarcerated, “they amount to no more 

than dead men.” He wrote the second letter to Secretary of State William H. Seward. 

Grant told Seward that to exchange prisoners would simply turn the conflict into a war 

of extermination. If it were up to him, Grant wrote, “We ought not to make a single 

exchange nor release a prisoner on any pretext whatever until the war closes.” Grant 

knew this strategy meant hardship for Union prisoners in the South, but he believed it 

would shorten the war. General Robert E. Lee proposed exchanges in October 1864, but 

Grant refused when Lee excluded former slaves from the program. By January 1865, 

with the Union prevailing, exchanges began once again and continued until the end of 

the war.11

Prison Records, Rotting Headboards, Reinterments

Burial records associated with Union prison camps are among the most incomplete of 

army interment documentation. Prior to 1864, when a prisoner of war died, the surgeon 

in charge of a hospital was required only to record the individual’s name, rank, regiment, 

and company, date and place of capture, and date and cause of death. Not until April 20, 

1864, did the Army record burial places and grave numbers.12

In addition to the lack of uniform record keeping, prison commandants had broad 

latitude to set policy. Prison staff or prisoners supervised by prison staff buried the 

dead, or army contractors provided this service. As a rule, burial space was designated 

for prisoners who died in a camp or in military hospitals; individuals who succumbed 

to infectious diseases were often interred in separate cemeteries far from the general 

population in attempts to prevent the spread of disease. 

No mandated procedure existed for the burial of prisoners. Records of various camps 

suggest that Confederate bodies, though often buried in trenches, were first placed 

in individual coffins. The arrangement of interments varied, however. At Elmira, the 

government leased a plot in Woodlawn Cemetery for deceased Confederate prisoners. 

Men were buried in coffins placed in trenches “arranged in parallel double rows feet to 

feet with wide walks between the rows of headboards—these rows run north-south.”13 At 

Camp Morton in Indianapolis, burials were contracted out. A local undertaker was paid 

$3.50 for each plain wooden coffin delivered to Greenlawn Cemetery where the state 

had purchased five plots. Prisoner details dug trenches about twenty feet long and laid 

coffins side by side in them. A wooden headboard with an identification number marked 

each grave.14

The army typically marked Union graves with simple wooden headboards per official 

specifications. A June 30, 1865, annual report issued by the Quartermaster Department 

stated that: 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

13

Figure 5 . View of Woodlawn National 

Cemetery, Elmira, New York, in 1875 

shows headboards painted with names. 

The feet-to-feet pattern of burial is 

evident by the headboards; every other 

row is blank because the inscription 

is on the other side. Chemung County 

Historical Society.

The tablets or head-boards are principally of white pine, with the 

exception of some 4,000 of black walnut, purchased more than two years 

ago. They are painted in white and lettered in black, with the name, 

company, regiment, and date of death. I would here remark that unless 

tablets are painted before lettering the wood will absorb the oil in the 

paint and the rain soon wash off the lead in the lettering.15

The information on the marker was incised or executed in black or white paint, pencil, 

or even charcoal (fig. 5). 

However, the army did not issue guidance about prisoners’ graves, which in general 

seem to have been marked by a number that correlated to the number in the record of 

deaths maintained by the surgeon in charge. Some individuals who were responsible for 

keeping prison records drew cemetery maps showing the location of the trenches, the 

location of each coffin, and the burial number assigned to each, as at Camp Chase.16

Most Confederate cemeteries were, however, forgotten and neglected after the Civil 

War. The U.S. government bought Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in 1879 and 

replaced its rotting headboards with sturdy planks. When William Knauss, a Columbus
14

 PART I | Historic Context

businessman and Union veteran, visited the cemetery in 1893, he found it overgrown 

and the headboards illegible. By 1906, when legislation to authorize the marking of 

Confederate prisoner of war graves was passed, there were no headboards whatsoever in 

the cemetery.17

Identifying such graves was difficult or impossible. Many Confederate remains were 

moved from their original places of interment; some were moved more than once. 

The reasons are many and varied. When the State of Maryland decided to erect a 

monument at Point Lookout in 1876, they found the cemetery—situated very close to 

the Chesapeake Bay shore—to be low, swampy, and frequently flooded. Thus, the state 

moved the remains to a site more suitable for the monument.18

Similarly, in late 1865, remains interred in the Camp Douglas cemeteries and, in 1867, 

those at the Chicago City Cemetery, were moved to Oak Woods Cemetery on the south 

side of Chicago.19 Confederates buried in the Columbus City Cemetery and at Camp 

Dennison near Cincinnati were moved to Camp Chase Cemetery where the camp’s 

Confederate prisoners were buried.20

The relocation of the remains of Confederate prisoners was typically necessitated 

either by local plans for civic improvements or industrial growth. The remains of 

some Confederates who died at Camp Morton were moved twice. In 1870 a railroad 

expansion precipitated some relocations within Greenlawn Cemetery. In 1931 all of the 

Confederate remains in Greenlawn Cemetery were moved to Crown Hill Cemetery.21

These reinterments destroyed any potential evidence that could have been used to 

identify individuals.22

National Cemeteries and Union Dead 

Confederate dead and associated burial needs were absent in early federal law, and 

limited U.S. government activity was confined to properties included in this study and 

other national cemeteries with fewer numbers of Southern dead. In the meantime, 

focus was kept on the Union dead. In July 1862, when national cemeteries were 

first referenced, they were created for Union dead who had died in combat or from 

immediate illness. Public Law 165, “An Act to define the pay and emoluments of certain 

officers of the army, and other purposes,” specifically authorizes that “the President 

of the United States shall have power whenever in his opinion it shall be expedient, to 

purchase cemetery grounds, and cause them to be securely enclosed, to be used as a national 

cemetery for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.”23 Nearly a year earlier, 

however, General Orders No. 75 established procedures for recording and marking the 

graves of Union soldiers and sailors.24

Immediately after the April 1865 cessation of hostilities, the Quartermaster initiated 

plans to exhume human remains from battlefields and other temporary graves and 

reinter them in national cemeteries starting with two general orders (fig. 6). General 

Orders No. 40, issued July 3, 1865, sought lists of interments registered during the 

war, but only documentation for less than 30 percent of the dead was produced; it 

then became necessary to review casualty reports. As a result, General Orders No. 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

15

65, issued on October 30, 1865, 

requested the locations of cemeteries 

and gave recommendations for their 

preservation.25

This prelude to the reburial program 

was authorized by a joint resolution of 

Congress on April 13, 1866, in which 

the secretary of war was directed “to 

take immediate measures to preserve 

from desecration the graves of soldiers 

of the United States who fell in battle 

or died of disease in the field and 

in hospitals during the war of the 

rebellion.”26 The resolution called for 

burial grounds to be secured to protect 

the gravesites in perpetuity but the 

means of marking graves would prove 

to be contentious. In 1866, U.S. Army 

Quartermaster General Montgomery 

C. Meigs unsuccessfully opposed stone 

in favor of a cast-iron marker galvanized to protect it from rust, which would be less 

expensive to manufacture and transport.27

Figure 6 . Remains of U.S. soldiers 

being exhumed from Cold Harbor 

battlefield, Virginia, ca. 1866. Library 

of Congress.

National cemeteries were officially established with the Act to Establish and to Protect

National Cemeteries, approved February 22, 1867.28 Cemeteries were to be “enclosed 

with a good substantial stone or iron fence; and to cause each grave to be marked with 

a small headstone, or block” to replace the wooden headboards that had been placed 

on the graves upon the death of the soldiers (fig. 7).29 The army was to erect a lodge—a 

combined office and residence for the cemetery superintendent and his family. The 

Department of War was responsible for the cemeteries and the secretary of war was 

authorized to purchase the necessary land for said cemeteries. Congress appropriated 

$750,000 to carry out the provisions of the act.30

Assistant Quartermaster J.D. Bingham submitted a report to Quartermaster General 

Meigs in September 1871 providing details on the evolving system. The report listed 

seventy-four national cemeteries containing the remains of 303,536 Union soldiers. 

Bingham reported that 2,295 Union dead had been removed to the nearest national 

cemetery that year, and that he believed few, if any, remains were unaccounted for. In 

addition to national cemetery interments, 14,214 soldiers and sailors were placed in 316 

private cemeteries, for a total of 317,850 burials.31 The vast majority of these graves were 

marked with temporary wooden headboards that were “decaying and continually falling 

to the ground,” Bingham noted, “It is desirable that some action be taken to provide 

permanent marks for the graves.”32

Initially, only servicemen who had died during the Civil War could be interred in national 

cemeteries, but 1872–1873 legislation authorized the burial of all Union veterans. It 

also specified the design of headstones, to be made of “white marble or granite, 4 inches 
16

 PART I | Historic Context

Figure 7 . Alexandria National 

Cemetery, Virginia, ca. 1869, with 

wood headboards and picket 

fence. Library of Congress.

thick, 10 inches wide.” Congress appropriated $1 million to purchase and install these 

headstones.33

A second initiative to mark Union graves was funded and undertaken in 1879, which 

extended the government headstone benefit beyond national cemeteries to include 

graves in private cemeteries. By 1881, an estimated 318,850 graves had been marked in 

all.34

The Union soldiers buried in the national cemeteries were marked with the new stones. 

Rows of these white marble stones became a familiar feature of our national cemeteries. 

In some of those cemeteries, such as Brooklyn’s Cypress Hill Cemetery, the rows of 

stones were broken by empty spaces, as the graves of Confederates went unmarked. 

Camp Chase Cemetery, owned by the government since 1879, was unmarked with 

the exception of fading headboards. There were 151 Confederates buried in City Point 

National Cemetery, 139 at Loudon Park in Maryland, and no doubt others as well.35
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

17

Confederate Memorial Associations and the 

“Lost Cause,” 1870

President William McKinley’s 1898 Atlanta speech suggesting the U.S. government 

take some responsibility for Confederate graves found a receptive audience in the 

South, but it was not universally embraced by Confederate veterans. By the time of the 

Spanish-American War in 1898–1899, the “Lost Cause” ideology was well established. 

Confederate veterans organizations, primarily the United Confederate Veterans 

(UCV), existed in all former Confederate states and many outside the South. The 

United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), also well established, worked tirelessly to 

memorialize the Confederacy and the Confederate dead. 

Private memorial efforts began in Winchester, Virginia in late 1865, when a group of 

women met to plan a cemetery for the Confederate soldiers killed in nearby battles. 

Across the former Confederacy, women began to host memorial services and place 

monuments in cemeteries to ensure that soldiers and sailors who fought and died would 

not be forgotten. This initiated the Lost Cause ideology, what historian Gaines Foster 

calls “ceremonial bereavement.” These women-led efforts generally revolved around 

events at battlefields and associated cemeteries. In some cases, the ladies arranged for 

the exhumation of scattered Confederate dead and reinterment in central cemeteries 

where the associations could care for them. The early work of generic Ladies’ Memorial 

Associations (LMAs), independent organizations of women across the South, aimed to 

honor and mourn those who had fought and died for “the cause” (fig. 8).36

Figure 8 . Ladies’ Memorial 

Associations were responsible for 

establishing Confederate cemeteries 

at Little Rock, Arkansas, and 

Springfield, Missouri, and elsewhere. 

LMA pin, ca. 1892. Photograph 

courtesy of Phillips County Museum, 

Helena, Arkansas.

A Little Rock, Arkansas, newspaper summarized the local LMA in 1892: “There is 

in Little Rock, as well as in other places, women, brave and strong in all good and 

patriotic work, with a spirit of devotion. These ladies of our city organized ‘The 

Ladies Aid Memorial Association.’”37 The LMAs held sway through the 1870s. The

1880s represented a transitional period during which time the LMAs continued 

their work of building monuments and also began to reach out to impoverished 

veterans and their families. By the mid-1890s, their mission had been assumed by 

the UCV and the UDC. LMAs survived into the twentieth century, when the UDC 

became the dominant women’s organizations associated with the Lost Cause. 

The Lost Cause, in part, championed states’ rights and the constitutional rights 

theory of the Civil War as Jefferson Davis defined it in postwar writings. The 

question of slavery was marginalized and reverence for the passing of the Old 

South—portrayed as a culture of tradition, honor, and chivalry—was emphasized. 

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the South celebrated the Lost Cause by 

erecting memorials on courthouse lawns and other prominent public places rather 

than only in cemeteries.38

The UCV was formed in New Orleans in 1889 and began to publish the Confederate 

Veteran. By 1896, veterans formed more than 800 UCV camps, and the magazine 

circulation exceeded 20,000 readers. The UDC, which adopted its name in 1892, 

began as an auxiliary organization to the UCV. Most memorials that predate the 

1906 legislation in cemeteries included in this study have resulted from efforts by 

the UCV or UDC.39
18

 PART I | Historic Context

Confederate Decoration Day 

Most cemeteries included in this study are located in Northern and border states 

that did not secede during the Civil War. On Decoration Day it was the practice in 

some cemeteries for friends, family, and visitors to place flowers or U.S. flags on the 

Confederate graves. In 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) helped elevate 

Decoration Day to the status of national 

holiday; GAR national commander General 

John Logan proclaimed that all chapters would 

hold ceremonies and decorate the graves of 

Union soldiers on May 30. That same year, 

1868, witnessed commemoration at Arlington 

National Cemetery. After the speakers 

concluded, children from the Soldiers’ and 

Sailors’ Orphans Home and GAR members 

strew flowers on the graves of both Union 

and Confederate soldiers. Five years later, 

New York became the first state to officially 

recognize Decoration Day, and by 1890, all 

Northern states recognized the holiday (fig. 

9).40 The New International Encyclopedia, 1917 

edition, entry reads: 

Figure 9 . Lithograph, “Decoration 

Day at Philadelphia: Orphans 

decorating their fathers’ graves 

in Glenwood Cemetery,” 1876, 

illustrates early Decoration Day 

activities. Library of Congress.

A day (May 30) set apart each year by the various Northern States for 

the purpose of decorating the graves in the national cemeteries and of 

commemorating the soldiers who during the Civil War lost their lives for 

the Union cause. It is a legal holiday in all the States and Territories of the 

Union except Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North 

Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Some of the Southern States have 

also set apart a day for the commemoration of the Confederate soldiers 

who fell during the war.41

It was not until after World War I, when the commemoration expanded from dedication 

only to the Civil War sacrifice, to honoring all Americans who died in any war, that 

former Confederate states recognized the holiday. One hundred years after the GAR’s 

order in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill that officially renamed the 

holiday Memorial Day; the change took effect in 1971.42

The LMAs are credited with initiating the Confederate Memorial Day in the late 1860s.43

As memorial observances grew in popularity, especially after the end of Reconstruction, 

Confederate Memorial Day became a legal holiday in most Southern states, although 

no single date was or is consistently commemorated.44 Observances were originally 

based on a significant local date. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi celebrate 

Confederate Memorial Day on April 26, the day Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston 

surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina.45

North Carolina, South Carolina, and several Virginia cities chose May 10, the day 

General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson died.46 The Hollywood Memorial Association, of 

Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, chose May 31—the first day the city heard the guns 

of war. Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s birthday, June 3, is observed in Kentucky, 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

19

Louisiana, and Tennessee.47 Observances are held at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery 

on the Saturday closest to this date.48

Arkansas observes the official Confederate Memorial Day on January 19; however, the 

Fort Smith UDC chapter historically held Decoration Day activities on June 3, Jefferson 

Davis’s birthday. In Little Rock Confederate Cemetery, the UDC constructed a rostrum 

in 1907. Six years later, it erected a monument in the cemetery, and UDC and Ladies’ 

Memorial Aid Association members decorated graves in the vicinity. UDC and other 

heritage organizations held Confederate Memorial Day observances at the cemetery 

until the 1990s.49

A Rock Island Confederate Cemetery Memorial Day service in the late nineteenth 

century is documented by a photograph showing the cemetery decorated with small 

U.S. flags (fig. 10).50 The first documented Confederate observance was held on 

Decoration Day 1895, when Belle Richardson of Davenport, Iowa, placed flowers on the 

Confederate graves here. As a result of correspondence between the Rock Island Arsenal 

adjutant and the vice-president of the UDC’s national office in 1957, the latter sent a 

box of small Confederate flags to the cemetery to be placed on each grave. Newspaper 

coverage confirms that the flags were placed as intended. In addition, a Confederate 

flag was flown on the shorter of two cemetery flagpoles; a U.S. flag flew on the other 

one. In this era, Memorial Day flags were raised to half-mast at sunrise and to full 

staff at noon; the small flags remained on the graves until sunset.51 By 1975, the small 

Confederate flags had worn out and were replaced with small U.S. flags; however, that 

year Confederate flags flew on both flagstaffs. Twenty-five years later, small Confederate 

Figure 10 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois, photographed pre-1890, shows small U.S. flags on graves. Rock Island Arsenal 

Museum. 
20

 PART I | Historic Context

flags again decorated the graves and African-American Navy Chaplin Ron Pettigrew 

conducted the prayer service at the Rock Island Confederate Cemetery.52

Current NCA policy for all national cemeteries and other federal-owned cemeteries 

directs that all flags except the U.S. flag are prohibited in the Confederate cemeteries 

except on Memorial Day and one-time events. All displays of Confederate flags must 

follow prescribed guidelines, and the flags and their removal must be paid for privately. 

For example, a brief dedication ceremony in 2003 for a new small obelisk monument in 

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery included Civil War reenactors who each carried a 

Confederate flag. Confederate flags must be flown on staffs lower than the U.S. flag. Small 

flags placed in front of headstones or markers must be removed the first working day after 

Memorial Day.53

Another ladies’ organization, the State Monument Association, created the Confederate 

burial ground in 1869; it is now part of Springfield National Cemetery, Missouri. An 

early Springfield history indicates that graves there were decorated on June 12, 1873. In 

1887, observances were held on May 27, the weekend before Memorial Day.54 A rostrum 

was built in the Confederate cemetery prior to 1901. It is safe to assume that this 

structure was used for observances, under the guidance 

of the UDC, UCV, and later the Sons of Confederate 

Veterans. In the late 1950s the UDC erected a flagpole 

near the large Missouri Confederate soldier monument. A 

period photograph shows the First National Confederate 

flag flying from it (fig. 11). Today, at Springfield National 

Cemetery, display of the Confederate flag is confined to 

Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, and one other event 

by request.55

Figure 11 . Confederate section 

of Springfield National Cemetery, 

Springfield, Missouri, in 1959 with 

the flagpole donated by the United 

Daughters of the Confederacy; 

the First National Confederate 

flag is flying. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

Whereas, the people of Elmira, New York, have always 

cared for the graves of Confederate prisoners of war 

buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery. A local 

congressman sought to provide headstones for them 

as early as 1875, the same time as local citizenry included the Confederate graves in 

Decoration Day ceremonies. Initially only flowers decorated graves but eventually small 

U.S. flags replaced the flowers (fig. 12).56 Memorial Day observances in the Confederate 

section of Woodlawn National Cemetery continued into the twentieth century. During 

the 1940s the observance was broadcast live on the radio. In the 1960s Confederate 

reenactors from Virginia initiated what was to become an annual cemetery pilgrimage 

that continued through the twentieth century. Today, Civil War reenactors who camp 

just outside of the cemetery wall carry on this traditional Memorial Day observance (fig. 

13).57

The second-oldest Confederate observance in the North may be that of the Confederate 

Stockade Cemetery on Johnson’s Island in Lake Erie. In the early 1880s, the GAR 

McMeens Post of Sandusky, Ohio, first decorated the graves there. Union veterans 

chartered the Hayes, a steamboat from Sandusky, and spent the day on the island. The 

GAR post continued to lead Memorial Day observances until 1905, when the UDC 

bought the cemetery land and took responsibility for the ceremonies.58 The UDC 

continued to host Memorial Day observances even after the federal government took 

ownership in 1932. Since the 1980s, reenactors have participated in most, if not all, 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

21

ceremonies there that include Confederate flags and a fired salute. The UDC rededicated 

the 1910 monument at Confederate Stockade Cemetery on June 12, 2010.59

Figure 12 . The Shohola Monument 

at Woodlawn National Cemetery, 

Elmira, New York, photographed 

post-1912, shows small U.S. flags 

among the Confederate graves. William H. Knauss, a former Union soldier, organized the first Memorial Day service Chemung County Historical Society.

at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery on May 30, 1895. The first event attracted an 

estimated 50 people but, by 1899, some 2,000 attendees traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to 

participate. Ceremonies orchestrated by Knauss included the GAR, music, speeches, 

prayer and, in 1900, the appearance of Ohio Governor George K. Nash.60 Knauss 

coordinated these observances until his death in 1917, when the UDC Columbus 

chapter took over, and eventually moved the service from Memorial Day to the Saturday

closest to June 3.61 The UDC hosted the ceremony until 1995—the one hundredth 

anniversary of the first observance there—when the Hilltop Historical Society took 

responsibility for the programs. Photographs of Memorial Day events over the years 

depict Confederate and U.S. flags on the graves, and some salutes to the Confederate 

flag.62

Figure 13 . The 1980 Memorial Day 

observance at Woodlawn National 

Cemetery, Elmira, New York, 

included U.S. flags on graves and 

Confederate reenactors. Courtesy 

Woodlawn National Cemetery, Elmira, 

New York.

The aforementioned cemeteries have a long tradition of hosting Memorial Day 

observances are partially or exclusively aimed at remembering Confederate dead. 

Confederate memorial observances are documented at other cemeteries in the study, 

but information about them is limited.

Two significant factors are historically associated with Confederate memorial 

ceremonies: tradition was foremost; second was the role of superintendents as 

managers of their cemetery domains. Quartermaster General S. B. Holabird 

summarized the army’s expectation on October 2, 1883, when he wrote:
22

 PART I | Historic Context

It is the desire of the Department to afford every facility to organizations 

and individuals visiting the national cemeteries for the purpose of 

holding appropriate ceremonies therein, and to this end it has been 

the custom, each year, to direct that the grounds be placed in the best 

possible condition for Decoration Day, and that Superintendents render 

such assistance as may be in their power to aid in carrying out the 

purpose of the ceremonies usual on that day. These orders will hereafter 

be considered as established regulations. 

Superintendents, however, have the same charge and control of the 

cemeteries on public occasions as at other times. They are expected and 

required to exercise such supervision as may be necessary to insure the 

least possible injury to the grounds and the public property, and visitors 

are reminded that in the performance of this duty they are but complying 

with the requirements of law and the instructions of the Department.63

Superintendents tended to adhere to the desires of the local community. 

Consequently, if the UDC wanted to place a flagpole in a cemetery and the 

superintendent felt the community would support this action, he allowed it. It 

follows that the same courtesy was extended for the memorial observances for the 

Confederate burials under their charge. The longer the federal government endorsed 

these well-organized and well-attended observances, the greater the communities’ 

dismay at increasingly restrictive policies and regulations. Examples of these 

evolving requirements that have impacted Confederate recognition in national 

cemeteries include very limited display of the Confederate flag and that flying any 

flag other than the U.S. flag is governed by law. The VA has never been authorized 

to inter Confederate remains on its properties, although it does provide new and 

replacement Confederate headstones to eligible soldiers and applicants. 

The Spanish-American War and Reconciliation 

The nation enjoyed a burgeoning sense of pride and reconciliation in the wake of 

the armistice that ended the Spanish-American War, in which the United States 

defeated a European power and attracted recognition on the world stage. Many 

general officers were former Union and Confederate soldiers who had been 

reactivated to lead the troops. Whereas many other enlisted men who fought sideby-side in 1898–1899, were the sons of veterans who had opposed each other during 

the Civil War. 

President McKinley spoke before the Georgia legislature on December 14, 1898, 

soon after the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was signed. The president 

acknowledged the role that southern men played in the victory. He waxed eloquently 

about the loss of sectional lines in the now undivided nation. He praised the nation 

for its efforts to care for disabled veterans and remarked on the beauty of the 

national cemeteries, and offered them as proof that the dead shared a love of the 

nation with the living.64
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

23

Then McKinley offered an olive branch to the South: 

And while when these graves were made we differed widely about the 

future of this Government, these differences were long ago settled by 

the arbitrament of arms; and the time has now come in the evolution 

of sentiment and feeling, under the providence of God, when in the 

spirit of fraternity we should share with you in the care of the graves of 

the Confederate soldiers.65

Many in the Georgia legislature may have differed with McKinley regarding the 

treatment of veterans and the place of the national cemeteries in society, as no 

disabled Confederate veteran was eligible to live in a federal soldier’s home, receive a 

pension, or, when they died, be buried in a national cemetery. However, it is certain 

that the president’s Atlanta speech began a process culminating eight years later in 

legislation creating the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead.66

Arlington National Cemetery

In autumn 1898, Dr. Samuel E. Lewis, a member of UCV Charles Broadway Rouss Camp 

#171 in Washington, D.C., visited Arlington National Cemetery in search of information 

concerning the names, number, location, and condition of Confederate graves. Lewis 

was shocked at what he found, and on December 28, 1898, wrote to Marcus J. Wright, a 

former Confederate veteran who worked in the War Records Office in Washington. 

Lewis sought Wright’s help in addressing what he saw as offenses to the Confederates 

buried in the cemetery. The graves were scattered throughout the cemetery in three areas; 

they were intermingled with Union soldiers, civilians, government employees, refugees, 

and “contraband”—former slaves. As Lewis described it, “There is absolutely no way to 

distinguish the grave of a Confederate Soldier from that of a Quarter Master’s Employee, 

a Citizen or a Negro Contraband.”67 Lewis did not explain how graves other than Union 

soldiers were actually marked.68

Lewis’s letter, received in the wake of the president’s speech in Atlanta two weeks earlier, 

ignited a series of events that culminated in 1901 with the creation of the Confederate 

section in Arlington National Cemetery. Working with Wright and other former 

Confederates in Washington, Lewis assembled a petition that was delivered to the 

president in early June 1899. The petitioners wanted a section of the cemetery to be set 

aside for Confederate dead, including remains buried at other cemeteries in Washington 

who should be relocated there. They wanted graves marked “with a suitable headstone” and 

an accurate record of those burials.69

The petitioners made a personal and heartfelt appeal to the president: 

To you as our President, we appeal also in Fraternal Spirit, having all 

confidence in your wisdom and kindness, that having made our distress 

and our needs known we may rest our cause in your care, to do or cause 

to be done, that which may be determined by you as most fitting.70
24

 PART I | Historic Context

Figure 14 . This Arlington National 

Cemetery Confederate headstone 

design was used to mark 264 

graves in the Confederate section 

in 1901. National Cemetery 

Administration.

McKinley did not disappoint the former Confederates. 

With the help of Wright and some sympathetic senators 

and representatives, a bill passed a year later funding 

the actions requested in the petition. Plans were nearly 

derailed, however, when a group of women petitioned 

the secretary of war to allow Arlington’s Confederate 

dead to be transported south for reburial. The women 

had previously removed Confederate remains from 

Washington cemeteries and farther north, and taken them 

to cemeteries elsewhere. The ladies, though formidable, 

met their match in Marcus Wright and Samuel Lewis, 

who enlisted the help of former Confederate generals 

John B. Gordon and Stephen D. Lee, other Confederate 

veterans’ organizations, and two LMAs to aid them in 

their cause by writing to the secretary of war. Their efforts 

were successful.71

Public Law 163 passed in 1900 and, among other provisions, 

appropriated funds to:

enable the Secretary of War to 

have reburied in some suitable 

spot in the National Cemetery at 

Arlington, Virginia, and to place 

proper headstones at their graves, 

the bodies of about one hundred and 

twenty-eight Confederate soldiers 

now buried in the National Soldiers’ 

Home near Washington, District of 

Columbia, and the bodies of about one 

hundred and thirty-six Confederate 

soldiers now buried in the National 

Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, two 

thousand five hundred dollars, or so 

much thereof as may be necessary.72

The remains of Confederate prisoners buried in Arlington during the Civil War—before 

it had been designated a national cemetery—were exhumed and reburied in Section 

16, the newly established Confederate section. The remains of soldiers were also moved 

from the National Soldiers’ Home in northwest Washington, D.C. 

It took one year to grade the land, reinter bodies, and set headstones, but by October 

1901 work was nearly complete. It was at Arlington that the distinctive pointed-top 

headstone was first used to mark Confederate graves. Although no specific reference 

has been found to confirm this, it is assumed that the shape of the headstone, which 

is clearly described and illustrated in the 1901 publication Report of the Re-Burial 

of the Confederate Dead in Arlington Cemetery, is no doubt the “suitable headstone” 

referred to in the petition to President McKinley. This headstone, while the same 

size as the Union headstone, has a distinctive pointed top, allowing visitors to 

immediately recognize the markers as those of Confederates (fig. 14).73
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

25

Confederate Headstones

Prior to the creation of the Confederate section 

at Arlington National Cemetery, no standard 

“Confederate” headstone had existed. Local LMAs 

across the south independently established Confederate

cemeteries and marked graves, with no consistent 

design used for the headstones between one local 

LMA and another (fig. 15). The Arlington National 

Cemetery section established a national standard for 

marking Confederate graves everywhere. The petition 

to President McKinley asked for: “Headstones at 

each grave, bearing a legend of the name, Company 

Regiment and State.”74

Figure 15 . Graves at the Confederate 

Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas, 

were originally marked with small 

rounded stones (shown above). Later 

burials were marked with a variety of 

headstones that were inconsistent 

with those purchased by the Ladies’ 

Memorial Association. Photograph by 

Mudpuppy & Waterdog, Inc.

When Public Law 163 was enacted in 1900, each grave 

in the Confederate section at Arlington was marked 

with a new headstone: 

of American white marble, in slabs not less than 36 inches long, 10 

inches wide and a uniform thickness of 4 inches throughout, with 

bottoms square and at right angles to the sides, of fine grain, good 

texture, and hard; of grade known to the trade as No. 1; the top of the 

stones to be slightly pointed, as per drawing, and the edges slightly 

rounded; that portion of each stone which will be above the ground 

when set (18 inches from the top) (fig. 14).75

When the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead was authorized in 

1906, it adopted a headstone design based on the Arlington model but slightly more 

distinct. The commission’s request for proposals to produce 20,000 headstones, 

issued on April 5, 1907, specified that they be:

of American white marble, in slabs not less than 39 inches long, 12 

inches wide, and a uniform thickness of 4 inches throughout, with 

bottoms square at right angles to the sides, of fine grain, good texture, 

and hard; of grades known to the trade as Number 1, Average, and 

Best Number 2 and in all respects equal in quality to the sample 

exhibited as standard in this office and in the Quartermaster’s Office 

at Boston, Mass.: the top of the stone to be sloped from the center to 

each side with a one-third (1/3) pitch, and the edges slightly rounded; 

that portion of each stone which will be above ground when set (20 

inches from the top) (fig. 16).76

The difference between the two was in the dimensions: the commission’s headstone 

was wider—12 inches rather than 10 inches—and longer—39 inches rather than 36 

inches—than the Arlington model. 

The commission’s original headstone was used at six cemeteries in the present study: 

Camp Butler National Cemetery, Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, Cypress Hills 

National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Rock Island Confederate 
26

 PART I | Historic Context

Cemetery, and Woodlawn National Cemetery. This design was used until May 26, 

1930, when the Department of War authorized the addition of the Confederate 

Cross of Honor in a small circle above the inscription on the front face of the stone 

(fig. 17).77 The new headstone was the same size as the commission’s headstone.

Figure 16 . Left: An original 

Confederate headstone design at 

Camp Butler National Cemetery, 

Illinois.

Figure 17 . Right: A pre-1940s 

Confederate headstone design with 

the Cross of Honor and punctuation; 

the latter would be eliminated.

The Confederate Cross of Honor was an award conceived by the UDC in 1898. The 

small bronze medal was typically presented to Confederate veterans or their families 

if the veteran was deceased. The UDC envisioned the cross as a badge of honor 

worn proudly by veterans. 

[A] bronze cross of honor to each soldier of the Confederate army, 

which should correspond to the Victorian Cross of England or the 

Frenchman’s cross of honor. It was proposed that the families of those 

who fell should be entitled to the cross, which would thus become so 

sacred a relic in the family.78

The UDC took the Cross of Honor and its presentation very seriously. Recipients and UDC 

members had to adhere to a set of rules. In some states it was illegal to wear the Cross of 

Honor if one was not entitled to do so. The UDC urged other states to make unauthorized 

display as part of one’s attire a penal offense. By 1901, the Cross of Honor had become a 

standard part of UDC and UCV gatherings. The UDC would present crosses to veterans 

at camps and statewide bivouacs. A veteran did not have to be a member of the UCV to 

receive a Cross of Honor, but it helped.79

The UDC and other heritage organizations must have been quite pleased that the Cross 

of Honor was added to the headstone design. According to an October 1930 article in the 

Confederate Veteran, Maj. John T. Harris, who was in charge of the design process, worked 

to make the design “distinctive and at the same time pleasing to the descendants of those 

Confederate soldiers.”80 The article stated that “The stone itself is thirty-nine inches in 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

27

length, twelve inches wide, and four inches thick. Near the top of the stone is a design 

reproducing the Confederate Cross of Honor, showing the wreath, but not the flag in the 

center and no lettering.”81 Beneath the Cross of Honor was “C. S. A.” along with the name 

of the soldier, his company, and regiment. The headstone was to be set 24 inches above the 

ground.82

Figure 18 . Left: Confederate 

headstone drawing, 1946, depicts 

changes instituted in the 1940s.

National Cemetery Administration.

Figure 19 . Right: A 1970s version 

of the Confederate headstone with 

a circle around the Cross of Honor 

removed.

In the 1940s the editorial style of the inscription content changed. Commas and 

periods were removed; hyphens, apostrophes, and the ampersand were added. The 

Cross of Honor was retained on the face, now set within a circle 23⁄4 inches diameter 

(fig. 18). The circle around the Cross of Honor was later removed (fig. 19).83

The Commission for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead

After the Army changed Arlington’s Confederate graves, former soldiers who had 

fought for the South began to lobby lawmakers to enact legislation that would allow 

all Confederate graves to be marked with the distinctive pointed-top headstones. 

Following their success at Arlington, Lewis and Wright pushed for congressional 

action, too. They secured a new ally in Ohio Republican Senator Joseph Benson 

Foraker (fig. 20). As a former Union soldier, Foraker had supported efforts to 

preserve the Confederate cemeteries at Camp Chase and Johnson’s Island during his 

term as governor of Ohio. He introduced S. 6486, “To provide for the appropriate 

marking of the graves of the soldiers of the Confederate army and navy, and other 

purposes” in December 1902. It was read twice but did not pass.84The bill would 

not become law until March 1906, although when it did finally pass it was nearly 

identical to what Foraker had proposed the second time in December 1903. The 
28

 PART I | Historic Context

legislation provided for a commissioner to head the new Commission 

for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead. President Theodore 

Roosevelt appointed William Elliott of South Carolina to the position 

(fig. 21). Elliot would be the first of four commissioners; all would 

be Southerners and veterans of the Confederate army. The original 

commission expired on December 23, 1912. It was reactivated in 1914 

and came to an end in 1916.85

Figure 20 . Ohio Senator Joseph 

Benson Foraker, ca. 1905. Library of 

Congress.

Elliott, son of an Episcopal priest, was born in Beaufort, South 

Carolina, on September 3, 1838. He was educated at Beaufort College 

before studying at Harvard, and later at the University of Virginia. 

He was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1861. Elliott enlisted in 

the Confederate army and participated in the attack on Fort Sumter 

in April 1861. He served in the 1st South Carolina Infantry as a 

lieutenant, and later as a lieutenant colonel. He was severely wounded 

at the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, in 1865.86

After the war Elliott practiced law in Beaufort. He entered politics and was elected 

to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1866, and served as a delegate 

to the Democratic conventions in 1876 and 1888. He lost his first campaign for 

national office in 1884 but was elected to Congress in 1887. He held the office six 

times between 1887 and 1903. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed 

him to head the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead in the North. 

Elliott died unexpectedly while duck hunting near St. Helena, South Carolina, on 

December 3, 1907.87

A former Confederate was no doubt chosen to head the commission to avoid any 

suggestion that the work was being carried out by a Northerner. The Confederate 

Veteran and the UDC thought highly of Elliott:

The national government has recently made large appropriations for 

the erection of headstones at the graves of Confederates buried in the 

North, which work of erecting said stones, etc., is under the immediate 

supervision of Col. William Elliott, a Confederate Veteran of Columbia, 

S.C., and which work we believe will be well and faithfully performed.88

Elliott got right to work in 1906. In May he wrote the secretary of war to clarify specific 

duties and to make sure that he understood the law as it was written. First, he wanted to 

know how “North” was defined. Second, he wanted clarification regarding his role in 

the acquisition of land. He wanted access to all records relating to Confederate burials 

and submitted a list of places he wanted to visit, asking that travel orders be issued. 

Perhaps the most fortuitous decision he made was to hire L. Frank Nye as his clerk 

and assistant. Nye’s tireless efforts to track down information about the location and 

number of Confederate burials, and his well-written and impartial reports, reflect the 

importance he placed on the commission’s charge (fig. 22).89

Figure 21 . Commissioner William 

Elliott (seated), his son and 

grandson, both also named 

William Elliott, ca. 1900. South 

Caroliniana Library, University of 

South Carolina, Columbia, South 

Carolina.

The secretary of war defined the “North” as states that did not secede. He instructed 

the commissioner to provide the Department of War with facts relating to a property, 

and how and under what terms it might be obtained. He approved of hiring Nye and 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

29

instructed Elliott to get in touch with the quartermaster general to access the records. 

With this the commission was underway.90

Figure 22 . Commissioner William 

Elliott (third from right) with L. 

Frank Nye (far right) and others at 

Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, 

Indiana, September 1906. National The daunting task of locating and marking 30,152 known burials began during summer Archives and Records Administration.

1906. Elliott planned to visit sixteen cemeteries in Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, 

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. The commissioner probably discovered 

during these initial visits that his task would be neither easy nor straightforward. The 

legislation specified that each grave be marked with an individual headstone. At Point 

Lookout and Finn’s Point, Elliot realized that marking each grave individually was 

impossible because he could not match a name with an individual grave as some of the 

remains had been moved or because of poor or incomplete record keeping.91

Commission correspondence regarding Point Lookout and Finn’s Point illustrates the 

problems with the 1906 law as written. According to Nye’s summary report issued 

following the August 1906 site visit, prisoners at Finn’s Point had been buried in graves 

that held twelve men, three deep. Later, 5-foot-deep trenches were dug and the bodies 

continued to be buried in them three deep. To add to the confusion, 150 to 200 soldiers 

who died at Fort Delaware were moved from Pea Patch Island to Finn’s Point and 

buried in separate trenches.92

Partial identification of Finn’s Point remains might have been possible were it not for 

controversial cemetery plat maps. The number of burial trenches did not correspond 

up with the two existing maps. An earlier map showed thirteen trenches; the 1892 
30

 PART I | Historic Context

U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map showed six trenches (fig. 23). According 

to Nye’s report, the cemetery superintendent told him that bodies were buried seven 

deep. Nye dismissed that notion as “plainly impossible.” The superintendent refused to 

change his statement. Consequently, individual graves of 2,509 prisoners could not be 

identified.93

Point Lookout had similar issues and, if anything, was more complicated than Finn’s 

Point. Correspondence from 1866 indicates that people were removing remains from 

the Confederate cemeteries without permits, which meant that the removals were not 

necessarily recorded on any official list of the dead. In addition, an 1866 letter from 

Colonel M. I. Ludington, chief of the Washington, D.C., Quartermaster Department, 

included a crude map of Point Lookout that depicted three Confederate cemeteries: 

two containing 1,500 graves each and a smaller one to the south on the Hall property, 

containing 100 graves. No subsequent correspondence mentions the Hall property 

cemetery.94

In 1871, the General Assembly of Maryland appropriated funds to move the bodies 

to a tract of ground purchased by the state. In the legislation the original location of 

the Confederate remains was vague: “Confederate soldiers who died at Point Lookout 

in St. Mary’s County” were to be moved to the new lot in the current Confederate 

Cemetery. A monument was erected at the new cemetery in 1876 (fig. 24). In 1906, 

when the commission began seeking information about the Confederate graves, more 

confusion ensued. A memorandum from the governor’s office to Elliot indicated 

that, in 1904, the State of Maryland had gathered its Confederate dead from several 

battlefields and moved them to Baltimore. No one could tell Elliot if any of these came 

from Point Lookout.95

The ambiguity may have originated from the state records, or perhaps Elliott had seen 

earlier correspondence about the unauthorized removal of burials; regardless, the 

commissioner desperately sought a definitive answer. A letter from Millard Minnick, 

rector of St. Mary’s Parish Episcopal Church in St. Mary’s, Maryland, to Elliott in 

February 1907 partially answered his questions. Minnick contacted a local man who 

said the state had moved the dead from Point Lookout prison camp cemeteries to a 

location on the point where it had placed a monument. Minnick wrote, “I am quite 

sure it would be impossible to identify the individual graves as I am informed ten or 

more were placed in the same box.”96

In spite of mounting problems with Point Lookout and Finn’s Point, the commission 

pushed on. In spring 1907, a request for proposals to provide the Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead with 20,000 white marble headstones was issued 

on Department of War letterhead. Blue Ridge Marble Company of Nelson, Georgia, 

was awarded the contract and began work that fall.97

When William Elliott died on December 7, 1907, William C. Oates was selected to 

replace him (fig. 25). Oates was born in Pike County, Alabama, on November 30, 

1835. He worked on his father’s farm before setting off on his own in the 1840s. He 

taught school, read law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar in Alabama. Oates moved 

to Abbeville in Henry County where he practiced law and edited a local newspaper. 

When the Civil War began he joined the Confederate army and was elected captain of 

a company in the 15th Alabama Infantry. He fought with that regiment in numerous 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

31

Figure 23 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department site plan of Finn’s Point National Cemetery, New Jersey, 1892. Confederate burial trenches 

(shown in gray) have been enhanced to make them more visible. National Archives and Records Administration.
32

 PART I | Historic Context

battles including Antietam and Gettysburg. In 1863 he was appointed colonel of 

the 48th Alabama Infantry; he was wounded in battle and his right arm had to 

be amputated.98

Figure 24 . Monument erected 

by the State of Maryland as 

photographed in 1876, at Point 

Lookout, St. Mary’s County, 

Maryland. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

After the war Oates entered politics and was elected to the Alabama legislature as 

a Democrat from Henry County. He was elected to Congress in 1880, and served 

continuously until 1894, when he resigned to run for governor. Oates was commissioned 

as a brigadier general in the U.S. Volunteers for the Spanish-American War. He served 

at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, but never saw active service. He then served in the 

Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1901 and thereafter retired from public service. 

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Oates as the second commissioner; he 

served until his death on September 9, 1910, at age seventy-five.99

Soon after Oates was appointed, a joint resolution of Congress reauthorized the 

commission with a stipulation that the act exclude Confederate Mound in Oak Woods 

Cemetery in Illinois. Republican Congressman James R. Mann objected to using 

individual headstones at Confederate Mound. To do so would, “in my judgment, 

be a desecration of one of the most beautiful burial spots in the country.”100 The 

congressman’s sentiments were echoed by the superintendent of Oak Woods Cemetery, 

Edward G. Carter, who agreed that the large number of headstones required, estimated to 

range from 4,000 to 6,500, were inappropriate for a modern lawn-plan cemetery.101

Figure 25 . William C. Oates, 

commissioner from December 15, 

1907, until his death on September 

9, 1910, photographed as a 

brigadier general in 1898. Alabama 

Department of Archives and History.

Oates visited Greenlawn Cemetery in Indianapolis sometime in October 1908, and

upon his return used it as a test case for the type of situation mentioned above. He 

wrote to Secretary of War Luke E. Wright to propose a plan for marking graves at 

cemeteries where individual graves could not be identified. Oates recommended 

that one large monument inscribed with the names of the dead be erected in lieu of 

individual headstones.102
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

33

The secretary of war referred the concept to the judge advocate general. The army’s 

lawyer concurred with Oates. The spirit of the law allowed some discretion on the part 

of the secretary of war. In the opinion of the judge advocate general: 

[If] individual stones cannot be erected, it is the opinion of this office 

that a suitable monument may be erected upon which shall be inscribed 

the names of the deceased prisoners of war who are buried within the 

enclosure, and that the erection of such monument will be a reasonable 

execution of the requirements of the Act of March 9, 1906.103

In December 1909 the secretary of war approved Oates’s plan to construct large 

monuments featuring the names of deceased soldiers and sailors when it was the only 

reasonable option. Oates issued a request for proposals for monuments at Alton, Illinois, 

and Indianapolis, Indiana (fig. 26). After these designs were agreed upon, the general 

process of site selection, procurement and bids, and construction established by these two 

projects became the template for those to come.104

Some cemeteries posed few difficulties. Camp Butler was completed in June 1908, 

followed by Elmira (Woodlawn National Cemetery), Camp Chase, and Rock Island. 

Although the graves in these cemeteries were marked with headstones early in the 

tenure of the commission, the overall task required substantial effort. Almost every 

cemetery associated with a prisoner of war camp claimed multiple lists of interments. 

The name of each burial and location of each grave had to be reconciled; the 

commission, working with the Department of War, had to determine which lists were 

authoritative.105

The provision for single monuments was codified in the commission’s reauthorization 

in 1910, which also specified that names be inscribed on bronze plaques affixed to the 

structure. And in keeping with Department of War policy, the dedication plaque text 

Figure 26 . Confederate Monument 

at Greenlawn Cemetery, 

Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1910. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.
34

 PART I | Historic Context

aimed to avoid wording that would be considered as subjective. The text was simply to 

indicate that Confederate service men who died as prisoners of war are buried in that 

place. The provision—that “each tablet shall have a brief historical legend, compiled 

without praise and without censure”—was the basis of the army’s unbiased disapproval 

of the word “valorous” on a Union monument at Gettysburg.106

There were two other addenda: Confederate Mound now fell under the commission’s 

statute, and the graves of civilian prisoners were also to be marked. The headstones 

were the same as those of military prisoners with the exception that they were to be 

inscribed with “CIVILIAN.”107

The question of marking civilian graves arose at Jefferson Barracks in summer 1909 

when cemetery officials requested permission to mark the graves of 164 civilian 

prisoners of war buried there. Commissioner Oates balked, citing legislation that 

did not extend to civilians. He said he would obey the secretary of war if ordered to 

provide them, but that it would be inconvenient; he would have to revisit Camp Butler, 

Camp Chase, Elmira, and Rock Island.108

The quartermaster general agreed with Oates but also directed him to supply the 

Jefferson Barracks headstones. Legal wrangling ensued, recorded on six endorsements 

to the original letter. It was determined that while the commission would supply the 

headstones, they would be paid for out of a different fund. The quartermaster general 

specified that headstones on civilian graves would be the same design as those for 

Confederates. The quantity of headstones was also reduced from 164 to 39.109

After Oates’s death on September 9, 1910, there was a void of about a month until James 

Henderson Berry of Arkansas was appointed as third commissioner (fig. 27). Berry was 

born in Jackson County, Alabama, in 1841. Before he was seven years old, his family 

moved to Carroll County, Arkansas, where his father became a merchant. The younger 

Berry was self-taught and studied for a time at Berryville Academy. He returned to 

Carrollton and joined the Confederate forces; Berry was elected lieutenant of the 16th 

Arkansas Infantry company. He was engaged at Pea Ridge and fought at the battles of Iuka 

and Corinth in autumn 1862. At Corinth he was wounded and lost his right leg. He was 

captured, paroled, and sent home. After the war he taught school briefly but eventually 

entered into politics.110

Figure 27 . James Henderson Berry, 

ca. 1890, commissioner from October 

1910 until December 1912. Butler 

Center for Arkansas Studies.

Berry passed the bar in 1866 and was elected to the Arkansas General Assembly, 

beginning a successful political career. He became the speaker of the Arkansas House of 

Representatives in 1874, followed by an elected judgeship, a position he held until 1882. 

He was elected governor 1883, then U.S. senator from 1885 to 1907. In 1910, when Oates 

died, President William Howard Taft named Berry to replace him. He served two years and 

completed the job under budget, returning several thousand dollars to the treasury. Berry 

picked up where Oates left off and moved the work of the commission forward. Fortunately 

for Berry, L. Frank Nye remained with the commission and undoubtedly enabled a smooth 

transition (fig. 28).111

Early in Berry’s tenure, the first of the private Confederate cemeteries came under 

Department of War jurisdiction. Springfield (Missouri) Confederate Cemetery was 

deeded to the federal government in 1911. While this cemetery became part of the 

National Cemetery System, it did not fit neatly within the commission’s enabling 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

35

legislation. The men buried here were killed at Wilson’s Creek and other engagements 

near Springfield. In the 1870s, an LMA purchased land adjacent to Springfield 

National Cemetery in which to gather the scattered remains of Confederate dead 

and reinter them in the new Confederate cemetery. A stone wall separated the two 

cemeteries.112

Figure 28 . Commissioner James 

Berry finished many projects that 

William C. Oates started, including 

the Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument in Maryland. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Both the UCV and the GAR opposed a bill that brought the Confederate cemetery 

under federal government control. The GAR felt that the Confederates should look 

after their own dead, and the UCV did not want Union veterans comingled with 

Confederates. Confederate opposition evaporated, however, when it became clear 

that the local UCV chapter was failing to properly maintain the cemetery; and the bill 

specified that only Confederate veterans were to be buried in the cemetery. The bill 

became law on March 3, 1911, and the deed was signed in July.113

The commission had accomplished much by 1911. The obelisks at North Alton and 

Finn’s Point, and the large Greenlawn Cemetery memorial were complete. Work was 

underway on the obelisk at Point Lookout. The old obelisk at Confederate Mound at 

Oak Woods Cemetery was being raised to be set on a new base (fig. 29). The commission 

had spent $85,125.64 and obligated funds for work in Maryland and Chicago valued at 

$42,229.10.114

Berry submitted a final report on October 23, 1912—two months before the commission 

was due to expire—and he did so with a budget surplus. The final report contains a synopsis 

of the commission’s accomplishments at fifty-three cemeteries in fifteen states and the 
36

 PART I | Historic Context

District of Columbia. The commission marked the graves of Confederate prisoners of war at 

fourteen of the eighteen cemeteries in the present study with monuments or headstones, and 

enclosed them with stone walls or wrought-iron fences. Arrangements had been made for 

the care of each cemetery.115

Figure 29 . Monument at 

Confederate Mound, Oak Woods 

Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1935, 

after it was raised and plaques 

added to the new base. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

The commission erected headstones at Camp Butler National Cemetery, Camp Chase 

Confederate Cemetery, Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks National 

Cemetery, Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, and Woodlawn National Cemetery. It 

erected single monuments at Finn’s Point National Cemetery, Greenlawn Cemetery, 

North Alton Confederate Cemetery, Philadelphia National Cemetery, Point Lookout 

Confederate Cemetery, Union Cemetery, and Woodlawn Cemetery, and supplemented 

the monument at Confederate Mound. Because the owners of Confederate Stockade 

Cemetery on Johnson’s Island refused to transfer title to the federal government, the 

commission refused to spend funds on the property. However, the Johnson’s Island 

graves were marked in 1890 using private funds.116

The commission then lay dormant for two years. It was resurrected and reestablished in 

March 1914 by joint resolution and authorized to spend $51,454.01—the funds remaining 

in the account. There was one additional provision: “That hereafter the provisions of said 

Act shall include and apply to the graves of Confederate soldiers and sailors lying in all 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

37

national cemeteries and cemeteries at Federal military stations, or localities throughout the 

country.”117

With the return of the commission, efforts to mark the graves of Confederate soldiers 

and sailors had come full circle. Dr. Samuel E. Lewis, commander of the UCV Charles 

Broadway Rouss Camp # 171, who helped craft the legislation to create the Confederate 

section at Arlington, was named commissioner by President Woodrow Wilson. A native of 

Washington, D.C., Lewis served as a surgeon in the Confederate army (fig. 30). As a member 

of the UCV, he wrote a book on the treatment of Confederate prisoners. Lewis died in 1917 

and is buried in the Confederate section of Arlington National Cemetery.118

Figure 30 . Samuel E. Lewis, 

photographed in 1904, was the last 

commissioner, 1914 to 1916. U.S. 

Library of Medicine.

The legislation also authorized Lewis to mark the graves of Confederates buried 

anywhere in the United States. On December 9, 1914, Lewis wrote to the adjutant 

general, requesting lists of Confederate soldiers and sailors buried at Alexandria, 

Louisiana; Alexandria, Virginia; Barrancas, Florida; Beaufort, South Carolina; City 

Point, Virginia; Fort Donelson, Tennessee; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Fort Pickens, Florida; 

Fort Pulaski, Georgia; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Hampton, 

Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Nashville, Tennessee; Natchez, 

Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; Petersburg, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; 

Richmond, Virginia; Salisbury, North Carolina; Shiloh, Tennessee; Springfield, Missouri; 

Vicksburg, Mississippi; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Yorktown, Virginia. Three 

days later, adjutant general H.P. McLain sent a terse but detailed reply to Lewis. McLain 

said the army did not have information about the Confederates buried at most of 

the named cemeteries. Interment lists did, however, exist for Memphis, Nashville, 

Chattanooga, New Orleans, and Little Rock cemeteries. The adjutant general explained 

how the process worked: Lewis was welcome to submit names, and army clerks would 

check them against their lists. That is how it had been done since 1906, and that was how 

it would continue to be done.119

Lewis immediately replied to McLain that he understood that the surgeon general’s 

office had transferred hospital records to the adjutant general’s office. If possible, he 

wished to examine those records. The commissioner admitted that he knew of the 

correspondence between the adjutant general’s office and previous commissioners, 

and he sought an opportunity to reexamine rolls that his predecessors had seen. Lewis 

was seeking to mark the remains of men interred outside of the scope of the previous 

commissioners.120

But his task was more daunting than that of the original commission. While there were 

a few large groups of Confederates identified in southern national cemeteries, for the 

most part Lewis was seeking individual graves scattered among Union soldiers buried 

in a much larger number of national cemeteries. It would require combing through 

burial registers at the national cemeteries to locate and mark any Confederates interred 

therein.121

The assignment proved too much for Lewis. In a February 21, 1916, report—just as the 

commission’s legislation was again about to expire—he estimated that 3,515 Confederate 

prisoners were buried in “military stations and localities” in the former Confederacy. 

Lewis further estimated that 9,300 prisoners were buried in the national cemeteries. He 

proposed to check and double-check the records to ensure that all known graves had been 

marked. If an individual had been relocated, he would find the place of reinterment, record 
38

 PART I | Historic Context

the grave, and mark it appropriately. Lewis wanted to tie up all loose ends, but in two years 

as commissioner he had spent less than $5,000. The commission’s appropriation still had a 

balance of $40,000. Lewis asked for a two-year extension but his request was denied.122

Even though the Commission for Marking the Graves of Confederate Dead no longer 

existed, the government was still obligated to recognize Confederates buried in national 

cemeteries and elsewhere. Following the commission’s recommendation, the federal 

government purchased land associated with Greenlawn Soldier’s Lot in Indianapolis, North 

Alton Confederate Cemetery, Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery, Union Confederate 

Monument, and Woodlawn Cemetery Confederate Monument. Ownership imposed 

responsibility for perpetual care. The work of the commission created a lasting legacy for 

the United States, and annual congressional appropriations funded the maintenance of that 

legacy. 

While the legislation that reauthorized the commission from 1914 to 1916 was limited to 

Confederates buried in national cemeteries, a separate line item in the 1914 Department 

of War budget allocated $50,000 to provide headstones for Confederate graves anywhere 

in the United States:

For continuing the work of furnishing headstones of durable stone or 

other durable material for unmarked graves of Union and Confederate 

soldiers, sailors, and marines in national, post, city, town, and village 

cemeteries, naval cemeteries at navy yards and stations of the United 

States.123

Previously, Confederates interred at Fort Smith National Cemetery, Little Rock 

National Cemetery, and Springfield National Cemetery had been excluded from the 

commission’s authority because they were either located in states that had seceded, 

or the Confederate dead had not been prisoners of war. The graves of Confederate 

soldiers at all three sites were marked under this legislation. The headstones at Fort 

Smith National Cemetery were replaced some time later, as indicated by the fact that 

they feature the Confederate Cross of Honor, an inscription initiated in 1930.124

The Springfield and Little Rock Confederate cemeteries became federal property in 

1911 and 1913, respectively. Graves at both were marked with small marble headstones 

when they joined the National Cemetery System (figs. 31–32). It is likely that funding 

to replace these older headstones derived from a $140,000 appropriation made in 

1928 to recognize the unmarked Union and Confederates graves in all cemeteries. The 

act expressly addressed unmarked Confederate graves in national cemeteries. Grave 

markers in national cemeteries have always been standard designs, so replacing older, 

inconsistent examples with government-issue products was a logical evolution at these 

Confederate cemeteries, too.125

Also in 1928, the large monument erected by the commission over Confederate graves 

in Greenlawn Cemetery was moved to Garfield Park but the Confederate remains at 

Greenlawn Cemetery were moved in 1931 to Crown Hill Cemetery. The same year, 

the federal government finally acquired the elusive Confederate Stockade on Johnson’s 

Island—something the commission had failed to accomplish. By the time the Great 

Depression swept the country, all cemeteries included in this study had become federal 

property.126
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

39

Figures 31–32 . Left to right: Little 

Rock Confederate Cemetery, 

Arkansas, ca. 1911, and Springfield 

Confederate Cemetery, Missouri, 

ca. 1901, shown with original 

headstones that were later 

replaced. From Program for UCV 

Reunion, Little Rock, Arkansas, May 

1911.

After Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, the administration launched 

a series of initiatives to fight the national economic downturn. The programs were 

collectively called the New Deal. In 1933, work-relief programs provided jobs and a pay 

check to the unemployed rather than a government relief check. The Federal Emergency 

Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration were among the first of 

these programs. The Works Progress Administration, one of the best known, was later 

renamed the Work Projects Administration (WPA). WPA, operating from 1935 to 1943, 

is most identified with New Deal–era work relief. It built countless schools, roads, sewer 

systems, and other essential facilities across the nation. All the above-named agencies 

and the Public Works Administration provided labor and funding for projects.127

Between the years 1933 and 1941, the Department of War used New Deal funding to 

improve and update aspects of the national cemeteries (figs. 33–34). Documentation 

exists for projects at seven study cemeteries: Camp Chase, Finn’s Point, Jefferson 

Barracks, Little Rock, North Alton, Philadelphia, and Point Lookout. Funding from 

New Deal agencies updated drainage systems, repaired buildings, improved roads, and 

conducted other needed work at the seven cemeteries. The individual histories of each 

cemetery provide detailed information on the New Deal improvements.128

Responsibility for the National Cemeteries

The evolving nature of federal agencies and their missions led to the periodic transfer 

of management for national cemeteries. Between 1930 and 1950, the Department of 

the Army and the Department of the Interior, along with the Veterans Administration, 

managed, expanded, created, and cared for national cemeteries and numerous burial 

lots. 

In 1933, Executive Order 6166 transferred jurisdiction of eleven national cemeteries 

from the Department of War to the Department of the Interior. “This transfer and 

consolidation of functions shall include, among others, those of the National Park 

Service of the Department of the Interior and the National Cemeteries and Parks of 

the Department of War that are located within the continental limits of the United 

States.”129 This order was amended by Executive Order 6228, which limited the 

properties turned over to the National Park Service to specific properties as listed. 130
40

 PART I | Historic Context

Figure 33 . Entrance to North Alton 

Confederate Cemetery, Illinois, 

ca. 1936. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

The War Department resumed management of the Chattanooga National Cemetery in 

1945 due to its continued volume of interments. However, the U.S. Army transferred 

four additional national cemeteries to the Department of the Interior in later years: 

Chalmette National Cemetery (1939), Custer Battlefield/Little Bighorn National 

Cemetery (1940), Andrew Johnson National Cemetery (1942), and Andersonville 

National Cemetery (1971). Today, the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 

administers fourteen: Andersonville National Cemetery, Georgia; Andrew Johnson 

National Cemetery, Tennessee; Antietam National Cemetery, Maryland; Battleground 

National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.; Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisiana; Custer 

Battlefield/Little Big Horn National Cemetery, Montana; Fort Donelson National 

Cemetery, Tennessee; Fredericksburg National Cemetery, Virginia; Gettysburg National 

Cemetery, Pennsylvania; Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Virginia; Shiloh National 

Cemetery, Tennessee; Stones River National Cemetery, Tennessee; Vicksburg National 

Cemetery, Mississippi; and Yorktown National Cemetery, Virginia, all of which are 

associated with national battlefields or national military parks.

The Veterans Administration was created in 1930 to oversee a range of veterans’ benefits, 

including the administration of medical centers and soldiers’ homes. Many of the early 

VA care facilities contained cemeteries for the burial of veteran residents. Government 

studies carried out in the 1950s and 1960s eventually led to the National Cemeteries Act 

of 1973. This act transferred eighty-two national cemeteries from the Department of 

the Army to the VA—along with thirty-three soldiers’ lots, Confederate lots and related 

properties. These properties were managed by the newly created National Cemetery 

System. The Veterans Administration was subsequently elevated to a cabinet-level 

department in 1989 and renamed the Department of Veterans Affairs; and at the same 

time the National Cemetery System became the NCA.
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

41

Figure 34 . The Maryland Confederate 

Monument, 1876 (left), was moved to 

Point Lookout by the Works Progress 

Administration in 1938.

The 1973 legislation excluded Arlington National Cemetery and Soldiers’ Home 

National Cemetery from the national cemeteries transferred to the VA. These national 

cemeteries remain under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army. 

The eighteen cemetery histories presented here offer a less familiar chapter in the 

evolution of the National Cemetery System—through the lens of Confederate 

burials. This study covers the period and events beginning during the Civil War, the 

establishment and work of the Commission for Marking the Graves of Confederate 

Dead (1906–1916), and changes orchestrated in the intervening years to the present day. 
42

 PART I | Historic Context

Notes

1 Emory Thomas, “Civil War,” Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris, editors, 

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North 

Carolina, 1989, pp. 604–605.

2 John R. Neff, Honoring the Civil War Dead: Commemoration and the Problem of 

Reconciliation, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2005, pp. 222–235.

3 William B. Hesseltine, editor, Civil War Prisons, Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 

1972, p. 6; and J. David Hacker, “A Census-Based Count of the Civil War Dead,” Civil 

War History, Vol. 57, No. 4, December 2011, pp. 307–348. 

4 Edward T. Dower, “Johnson’s Island,” in Hesseltine, Civil War Prisons, pp. 98–100; 

Charles E. Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, The Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 

1965, pp. 1–3; and The War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of 

the Union and Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. III, pp. 269 and 280. Hereafter cited as O. R.

5 Hattie Lou Winslow and Joseph R. H. Moore, Camp Morton 1861–1865: Indianapolis 

Prison Camp, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1995, p. 17–77; and 

O. R., Series II, Vol. III, pp. 269, 280, and 288.

6 Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, p. 17; O. R., Series II, Vol. III, p. 281; and William

C. Winter, The Civil War in St. Louis: A Guided Tour, Missouri Historical Society Press,

St. Louis, Missouri, 1994, p.153.

7 O. R., Series II, Vol. IV, pp. 26–268.

8 O. R., Series II, Vol. V, pp. 795–797 and Joseph T. Glatthaar, Forged in Battle: The Civil

War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers, Free Press, New York, 1990, p. 201.

9 During the Civil War, prisoners were treated in one of two ways. They could be taken to 

prisoner-of-war camps where they would remain until they were exchanged. The other 

option was for the captors to parole the prisoners. To be paroled, the prisoner would 

sign a paper in which he stated, on his honor, that he would not bear arms against those 

who captured him, visit any places listed on the form, or in any way aid or comfort the 

enemy of the captors until he was exchanged.

10 Roger Pickenpaugh, Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union, The University 

of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2009, p. 79; and William B. Hesseltine, Civil 

War Prisons: A Study in War Psychology, Frederick Unger Publishing Co., New York, 

1930, p. 104. 

11 O. R., Series II, Vol. 7, pp. 62–63 and 614; and Charles W. Sanders, Jr., While in the

Hands of the Enemy: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Louisiana State University Press,

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2005, pp. 216–217 and 274.

12 O. R., Series II, Vol. IV, p. 152; and O. R., Series II, Vol. VII, pp. 72–75.

13 “Confederate Dead at Elmira,” Confederate Veteran, September 1902, p. 398; and 

Special Report relating to the government lots in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, 

New York, September 23, 1874, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 28, Elmira Folder.

14 Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 76–77. 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

43

15 O. R., Series III, Vol. V, pp. 317–318.

16 Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, p. 77; Photograph of original carved marker 

at Johnson’s Island, Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, At Camp Chase the standard 

headboard was used. See William H. Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, Publishing 

House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Nashville, Tennessee, 1906, p. 11. 

17 Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, National Cemetery Administration, History 

Program Collection vertical file: Camp Chase, pp. 3–4; Senate Report 408, Mr. 

Spencer, from the Committee on Military Affairs, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1878, p. 2; Roger Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase and the Evolution of 

Union Prison Policy, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2007, p. 146; 

and Knauss, Story of Camp Chase, pp. xii–xiii, 11, and 70.

18 Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 85, p. 111, 1870 and Laws of the State 

of Maryland, Chapter 407, p. 506, 1874, typescript copies, RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1. See the individual cemetery histories for details 

regarding burials. 

19 George Levy, To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862–65, 

Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, Louisiana, 1999, pp. 354–359; L. H. Pierce 

to Brig. General M. Meigs, November 8, 1865, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 271 and 

Confederate Dead at Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., October 18, 1907, 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1.

20 Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, p. 66; Knauss, Story of Camp Chase, p.11; and RG 92,

Entry 697, Box 3 Folder 3 Camp Chase. 

21 George B. Davis to Luke E. Wright, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701 Box 2; 

Patricia Demore, “The Readers Corner,” Indianapolis Star Magazine, October 26, 1975; 

Crown Hill Cemetery, Memories of the Past: A Tour of Historic Crown Hill Cemetery, 

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1996, pp. 41–42; and “Confederate Rites 

for Burial Today,” Indianapolis Star, October 27, 1931. 

22 “Confederate Rites for Burial Today,” Indianapolis Star, October 27, 1931; Sue 

Buckner, Confederate Burials in Crown Hill Cemetery, Marion County, Indiana, p. 9; 

and Demore, “Forum: the Readers Corner,” Indianapolis Star Magazine, October 26, 

1975, p. 52.

23 Thomas M. O’Brien and Oliver Diefendorf, General Orders of the War Department 

1861, 1862 and 1863, Derby & Miller, New York, 1864, pp. 346–347. 

24 O’Brien and Diefendorf, General Orders of the War Department, p. 158. General 

Orders No. 75 was issued in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 1861, and signed by 

Simon Cameron, Secretary of War and Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant General.

25 O. R., Series III, Vol. V, p. 316. 

26 George P. Sanger, editor, Statutes at Large, Treaties, Proclamations, of the United States 

of American from December 1865 to March 1867, Volume IV, Little, Brown and Co., 

Boston, Massachusetts, 1868, p. 353. 

27 Edward Steere, “The Evolution of the National Cemetery System,” Quartermaster 

Review, May–June, 1953, p. 124.
44

 PART I | Historic Context

28 “Chap. LXI. An Act to establish and protect National Cemeteries, Feb 22, 1867,” in 

Sanger, p. 399; and Steere, “The Evolution of the National Cemetery System,” p. 125. 

29 Sanger, p. 399; and Steere, “The Evolution of the National Cemetery System,” p. 125. 

30 Sanger, pp. 400–401.

31 J. D. Bingham to Montgomery Meigs, September 1871, Correspondence J. D. Bingham 

to M. Meigs. National Cemetery Administration History Program Vertical files.

32 Ibid. 

33 George P. Sanger, editor, The Statutes at Large, Treaties and Proclamations of the 

United States of America from March 1871 to March 1873, Little, Brown and Company, 

Boston, Massachusetts, 1873, pp. 202 and 605; and Steere, “Evolution of the National 

Cemetery System,” p. 125. The original legislation of June 1, 1871, allowed only 

indigent veterans to be buried in the national cemeteries. That was subsequently 

changed in March 1873 to all honorably discharged veterans: “all soldiers and sailors 

honorably discharged from the service of the United States who may die in a destitute 

condition, shall be allowed burial in the national cemeteries of the United States,” p. 

202.

34 Steere, “Evolution of the National Cemetery System,” p. 125.

35 U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2d sess., 1875, pp. 6, 23, 33, and 109.

36 Gaines Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of 

the New South, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987, pp. 36–42.

37 “Confederate Cemetery,” Arkansas Daily Gazette, April 5, 1892. 

38 Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy, pp. 128–129; and Caroline E. Janney, Burying the 

Dead but Not the Past: Ladies’ Memorial Associations and the Lost Cause, University of 

North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2008, p. 167.

39 Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy, pp. 105–107.

40 Department of Veterans Affairs, “Memorial Day History,” http://www1.va.gov/opa/

speceven/memday/history.asp; and Jane M. Hatch, editor, “Memorial Day,” The 

American Book of Days, The H. W. Wilson Co., New York, 1978, p. 503. 

41 “Decoration Day,” The New International Encyclopedia, Second Edition, Volume VI, 

Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1917, p. 590.

42 Hatch, The American Book of Days, p. 503 and “Public Law 90-363: To provide for 

uniform annual observances of certain legal public holidays on Mondays, and for 

other purposes,” in U.S. Congress, United States Statutes at Large, 1968, Volume 82, U.S. 

Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1969, pp. 250–251.

43 Janney, Burying the Dead but Not the Past, p. 58; and Karen L. Cox, Dixie’s Daughters: 

the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture, 

University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 2003, p. 4.
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

45

44 Charles Reagan Wilson, “Confederate Memorial Day,” Encyclopedia of Southern 

Culture, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1989, p. 681; 

and Allen Cabaniss, “Holidays,” Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, pp. 627–628.

45 Catherine W. Bishir, “A Strong Force of Ladies: Women, Politics, and Confederate 

Memorial Associations in Nineteenth-Century Raleigh,” in Cynthia Mills and Pamela 

H. Simpson, Monument to the Lost Cause: Women, Art, and the Landscapes of Southern 

Memory, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2003, p. 22; and Wilson, 

“Confederate Memorial Day,” Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, p. 681.

46 Wilson, “Confederate Memorial Day,” Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, p. 681.

47 Ibid.

48 “When Columbus Forgave the Rebel Dead,” Columbus Dispatch Magazine, Ohio 

Historical Society, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, No. 1546 

(Columbus, Ohio), 1864–2000, MSS 1312 AV, Box 2, Folder 12. 

49 Jerry Parrott, program support assistant, Little Rock National Cemetery, April 29, 2009.

50 Pre-1890 image of Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

51 “As She Does to Others,” Confederate Veteran, September, 1895, p. 275 and “Fly Two 

Flags,” Democrat and Times, May 26, 1957.

52 “Confederate war dead: ‘Stars and Bars’ gone,” Rock Island Argus, May 13, 1975, and 

“Reconciling the Past,” Quad-City Times, May 21, 2000. Both only stated that the graves 

would be decorated with small flags.

53 Department of the Army, Technical Manual: Administration, Operation, and 

Maintenance of National Cemeteries, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1973, p. 2-2.

54 Confederated Southern Memorial Association, History of the Confederated Memorial 

Associations, p. 221; R. I. Holcombe, History of Greene County, Missouri, Online edition, 

http://thelibrary.org/lochist/history/holcombe/grch16pt1.html; and “Dedication of the 

Confederate Cemetery, Springfield, Missouri, Friday, May 27, 1887,” Wilson’s Creek 

National Battlefield Library, Vertical file: Springfield National Cemetery, Folder 2.

55 Missouri United Confederate Veterans, United Confederate Veterans’ Reunion, p. 65; 

Buildings and Utilities in National Cemeteries, Springfield Confederate Cemetery, 

Springfield, Missouri, Flagpole, Confederate Section, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 37, Folder: 

Springfield, Missouri 1; and “Ceremony pays homage to ancestry,” Springfield (MO) 

News-Leader, June 3, 2002.

56 Clay W. Holmes, The Elmira Prison Camp: A History of the Military Prison at 

Elmira, NY July 6, 1864 to July 10, 1865, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and 

London, 1912, p. 138.
46

 PART I | Historic Context

57 “Confederate Dead Paid Tribute by Kiwanis Club Men,” June 7, 1946, unidentified 

newspaper clipping, Chemung County Historical Society, Vertical file: 310–165; 

parks, Woodlawn National Cemetery; “Virginian pays tribute to soldiers who died,” 

Star-Gazette, May 26, 1975; “Re-Dedication of Woodlawn National Cemetery,” The 

Chemung Valley Reporter, August 11, 1988; “Confederate Battalion Honors Dead 

at Woodlawn Cemetery,” Chemung Valley Reporter, August 23, 1990; and personal 

communication, Walter T. “Skip” Baroody, October 22, 2009.

58 “Decoration Day,” Sandusky Register, May 31, 1883; and Lydia J. Ryall, Sketches and 

Stories of the Lake Erie Islands, American Publishers Company, 1913, p. 374.

59 “Johnson’s Island Rites Seen and Heard by Many,” Sandusky Register, June 7, 1932; 

Johnson’s Island Chapter, UDC, Johnson’s Island Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio, 1940, pp. 

2–3, Ohio Historical Society, PA Box 205 14; “Memorial Services Held at Johnson’s 

Island Cemetery,” Sandusky Register, July 2, 1957; “Gone . . . Remembered,” Sandusky 

Register, September 14, 1983; “Remembering Johnson’s Island Cemetery,” Peninsular 

News, April 26, 1990; and “Civil memorial held,” Toledo Blade, May 29, 1995.

60 Knauss, Story of Camp Chase, pp. xiv and 49–50; and Confederate Veteran, “Camp 

Chase Memorial Association,” July 1899, p. 304.

61 “When Columbus Forgave the Rebel Dead,” The Columbus Dispatch Magazine, May 

26, 1946, Ohio Historical Society, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, 

No. 1546 (Columbus, Ohio), 1864–2000, MSS 1312 AV, Box 2, Folder 12.

62 “Solemn Salute,” Citizen-Journal (Columbus), June 5, 1972; and “Camp Chase 100th 

Memorial Service, June 4, 1995, Program,” Hilltop Historical Society, 1995. 

63 S. B. Holabird, Quartermaster General, U.S. Army, “Instruction for the Guidance of 

Superintendents of National Military Cemeteries,” October 2, 1883,” RG 92, Entry 589. 

The underlining is in the original typewritten document. 

64 William McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From March 1, 1897 to 

May 30, 1900, Doubleday & McCluee, Co., New York, 1900, pp. 158–159. 

65 McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley, p. 159.

66 Robert Louis Clark, Lee Allen Craig, and Jack Wilson, A History of Public Sector 

Pensions in the United States, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania, 2003, p. 146; and Neff, Honoring the Civil War Dead, Commemoration 

and the Problem of Reconciliation, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 2005, 

pp. 222–226.

67 To the President of the United States: A Petition from the Charles Broadway Rouss 

Camp of Washington, D.C., Camp No. 1191 of the United Confederate Veterans 

relating to the Confederate Graves in the National Military and Naval Cemetery at 

Arlington, Va., June 5, 1899, RG 92 Entry 585. The capitalization is Lewis’s.

68 Samuel E. Lewis to Marcus J. Wright, December 28, 1898, RG 92, Entry 585.

69 A Petition from the Charles Broadway Rouss Camp of Washington, D.C., Camp 

No. 1191, June 5, 1899, RG 92 Entry 585.

70 Ibid.
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

47

71 Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, Confederate Dead in Arlington Cemetery, pp. 

16–17.

72 Ibid., p. 12.

73 Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, Confederate Dead in Arlington Cemetery, pp. 11–

14; and Confederate Veteran, “Confederate Dead at the North,” May 1901, p. 197.

74 To the President of the United States: A Petition from the Charles Broadway Rouss 

Camp of Washington, D.C., RG 92, Entry 585.

75 Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, UCV, Report of the Re-Burial of the Confederate 

Dead in Arlington, Cemetery, Judd & Detweiler, Washington, D.C., 1901, p. 44.

76 Proposals for Confederate Headstones, April 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 3.

77 Department of Veterans Affairs, “History of Government Furnished Headstones 

and Markers,” http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/hmhis.asp.

78 “Georgia Division,” Confederate Veteran, October 1898, p. 457.

79 “Daughters of the Confederacy,” Confederate Veteran, January 1900, p. 39; “Crosses 

of Honor,” Confederate Veteran, October 1901, p. 441; and “Rules for bestowal of 

Cross of Honor,” Confederate Veteran, January, 1907, pp. 41–42.

80 “For Unmarked Confederate Graves,” Confederate Veteran, October 1930, p. 397.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 Memorial Division, Office of the Quartermaster General, “Government 

Confederate Headstone,” National Cemetery Administration History Program 

Collection, Map Files.

84 U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1961, U.S. 

Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1961, p. 902; U.S. Congress, 

“Calendar No. 2553, S. 6486,” RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1; and U.S. Congress, 

“Calendar No., 2553–Marking the Graves of the Soldiers of the Confederate army 

and navy,” RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

85 U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December, 

1905 to March, 1907, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1907, p. 56; 

and James H. Berry, Report of the Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, 62d 

Congress, 3d sess., House of Representatives, Document No. 1105. U.S Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1912.

86 University of Virginia, “William Elliott (3 Sept. 1838–3 Dec. 1907), Student of the 

University of Virginia.

87 “Col. Elliott Dies Suddenly,” Beaufort (SC) Gazette, December 5, 1907; and “William 

Elliott,” Student of the University of Virginia, 1825–1874, http://uvastudents.wordpress.

com/2012/09/18/william-elliott-3-sep-1838-3-dec-1907/

88 “Confederate Monument at Camp Chase,” Confederate Veteran, April 1907, p. 177.
48

 PART I | Historic Context

89 William Elliott to William H. Taft, May 24, 1906, National Cemetery Administration 

History Program Vertical files: Confederate Cemeteries. Note: the document has a 

hand written notation, “RG 92 OQMG Confed. Cem. File Corr. Box 8.”

90 William H. Taft to William Elliott, June 11, 1906, National Cemetery Administration 

History Program Vertical files: Confederate Cemeteries. Note: the document has a 

hand written notation, “RG 92 OQMG Confed. Cem. File Corr. Box 8.”

91 U.S. Congress, “Calendar No. 2553–Marking the Graves of the Soldiers of the 

Confederate army and navy, RG 92, Entry 701 Box 1; and William Elliott to William H.

Taft, May 24, 1906, National Cemetery Administration History Program Vertical files: 

Confederate Cemeteries. Note: the document has a hand-written notation, “RG 92 

OQMG Confed. Cem. File Corr. Box 8.”

92 Memorandum of visit to G. G. Gibbon, Pennsville, NJ, made by Colonel Wm. Elliott 

and L. Frank Nye, August 9, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder 1: Finn’s Point; and 

William Elliott to Brig. General Charles F. Humphrey, March 15, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 5, Folder 1: Finn’s Point.

93 William Elliott to Brig. General Charles F. Humphrey, March 15, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 5, Folder 1: Finn’s Point; and John F. Tomlin to Quartermaster, Philadelphia, 

April 1, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder 1: Finn’s Point.

94 James M. Moore to M. I. Ludington, April 4, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 67; and M. I. 

Ludington to Montgomery Meigs, June 12, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57.

95 Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 85, 1870, p. 111, typescript copies, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1; and Re: Point Lookout, Maryland, May 9, 1907, 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1. 

96 William Belknap to William Merrick, March 22, 1871, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57; 

“Re: Point Lookout, Md., May 9, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder 1; and 

Millard F. Minnick to William Elliott, February 4, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2.

97 Proposal for Confederate Headstones, April 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 3; 

and William Elliott to Secretary of War, October 14, 1907, RG 92, Entry 701, 

Box 3. Funding for the Commission came through the War Department and the 

commissioners followed the orders of the secretary of war.

98 “General William C. Oates Passes to Great Beyond,” Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, 

September 10, 1910.

99 U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1961, U.S. 

Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1961, p. 1398.

100James R. Mann to Secretary of War William H. Taft, December 24, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II.

101Samuel E. Lewis, Report of the Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate 

Graves, typescript dated February 21, 1916, p. 4, National Cemetery Administration 

History Program Vertical file; and Edward G. Carter to William Elliott, November 30, 

1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1. 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

49

102William C. Oates to Luke E. Wright, October 29, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2. 

103George B. Davis to Luke E. Wright, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

104Robert Shaw Oliver to William C. Oates, December 19, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

105See William Elliott to Fred C. Ainsworth, August 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 2; 

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, near Columbus, O., transcribed notes of L. Frank 

Nye, October 31, 1906 to November 15, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3; Transcribed notes of visit to Elmira, June 15–26, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, 

Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2; Transcribed notes on work undertaken in Elmira June 13–

July 11, 1906, submitted, January 2, 1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2; 

Re: Confederate Cemetery at Rock Island, Ill., February 26, 1895, RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2; and Memorandum of visit to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., 

in connection with the Confederate cemetery on the island, February 28, 1908, RG 

92 Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2. For more information, see the individual 

cemetery histories. 

106H. F. Warren, Marking the Graves of Confederate Dead, Senate Report No. 928, 61st 

Congress, 3rd sess., December 15, 1910, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1915, p. 4.

107U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1909 to 

March, 1911, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1911, pp. 875, 882, 

and 1453. 

108Charles C. Walcott to William C. Oates, June 8, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6. 

109Charles C. Walcott to William C. Oates, June 8, 1909, and Special List No. 2 Jefferson 

Barracks, Mo., National Cemetery. “Civilian Prisoners of War,” RG 92, Entry 697, 

Box 6.

110George W. Balogh, “James Henderson Berry,” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History 

& Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.

aspx?entryID=88.

111Berry, Report of the Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate Graves, p. 4.

112U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1909 

to March, 1911, pp. 1077–1078; and “Decoration Day at Springfield, Mo.,” Confederate 

Veteran, August 1902, p. 358.

113“Favorable Vote in House Today,” Springfield Leader, March 2, 1911; and “Deed to 

Confederate Cemetery Filed Here,” Springfield Leader, July 25, 1911. 

114J. M. Dickinson to George W. Gordon, January 23, 1911, letter from the secretary of

war to Representative Gordon, National Cemetery Administration vertical file.

115See U.S. Congress, Report of Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, House of 

Representatives, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, Document No. 1105, 1912.
50

 PART I | Historic Context

116Berry, Report of the Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate Graves, 

pp. 4–37; Rufus H. Wilson to Delbert L. Latta, November 13, 1974, letter from 

Director of the Veterans Administration to Rep. Delbert L. Latta, National Cemetery 

Administration History Program Vertical file; “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” 

Sandusky Daily Register, October 19, 1889; “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” 

Sandusky Daily Register, February 22, 1890; and “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” 

Macon Daily Telegraph, May 16, 1890.

117U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1913 

to March, 1915, Vol. XXXVIII in Two Parts, Part I, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1915, p. 769.

118Virginia Historical Society, “A Guide to the Samuel Edwin Lewis Papers, 1861–1917,” 

Collection Number Mss1 L5884 a FA2, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, 

2008. 

119Samuel E. Lewis to H. P. McCain, December 9, 1914, including endorsements dated 

December 12 and 14, 1914, Typescript with notation RG 92 Confed. Cem. File Box 1, 

folder: Adjutant General A #2, National Cemetery Administration History Program 

vertical file. 

120Ibid. 

121Memorandum for Superintendent William Dillon, Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort 

Smith, Arkansas, November 10, 1914, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Fort Smith.

122Samuel E. Lewis, Report of the Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate 

Graves, February 21, 1916, pp. 7–10, typescript, National Cemetery Administration 

History Program vertical file. 

123U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1913 to 

March, 1915, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1915, p. 630. 

124Correspondence indicates that the Fort Smith Confederate headstones may have 

replaced earlier ones. Mark C. Mollan, “The Evolution of the Government Policy on 

Headstones for Fallen Soldiers and Sailors: Confederate Headstones,” Prologue, p. 65; 

and Memorandum for Superintendent William Dillon, Fort Smith National Cemetery, 

Fort Smith, Arkansas, November 10, 1914, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Fort Smith. 

125U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December, 

1927 to March, 1929, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1929 p. 354; 

“Bill Passed By Senate Would Consolidate Cemeteries Here,” Springfield Republican, 

February 16, 1910; and U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of 

America from March, 1911 to March, 1913, Vol. XXXVII, Part I, U.S. Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1913, pp. 663–664. 

126U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large December, 1927 to March, 1929, p. 354; Patricia 

Demore, “Forum: The Reader’s Corner,” Indianapolis Star Magazine, October 26, 1976, 

p. 53; and Indianapolis Star, “Confederate Rites for Burial Today,” October 27, 1931.

127George T. Blakey, Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929–1939, The University 

Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1986, pp. 44–46 and 55–58. 
Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

51

128Historical Record, Little Rock National Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas, RG 15, Entry 

25, Box 24, Folder: Little Rock 1; Q. M. C. Form 117, Philadelphia National Cemetery, 

Haines St. & Limekiln Pike, Phila., Pa., Combination Double Garage & Tool House, 

RG 15, Entry 25, Box 31, Folder: Philadelphia; Q. M. C. Form 117, Camp Chase 

Confederate Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 31, Folder: Philadelphia 

3; Final Narrative Report and Completion report for the Repair of Monument and 

fence at the North Alton Confederate Cemetery at Alton, Illinois, Under the Works 

Progress Administration Official Project 13–116, Completed May 15, 1936, RG 15, 

Entry 25, Box 1, Folder: Alton 7; Q. M. C. Form 117, Finn’s Point National Cemetery, 

comfort station, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 11, Folder: Finn’s Point; Q. M. C. Form 117, 

Finn’s Point National Cemetery, stable, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 11, Folder: Finn’s Point; 

“Confederate Memorial Day,” The Hilltop Record, May 23, 1936; Q. M. C. Form 117, 

Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery, Scotland, Md., Enclosure and grounds, RG 15, 

Entry 25, Box 42, Folder: Point Lookout; Q. M. C. Form 117, U.S. National Cemetery, 

Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Enclosing Wall and Fences, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 22, 

Folder: Jefferson Barracks 1; Q. M. C. Form 117, U.S. National Cemetery, Jefferson 

Barracks, Missouri, rostrum, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 22, Folder: Jefferson Barracks 1; and 

Historical Record, Little Rock National Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas, RG 15, Entry 

25, Box 24, Folder: Little Rock.

129Executive Order 6166, Section 2, June 10, 1933.

130Larry M. Dilsaver, editor, America’s National Park System: The Critical Documents, 

Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 1994, NPS Online book, http://www.nps.gov/

history/history/online_books/anps/anps_index.htm, Chapter Three, “Organization 

of Executive Agencies, 1933.” The cemeteries listed were: Battleground, District of 

Columbia; Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Gettysburg, 

Pennsylvania; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Fort Donelson (Dover), Tennessee; 

Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee; Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee; 

Fredericksburg, Virginia; Poplar Grove (Petersburg), Virginia: and Yorktown, 

Virginia.
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Part II

National Cemetery Administration

CEMETERY HISTORIES
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

54

Figure 35 . Map showing the 

original and second locations 

of Camp Butler, and Camp 

Butler National Cemetery. 

Based on 1876 Warner & Beers 

map of Sangamon County, 

Illinois.
55

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CAMP BUTLER NATIONAL CEMETERY

Springfield, Illinois

The U.S. Army established Camp Butler in July 1861 to replace Springfield’s first 

camp of instruction, Camp Yates. Camp Yates was established in early 1861 at the old 

fairgrounds. Its location so close to Springfield proved unsatisfactory, mainly because 

of community complaints of damaged and stolen property. These issues, coupled with 

President Lincoln’s second call for 500,000 volunteers to crush the rebellion, led to Camp 

Butler being established.1

Camp Butler was named for William Butler, the treasurer of Illinois, and was situated 

near Clear Lake, a spring-fed body of water nearly 2 miles long. The lake was a reliable 

source of drinking water and a grove of fine trees provided an excellent place for an 

encampment, but this location also proved to be temporary; by October of that year, 

measles and typhoid fever were sweeping through the camp. Those who died were 

buried near the infantry encampment.2

Illinois state government officials determined that the camp, which was to serve recruits 

from south Illinois, should be moved closer to a railroad connection. A site on a good 

road, 6 miles northeast of Springfield and just south of the Great Western & Springfield 

Railroad, was chosen. The new location, which was on high ground, retained the name 

Camp Butler and barracks sufficient for two regiments were hastily constructed: “They 

are mere shells, single boards forming the sides and roofs. The sides are very low, about 

eight feet in height, the roof covered with tarpaper. They afford protection neither from 

storms or heat.” With other buildings still under construction, approximately 5,000 

soldiers were moved to the new facility. By early February 1862, Camp Butler trainees 

had shipped out, and the crude barracks began housing the first Confederate prisoners 

of war to arrive there (fig. 35).3

When 15,000 Confederate officers and men surrendered at Fort Donelson near Dover, 

Tennessee, on February 16, 1862, the captives were divided among a number of prison 

camps. They included Camp Morton and Camp Douglas in Illinois; Camp Chase, Ohio; 

and Camp Butler. Despite General Henry Halleck’s orders that enlisted men and officers 

be sent to separate facilities, both were nevertheless sent to Camp Butler. They were 

housed separately. Initially, prisoners and Union troops received the same rations and 

the sick were treated at the same hospitals. Prisoners were allowed to receive gifts and to 

hold small amounts of money.4
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

56

Camp Butler Prisoner-of-War Camp

Camp Butler had not been designed to house and hold prisoners. When the first 

Confederates arrived, there was no stockade, and consequently there were many 

escapes. The prison population grew with the capture of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi 

River opposite New Madrid, Missouri, on April 8, 1862. The Union victory brought an 

additional 1,015 prisoners to Camp Butler, raising the total to about 2,250. Construction 

of a stockade began soon after the second batch of prisoners arrived and was completed 

about one month later. Escapes continued in spite of the new enclosure, but disease was 

taking a high toll on the prisoners.5

Camp Butler Union prison consisted of a headquarters building and twenty-one frame 

buildings originally constructed to house two regiments of Union volunteers. The 

buildings were 24 feet wide, 100 feet long, and 8 feet high with tarpaper roofs. Four 

served as medical facilities for prisoners. When the number of prisoners exceeded the 

capacity of the buildings, prisoners were housed in tents. A 12-foot-high fence was 

erected to enclose the 15-acre prison. With such a large increase in the population, it 

turned out that the facility’s prison would be short-lived, about three months, from 

February 1862 to May 19, 1862.6

Assistant Surgeon, J. Cooper McGee, U.S. Army, was sent to Camp Butler in the late 

spring of 1862 by the Commissary General of Prisoners Colonel William Hoffman. 

McGee was appalled by the crowded and filthy conditions in the barracks. Even his 

room, he said, reached 102 degrees. In front of the barracks there were two rows of tents 

in which to house prisoners, and according to McGee, everything was odious. McGee 

saved his most critical commentary for the six hospitals, which he described as “in 

miserable sanitary condition. . . . The stench from the wards was horrid and sickening.” 

The sick were crowded in wooden bunks; some were on the floor. Many had no blankets; 

medicines were deficient. McGee reported that the nurses and attendants were negligent 

and insubordinate.7

McGee immediately began organizing the camp, even though his plans required “much 

explanation and persuasion.” The prisoners’ tents were moved farther away from the 

barracks and set out as rows. The cook stoves in the barracks were moved outside to 

keep spoiled food and vermin out of the poorly ventilated barracks. Lime was applied 

to floors and walls of the hospital buildings and used liberally in the latrines. McGee 

also obtained needed supplies from Chicago and ensured that a task, which had been 

neglected in the past, regular cleaning, was carried out in the prison area. His actions 

proved to be effective. Around the time of his arrival, during the month of May, 123 

prisoners had died, but by June, the monthly death toll had fallen to thirty.8

In July 1862, Colonel William Hoffman sent his assistant, Captain H. W. Freedley, to 

Camp Butler to inspect the prison facility. In a letter dated July 5, 1862, Captain Freedley 

wrote to Colonel Hoffman that the measures undertaken by McGee were successful:9

Improvements in the hospitals therein referred to have been made and a 

most admirable system of police has been established in them. The loss 

by death has decreased 70 per cent. The general health of the prisoners is 

good. The police of the camp has been much improved...10
57

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The first group of prisoners at Camp Butler was exchanged in early September 1862 

under arrangements set out by the prisoner exchange cartel. Nearly 1,700 prisoners were 

put on trains and escorted under guard to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Those who made it 

to Mississippi were lucky; 471 of their comrades remained behind, buried in a former 

cornfield northeast of the camp.11

Camp Butler’s commander, Major John G. Fonda, departed with his regiment in 

December 1862, and command passed to Colonel William F. Lynch. Lynch had earlier 

been held prisoner by the Confederates and no doubt harbored animosity against his 

former captors. Lynch’s main concern was security; the prisoners’ welfare was secondary. 

Shortly after Lynch took command of Camp Butler, Confederate prisoners began to 

arrive from the Trans-Mississippi region, west of the Mississippi River.12

In 1863, Camp Butler received 1,620 prisoners from Arkansas, Louisiana, as well as 

Texas regiments captured at Arkansas Post, approximately 120 miles south of Memphis. 

The men arrived during winter and were likely ill clad for weather in Springfield, 

Illinois. Another 500 or so men arrived in the following months, adding further to the 

problematic crowded conditions at the camp. Colonel Lynch’s indifference to the health 

and welfare of the prisoners only made matters worse. The improvements and policies 

implemented by Dr. McGee steadily began to erode.13

Captain Freedley returned to Camp Butler in spring 1863 and on March 21 sent a 

report to Colonel Hoffman describing its physical accommodations: “[The] prisoners 

are quartered in twenty-one frame buildings, including hospitals, each one erected for 

the purpose of quartering 100 U.S. volunteers [soldiers]. These buildings are ample for 

their accommodation, are provided with comfortable bunks and in every way fitted up 

as quarters for our own troops.” He went on to extol the virtues of the rations issued and 

the contentment on the part of the prisoners with the food they received.14

However, Freedley also cited the lack of discipline, lack of energy amongst the officers, 

the general trashy conditions at the camp, and the “large amounts of filth and offal” 

that had accumulated near the prisoners’ quarters. He blamed the deplorable living 

conditions on the prisoners, writing, “The prisoners on their part were content to 

remain in indolence amidst filth and vermin.” He notes, however, that the officers in 

charge of the camp did nothing to enforce cleanliness. Freedley also remarked on the 

generally run-down condition of the camp: the need for new barracks, roof repairs, 

and proper ventilation. None of the needed repairs would cost much, he said, and the 

prisoners could and should provide the labor.15

Of the hospitals, Freedley wrote that they had “but little improvement over the barracks.” 

Once again he blamed a lack of energy on the part of the surgeon in charge, whom he 

said had given orders regarding the hospital but then had not vigorously enforced them. 

There were more than 400 sick prisoners, 200 of them seriously ill. The captain summed 

up his findings at the end of his report:

This camp might have been made a very satisfactory one in every respect 

but there was an apparent neglect in everything relating to discipline. 

There were no police regulations established. The commanding officer 

who had been a prisoner in the South seemed to care only for the security 

of the prisoners. They are closely confined within limits and no regard 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

58

paid to their wants or comforts. He appeared to think this was all that 

was required of him.16

The month before Freedley made his report, 103 prisoners died; his negative report did, 

however, spur Colonel Lynch into action. The straw in the barracks was replaced and 

the barracks were repaired. That April, 600 prisoners were exchanged, but before they 

embarked on their long journey to City Point, Virginia, they received new clothing, most 

of it furnished by friends of the prisoners in Kentucky. By May 19, 1863, there were no 

Confederate prisoners left at Camp Butler. Its career as a prison camp was over, except 

for eighteen civilians confined there in November 1863. After the Confederate prisoners 

left, Camp Butler resumed its role as a Union army camp.17

Camp Butler National Cemetery

Camp Butler’s burial ground became a national cemetery in 1862, although the 

government did not own the property until 1865. Originally, the cemetery was 

approximately 6.5 acres. The August 1868 inspection report described an ill-maintained 

cemetery. It was enclosed with a wooden fence, which was not white-washed. The key to 

the gate was left with a nearby farmer. The grounds were described as “totally neglected, 

the grass and weeds obscuring the graves entirely.” Thirteen of the 641 Union graves of 

soldiers who died while at Camp Butler had headstones; the remainder were marked 

with headboards “painted white and lettered black.” There was no superintendent, no 

lodge, and no flagpole. There were very few trees and the graves had not been sodded.18

The inspector reported the condition of the cemetery to the Department of War, which 

authorized $9,621.75 for improvements and ordered that work begin immediately. 

The inspector recommended that Captain James Campbell, a former quartermaster 

employee living in Springfield, be given the post of superintendent. Campbell had what 

few records there were for the cemetery, and it was understood that he was interested in 

caring for it.19

The inspection report listed 643 Confederates buried in the cemetery, of which 454 

were known and 180 were unknown. It stated that all the Confederate dead had been 

captured at Fort Donelson, thus demonstrating the inadequacy of the records Captain 

Campbell had on hand. The Confederate dead were buried in the cemetery at the time of 

their deaths and, as far as can be ascertained, they have never been moved.20

The inspection of June 23, 1870, told of a much different property. The cemetery was 

enclosed by a brick wall with an Osage-orange hedge growing along the inside of the 

wall. The entrance to the cemetery was in the eastern portion of the wall, off a county 

road known today as Camp Butler Road. A brick lodge was situated within the walled 

area near the entrance. A picket fence ran north-south through the cemetery, dividing 

Union graves from those of Confederate prisoners.21

The inspector described the layout of graves in the cemetery, which may shed some light 

on the irregular pattern of both the old Union section and the Confederate section. “The 

burials were made from the hospitals at Camp Butler as the deaths occurred, and do not 

seem to have been made according to any regular plan or order; but the graves were dug 
59

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

as most convenient.”22 It seems very likely, though it was not stated, that the Confederate 

burials were undertaken in the same fashion. 

The Confederate section, which this report lists as containing 645 burials, was graced 

by “a fine grove of young, vigorous oaks.” The graves, both Union and Confederate, 

were marked with either headboards or stakes. There were a few stone markers in both 

sections. It was the inspector’s opinion that removing the picket fence would improve 

the overall look of the cemetery.23

Four years later the 1874 report described the lodge as a one-story, three-room brick 

building with a piazza on the sides. The report stated that “a cistern is attached to 

the lodge.” It also mentioned a well “in the center of the grounds.” There were several 

outbuildings associated with the lodge. Unfortunately, the report is vague, stating: “The 

out-buildings, tool-house, wood-shed, &c. are in good order.”24 The report did not list 

a privy or comfort house, though it might have come under the “&c.” The cemetery 

did not have any drives, but a graveled walk extended “from the main entrance to and 

around the flag-staff, which stands in a small, circular grass-plat a little north of the 

lodge.” The picket fence that divided the Union and Confederate sections had been 

removed and new trees planted. It reported that the graves were well-sodded and 

marked with headboards. This report listed 643 Confederate graves: 453 known and 190 

unknown.25

The inspection report of 1881 portrayed a well-maintained, mature cemetery. The 

brick wall now included an iron entrance gate mounted on stone posts. An arch with 

the words “National Cemetery” spelled out in cast-iron letters spanned the entrance. 

Four gun memorials stood around the flagstaff. This type of monument appears to have 

become a staple of late nineteenth-century cemetery decoration. “These monuments are 

iron guns placed in stone bases, piles of iron shot placed upon the bases, and one shot on 

the face of each piece.”26 The graveled drive that circled the flagstaff remained the only 

road.

The lodge was now separated from the cemetery by a hedge of Norway spruce and a 

wooden lattice wall. The inspection recommended razing the wooden tool shed as 

well as a stable in the northwest corner of the cemetery and constructing a larger brick 

building for the same purpose near the lodge. The tree planting begun earlier continued 

and it was reported that the trees were healthy and enhanced the appearance of the 

cemetery. The graves of the Union soldiers were now marked with white marble upright 

headstones bearing the soldier’s name and the grave number. The Confederate graves, 

which this report estimated as 642, were marked with white-painted wood headboards 

with black numbers.27

According to a notation on an 1892 U.S. Army map, 647 Confederates were interred in 

irregular rows. This map shows the entrance road to the cemetery passing just west of 

the lodge. The flagstaff and gun memorials are located northwest of the lodge and the 

gravel drive encircles the flagstaff, making this area the focal point of the entranceway. 

The gravel drive extends east and west of the flagstaff and encircles the perimeter of the 

cemetery (figs. 36–37).
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

60

Figure 36 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Camp Butler National Cemetery, 1892. National Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 37 . The cemetery entrance, photographed in 

1937, had changed little from the layout shown on the 

1892 Army map. Photograph by Emma Eliza Parrotte, 

from Emma Eliza Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, MA 

Thesis, Butler University, 1938.
61

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The Commission

Camp Butler National Cemetery fell under the 

auspices of the Commission for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead. Commissioner William Elliott 

acquired a list of Confederates who had died at 

Camp Butler. Elliott sent his list to Adjutant General 

Fred C. Ainsworth, who compared Elliot’s list with 

his own records. As a result, a list of 874 names 

was compiled and it was determined that those 

names would be marked at Camp Butler. It is clear 

that the previous reports’ lists of Confederate dead 

buried at Camp Butler National Cemetery do not 

match the number there when the commission and 

the adjutant general arrived, but no reason for the 

discrepancy was ever given.28

In spring 1908, the commission sent out requests 

for bids to haul and place headstones at Camp Butler. The headstones were made by 

the Blue Ridge Marble Company of Nelson, Georgia, which was already under contract 

to the commission. T. B. Richardson of Riverton, Illinois, was contracted to haul the 

stones from the railroad siding to the cemetery; the Springfield Monument Company of 

Springfield, Illinois, was awarded the contract to set the headstones (fig. 38).29

Figure 38 . The irregular 

arrangement of Confederate 

headstones at Camp Butler 

suggests they are in their 

original 1908 location. 

Of the 874 names located, it appears that the 

remains of nine men had been removed, most 

likely by friends or relatives. Commissioner 

Oates sent George Ford a letter instructing 

him to remove the stakes for grave numbers 

111, 126, 247, 259, 279, 322, 333, 434, and 

454.30 On-site inspection determined that 

these numbers were absent from the graves 

that were marked. 

Shortly after the Confederate graves were 

marked, a new lodge was completed. This 

building, which is extant, was built on the site 

of the original lodge. The new two-story brick 

dwelling had eight rooms, one of which was 

used for an office and for records storage (figs. 

39–40).31 Figure 39 . The lodge in 1937. 

Photograph by Emma Eliza 

Parrotte, from Emma Eliza 

Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, 

MA Thesis, Butler University, 

1938.

Figure 40 . The lodge in 2009; 

the porch was enclosed in 

1942.

In the 1930s several changes were made to 

Camp Butler National Cemetery (fig. 41). 

A sprinkler system was installed to help 

maintain the grass and other plants. Much 

of the brick wall was torn down and an 

iron fence erected in its place. In 1938, 137 

small marble markers on Union graves with 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

62

Figure 41 . Plat of Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. Construction Division, Office of the Quartermaster 6th Corps Area, November 

8, 1935.
63

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

numbers on them, presumably marking unknown burials, were replaced with standard 

headstones, making “the cemetery more uniform in appearance.” In 1939, the original 

1896–1897 octagonal rostrum was razed and the current rostrum was erected east of the 

location of the first one.32

Camp Butler National Cemetery has changed considerably since 1938, when Emma 

Parrotte wrote her master’s thesis on the cemetery’s history. Between 1939 and 1943, 

another 447 feet of iron fence was installed. In 1948, the cemetery was expanded by 

33.23 acres. This land was acquired from Arthur E. Miller and was north and east of the 

original 6.02 acres, increasing the size of the cemetery to 39.25 acres. Sometime later 

another 13.75 acres were added. Today there are more than 21,000 interments and the 

cemetery encompasses 53 acres.

The entrance gate is now located east of the lodge. 

The road system has been reconfigured and enlarged. 

The 1938 map shows two entrance gates. The original 

entrance was west of the lodge, with the road leading 

to and encircling the flagstaff and gun memorials; the 

road then turned east for approximately 120 feet, then 

turned south to exit east of the lodge. The road formed 

a rounded square around the lodge, with pedestrian 

access to the cemetery proper. The west entrance is 

now the only entrance to the cemetery. The flagstaff has 

been relocated to the memorial section. The area where 

the flagstaff was located is encircled by the road. In 

December 2005, the Seven Confederate Knights Chapter 

United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Illinois 

Chapter Sons of Confederate Veterans, Military Order 

of the Stars and Bars, and the Order of the Southern 

Cross placed a small obelisk in the southwest corner of 

the Confederate section (fig. 42).33

Figure 42 . The Confederate Monument at Camp Butler, photograph 2009.

The older sections of the cemetery containing Civil 

War–era burials still retain their identities as separate 

sections. The original, irregular configuration of the 

rows of graves is intact and no contemporary burials 

have been added to this section.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

64

Figure 43 . Map of Greater Columbus, Ohio, showing the locations of Camp Chase and the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery. 

Based on 1872 Caldwell and Gould map of Franklin County, Ohio.
65

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CAMP CHASE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

Columbus, Ohio

The Civil War officially began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery in the 

harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter. President Abraham 

Lincoln immediately called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Ohio 

promptly asked for 13,000 men, the state’s quota. Thousands more men than needed to 

fill the quota rushed into Columbus, the state capitol, and it soon became apparent that 

Camp Jackson, hastily set up in a city park, was too small and too heavily wooded for the 

purpose of a training camp. A new camp was created in open farmland outside of town 

and named Camp Chase in honor of Lincoln’s secretary of the treasury, Ohioan Salmon 

P. Chase. The new 100-acre camp had ample space for drills and it easily accommodated 

the two large dining halls and five barracks that had been taken down and moved from 

Camp Jackson (fig. 43).34

Camp Chase remained a Union camp of instruction throughout the war but it assumed 

another function on June 29, 1861, when the first prisoner arrived. By November of 

that year, Camp Chase held nearly 300 prisoners, many of them civilians charged 

with participation in the rebellion. Then, on February 16, 1862, Fort Donelson, 

the Confederate stronghold on the Cumberland River near Clarksville, Tennessee, 

surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant captured 15,000 Confederate soldiers, 

men for whom the federal government had no place to house.35

Faced with an enormous influx of Confederate prisoners, the government improvised. 

The following training camps were converted into prison camps: Camp Chase in Ohio; 

Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana; Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois; and Camp 

Butler in Springfield, Illinois. The condemned and abandoned state prison in Alton, 

Illinois, was pressed into service as well. The 15,000 Confederate soldier-prisoners were 

divided among these places and several others.36

Camp Chase Prisoner-of-War Camp

A cartel for the exchange of prisoners established in September 1862 kept the prison 

population low until it broke down in summer 1863. That year, the population of 

the prison exceeded 2,000 men (fig. 44). When the cartel system failed, Camp Chase 

became a permanent prison facility. The facility built for Union soldiers in 1861 had 

fallen into disrepair, and camp commander Colonel William P. Richardson ordered that 

renovations be made. While construction was underway, prisoners were housed in wall 

tents provided by the army. After the renovations were completed, Camp Chase would 

hold 7,000 prisoners.37

Renovations began in June 1864 and were not finished until January 1865. The camp 

was divided into three prisons. Prison No. 1, reserved for Confederate officers, covered 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

66

Figure 44 . Camp Chase 

Confederate Prison, print ca. 1865. 

Library of Congress.

1.5-acres and contained two barracks, with room for more if necessary. Prison No. 

2, for civilians, had eighteen barracks each designed to hold 200 to 300 men. Prison 

No. 3 housed the Confederate enlisted men. As the largest of the three, Prison No. 3 

was enclosed by an 18-foot-high stockade on 7 acres of land. The new buildings were 

constructed by reusing the lumber from the old buildings. The work was carried out by 

prisoners who had taken the oath of allegiance.38

The Camp Cemetery

By the end of the war, 2,035 Confederate soldiers were recorded as being buried in the 

Camp Chase cemetery, which comprised less than an acre. The cemetery was outside 

of the stockade, south of the prison facility, on what is today Sullivant Avenue. Wooden 

headboards painted with the individual’s name, regiment, company, state, and date of 

burial were placed on each grave at the time of interment. At the close of the war, 126 

bodies in the Camp Chase cemetery had been removed by friends or family. Sometime 

after the war, sixty-eight Confederate soldiers buried in the City Cemetery in Columbus 

and thirty-one buried in Camp Dennison near Cincinnati were exhumed and reinterred 

at Camp Chase.39

In 1866, Ohio Governor Jacob D. Cox, a former Union general, ordered Chaplain D. 

W. Tolford to compile a list of the Confederate dead buried in the state of Ohio. Tolford 

created what he called the “Book of the Confederate Dead.” The book listed the names of 
67

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

the dead as well as plats that showed the locations of the graves. A second list was drawn 

up in 1867 by the Ohio Adjutant General; this report included a list of the dead at Camp 

Chase and Johnson’s Island. The State of Ohio made an effort to document the prisoners 

buried in the state.40

After the war, the federal government sold Camp Chase at a public auction. The 

cemetery property was leased from William J. Marshall and lumber from the dismantled 

camp buildings was used to construct a fence around it; the original wooden headboards 

were replaced with new substantial planks. While Rutherford B. Hayes was governor of 

Ohio, monies were appropriated to pay Henry Briggs, a farmer in the neighborhood, 

as caretaker of the cemetery. The appropriation ceased when Hayes left office. In 1879, 

against the wishes of the secretary of war, who had warned that the purchase of the land 

“will probably be a precedent affecting ground at other places in the United States,” the 

federal government bought the cemetery property for $500, and thereafter pretty much 

left it alone.41

The government’s decision to purchase the cemetery may have been influenced by a 

speech given by then-Congressman William McKinley at Ohio’s Oberlin College around 

1878. In speaking of Camp Chase he said, “On us, too, rests the responsibility of caring 

for their graves. If it was worthwhile to bury each man in a separate grave, or give him 

an honorable interment, is it not worthwhile to preserve the grave as a sacred trust, as it 

is, and as it is to us alone?”42

On May 15, 1886, at the request of Governor J. B. Foraker, Ohio Adjutant General H. 

A. Axline wrote to the quartermaster general of the United States reporting on the 

current conditions of the Confederate cemetery. “The grounds have been neglected for 

some years. The fences are all down; the head boards have been displaced.” The Ohio 

adjutant general also asked if there was money to restore the grounds. The answer was 

no. General Samuel B. Holabird replied that “there is no appropriation that can legally 

be applied to the care and maintenance of the cemetery.”43

Sometime after 1886 money was appropriated through Congress to erect a stone wall 

around the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery. Again, not much happened to the 

cemetery until 1893, when William Knauss arrived in Columbus. Knauss, a former 

Union soldier, had made a personal pledge to help his former foes when they were in 

need (fig. 45). Knauss found Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in a poor state of 

repair. He made arrangements to clean it up with Henry Briggs, the former caretaker, 

who lived just across Sullivant Avenue from the cemetery. A large boulder was placed 

in the cemetery containing the inscription: 2,260 Confederate soldiers of the war 

1861–1865 are buried in this enclosure. Flowers were planted and Knauss determined to 

find a more permanent solution.44

Figure 45 . William Knauss, 1839–

1912. From William H. Knauss, The 

Story of Camp Chase.

On May 30, 1895, Knauss organized the first Memorial Day service at Camp Chase 

Confederate Cemetery. It was a small affair attended by about fifty people. Knauss 

continued his efforts to improve the cemetery and to interest people in the annual 

ceremony (fig. 46). By 1899, approximately 2,000 people attended the Memorial Day 

service, which featured a choir, speeches, and solemn ceremony conducted by the local 

Grand Army of the Republic drum corps. After this event, Knauss formed the Camp 

Chase Memorial Association to “solicit funds for decorating graves of the Confederates 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

68

Figure 46 . Memorial Day ceremony 

1897. Note the absence of 

headboards in the cemetery. From 

William H. Knauss, The Story of Camp 

Chase.

buried there and to erect a shaft symbolic of the bravery and sacrifices made by these 

unknown dead.”45

It would be another three years until the Camp Chase Memorial Association achieved 

its goal. Finally, on June 7, 1902, a monument was unveiled: a 17-foot-tall granite 

arch topped with a zinc or “white bronze” figure of a Confederate soldier with the 

word “AMERICANS” inscribed on the keystone (fig. 47). The arch was erected 

over the boulder that was brought to the cemetery years earlier. Both were set back 

approximately 60 feet from the entrance gate.46 At the ceremony Knauss was praised: 

Colonel Knauss has toiled, struggled, and endured to make this 

monument a success. He has braved the criticism and censure of a few, 

but bitter, opponents of reconciliation. He has resisted the advice of those 

who have told him that it was not expedient and good policy for him to 

manage and superintend the decoration of these graves from year to year, 

and I repeat that he should be honored for what he has done.

47

The monument has been altered over the years. In 1902, zinc urns flanked the arch. The 

urns, which were probably damaged or stolen, were replaced sometime between 1940 

and 1946 with granite spheres (fig. 48).
69

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 47 . Left: Union veteran William 

Knauss helped raise funds to erect 

the monument, which was dedicated 

in 1902.

Figure 48 . Right: Camp Chase 

monument in 1940, with urns 

flanking the arch. National Archives 

and Records Administration.

The Commission

Upon the installation of the Confederate Memorial, Knauss had completed his work 

at Camp Chase. Four years later, the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead began the necessary research to mark the graves of the men buried in the Camp 

Chase Confederate Cemetery. Commissioner William Elliott and his clerk L. Frank Nye 

visited Columbus in 1906 to inspect the cemetery and locate the records of Confederate 

burials. Nye found the grave depressions clearly visible, which allowed him to determine 

the pattern of burial. Nye believed he could identify individual graves once a plat of the 

burials was found. Grass and underbrush were removed, and a surveyor hired to mark 

each grave with a stake.48

Nye located Chaplain D. W. Tolford’s book at the adjutant general’s office in Columbus. 

He also examined the Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the Governor of the State 

of Ohio for the Year 1867 from the same office. The second book included not only a 

list of the names of individuals interred at Camp Chase, but also the names of the men 

buried at Columbus’s City Cemetery, Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, and at Johnson’s 

Island, Sandusky.49

As with all of his cemetery visits, Nye tried to locate the individual graves, reconcile 

the number of burials with the records available, and match graves with names so that 

a headstone could be erected. Nye contacted former caretaker Henry Briggs, who by 

1908 had moved 6 miles southwest to Grove City, Ohio. Briggs remembered when the 

headboards had stood and was able to provide useful information. “He [Briggs] says 

the remains from the City Cemetery were taken to Camp Chase by government teams 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

70

along about 1865, and that they were all interred in the section just inside the eastern 

wall of the enclosure.” This section contains the remains of a number of officers and has 

numerous double graves.50

Nye found a plat of the graves in the Ohio adjutant general’s office showing grave 

numbers. Nye explained how he determined the number of graves and the names of the

men buried by comparing lists: 

The first thing done in connection with this cemetery was to copy the list 

furnished by the Q. M. G. [Quartermaster General], which was a list 

purporting to contain 2166 names, but an error in numbering reduces 

it 100, showing name, company, organization, and date of death for 

those prisoners who died between August 4, 1863, and August 9, 1865. 

No grave numbers were given, and as grave numbers are shown in the 

“Record of Deaths, Prisoners of War, Confederate, Office of Commissary 

General of Prisoners,” this list was compared with the above record 

and the grave numbers supplied, but it developed that there were a 

considerable number of names in this record opposite which there was no 

grave number, and as the time was limited no copy of Camp Chase was 

made from this record until having visited the cemetery. 

After copying the names from the Records of the Commissary General of 

Prisoners, together with its grave numbers, and taking the grave numbers 

from the Adjutant General of Ohio for those not supplied by the C. G. 

of P., the result is the most satisfactory, with some few duplicate grave 

numbers.

51

Nye also had to determine the number of men buried in each row based on the 

information he had concerning method of burial. The graves in different parts of the 

cemetery were supposedly spaced at different intervals. Those in the western section 

of the cemetery were said to be 3 feet 2 inches from center to center, while those in the 

eastern section were 1 foot 8.5 inches center to center. The rows were supposed to be 13 

feet 10 inches from headboard to headboard. There were forty rows or sections within 

the cemetery.52 Nye experimented and determined how the graves were placed within 

the cemetery. He wrote: 

The total enclosure only measures 456 feet, so that the forty sections 

could not possibly be 13 feet 10 inches headboard to headboard and 

be inside the enclosure, but after experimenting with several clearly 

defined sections an average was obtain, [sic] which carried across the 

entire section, located the sections approximately, after which they were 

definitely located, and are distant from each other as noted in the field 

book, making the forty sections indicated on the plat, together with an 

additional trench in which were reinterred the remains of the prisoners 

first interred in the Cemetery southeast of Columbus.

As to the average distance between graves, it was greater than 3 feet 2 

inches, but, as the ground showed very clearly, there was no trouble in 

locating them. As to those buried 1 foot and 8 1⁄2 inches, center to center, 

that average held out exactly, putting the required number inside the 

enclosure north to south. 
71

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The 21st row of headstones will strike the large stone containing the 

inscription about 1 foot east of the center and will be a serious obstacle 

to the approach to the monument. If this row of headstones is moved east 

so as to be on a line with the eastern face of the base of the arch it will 

obviate the trouble. Row 22 runs just 3 feet east of the eastern face of the 

arch, and row 20 runs one foot west of the western face of the arch. 

The first sections were not at right angles to the south wall, but along 

about the 12th and 13th sections the space between is wedge-shaped and 

from then on to the eastern end of the sections are at right angles. The 

western wall is about 83 degrees to the southern wall.53

Nye worked diligently to ensure that each individual was recognized with a headstone. 

Eventually, each grave was marked but the stones were not necessarily at the head of the 

corresponding burial. They were within the enclosure, which seemed to have been his 

goal, and by extension, the goal of the commission. The voices of the commissioners 

were strangely silent on what was done at Camp Chase. Nye, however, was very clear. 

As to the removals from the City Cemetery and for which additional 

space is needed. The total number to be provided for is 105. We set stakes 

for 58, which were placed in the last row next [to] the east wall. Besides 

these 58 there are 11, or the first row of Camp Dennison, in this row, 

making 69. The total number that can be put in a row is 74, using the 

distance between that was used, 1’- 81⁄2”, which is about as close as the 

headstones will permit. 

I enclose a copy of the plat taken from Knauss’ Story of Camp Chase 

from which you will see that the last, or 40 section, is not filled out, and 

if you should care to do it, this unoccupied space in the 40 section would 

be sufficient to set up all the headstones needed for the City Cemetery 

removals. It would be arranged by continuing the numbers on to the end 

of the 40 row, and then on to the Camp Dennison at the end of the extra 

row.54

A handwritten note scribbled on the above letter, probably by Commissioner Elliott, 

read, “All right do as you say.” The commission was well on its way to setting headstones 

in the cemetery. At most, the rows contained seventy-four burials. The burials from 

the City Cemetery were in the eastern portion of the cemetery and were numbered 

2064–2121. The Camp Dennison graves were in the same section, beginning with 2122 

and continuing through 2152. There were seven burials on the lists that had no numbers 

assigned to them. Nye assigned half numbers to these graves, writing, “The occasion for 

half numbers is that it seemed to me the only way to assign those without grave numbers

was to put them in this way” (fig. 49).55

Figure 49 . Remains from the City 

Cemetery in Columbus or Camp 

Dennison near Cincinnati were 

reinterred at the back, or east end, 

of the cemetery.

Given the number of graves, the size of the enclosure, and the presence of the boulder 

and monument, it was not possible to place the headstones exactly over each grave. In 

addition, it was unlikely that there would be paths around the cemetery. Commissioner 

Elliott did not believe that a lack of paths would be an issue. He explained his views in a 

letter to W. H. Knauss: 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

72

First about the paths: as the rows of graves run in many cases right up to 

the wall, and as to the paths through the cemetery, it seems that it would 

be better, perhaps, to have none, but to have the whole place in grass, just 

as is the Confederate section at Elmira, [NY] which is a beautiful place.

56

The commission also acted on concerns expressed in Columbus about the height 

of the stone wall enclosing the cemetery, which was only about 4 feet high. Colonel 

Knauss reported that boys could and did jump over the wall. He suggested a number of 

solutions. Finally, a 2-foot iron fence was placed on top of the stone wall, precluding easy 

access. In 1909, the fence, gate, and new gate posts were installed by the William Bayley 

Company of Springfield, Ohio (fig. 50).57

Figure 50 . The U.S. government 

paid for the stone wall in the 1880s; 

the fence was added in 1907.

The progress of work at Camp Chase was probably slowed by the death of Commissioner 

Elliott in 1907. The headstones began arriving in spring 1908. Delays of one sort or 

another kept the fence and gate from being completed until May 1910.58

An inspection of the cemetery in 1911 found that 

the grass was in poor condition. It also noted that a 

“speaker’s stand” or rostrum had been erected. It did not 

say where the rostrum was located or of what material 

it was made. By 1911 the Robert E. Lee Chapter of the 

United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) had taken 

charge of the annual Decoration Day ceremony, which 

was held on the Saturday closest to Jefferson Davis’s 

birthday (June 3). The UDC continued to oversee the 

ceremony until 1994. In 1995, the Hilltop Historical 

Society assumed management of the ceremony, a role 

that continues to this day.59

The contractor who repaired the grounds recommended 

a permanent caretaker. The UDC wanted irrigation 

water in the cemetery to help maintain the grass. They 

also wanted the government to pay for a caretaker. 

Commissioner James Berry explained that Camp Chase 

was not a national cemetery and thus did not merit a 

government-paid caretaker. He also did not believe that 

Congress intended the commission’s funding to be spent 

on waterlines.60

It is not clear if Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery was open to the public following the 

work undertaken by the commission. It seems unlikely. On L. Frank Nye’s 1912 visit, he 

had to climb the fence because the cemetery gate was locked. That same year, the UDC 

complained that if they did not keep the gate locked, cows would otherwise wander in to 

graze. 

A 1934 drawing of the cemetery shows a rostrum built of concrete block simulating 

stone, in the same position as the current one, against the wall on axis with the 

monument and entrance. It also depicts a small tool shed along the wall between rows 

twenty-three and twenty-four. It does not show the stone tool shed now located at the 

east end of the cemetery. The drawing depicts three hydrants and a flagpole near the 
73

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

southern wall, and the headstones running almost uninterrupted across the cemetery, 

north to south, with only a tree here or there (fig. 51).61

By the 1930s, Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery was again in disrepair. In 1934, 

the Civil Works Administration, an early New Deal agency, put new gutters on the 

rostrum. In 1936, a local newspaper reported that the cemetery had fallen into “a state of 

dilapidation.” As part of a WPA project, the rostrum was reroofed and the enclosure wall 

repaired, four water hydrants installed, grass planted, and the headstones straightened 

and cleaned.62

The cemetery was open to the public on Memorial Day and again on June 5, 1936. The 

caretaker, J. J. Roencker, gave tours on Memorial Day and worked with the UDC and 

the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post to organize the June 5 

Confederate Memorial Day Ceremony. The elaborate program included music, a speech, 

military salute, and playing of “Taps.”63

A 1948 plan of Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery shows the current stone tool shed. 

Figure 51 . Layout plan of Camp 

Chase Confederate Cemetery, 1934, 

with a tool shed and rostrum on 

the north wall. National Cemetery 

Administration.

The tool shed shown on the 1934 map is gone. The 1948 plan clearly highlights the 

difference between the more widely spaced graves in the western section and the more 

narrowly spaced graves in the eastern section of the cemetery described by L. Frank Nye 

in 1906. A newspaper item written in the 1940s confirms that the cemetery was only 

open to the public two days a year, though access to the cemetery could be arranged 

through the caretaker or the quartermaster at nearby Fort Hayes (fig. 52).64

The cemetery was first opened to the public year round starting in the 1980s. In 1990, 

a small block with a cannon ball fired at the Battle of Vicksburg, was placed against the 

inside wall east of the entrance. The donation was as gift of Lieutenant Colonel Herbert 

L. Snapp, U.S. Army, retired. Snapp worked with the UDC and the Dayton National 

Cemetery to secure permission to place this object in the cemetery (fig. 53).65
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

74

Figure 52 . Layout plan of Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, 1948, with a new tool shed on the east wall. National Cemetery Administration.

Figure 53 . Cannonball mounted 

inside the cemetery entrance.

Figure 54 . Historically there have been irregular gaps among headstones, shown here just after being 

cleaned and raised as part of a turf renovation project.
75

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The cemetery has changed little from the 1934 map. Some headstones appear to have 

been moved or pushed closer together to enable a lawn mower to maneuver from 

row to row, including one substantial large gap in the eastern section of the cemetery 

(fig. 56). There are large gaps within rows forty, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three, and 

twenty-four. Grave numbers are out of sequence, but it appears that the numbers have 

always been that way. In some cases, headstones have been moved; in others, the spacing 

between the stones has been compressed (fig. 54). In spite of these adjustments, the 

cemetery retains much of its original appearance and feel. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

76

Figure 55 . Map of Greater Chicago showing the locations of Camp Douglas, City Cemetery (now Lincoln Park), and Oak Woods 

Cemetery. Based on a 1903 railroad terminal map.
77

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CONFEDERATE MOUND OAK WOODS CEMETERY

Chicago, Illinois

Camp Douglas

Camp Douglas began as a Union recruitment and instruction camp but the U.S. Army 

also used the compound as a camp for Union soldiers who were awaiting exchange. 

Located on the south side of Chicago, between present-day 21st and 33rd Streets and 

from Martin Luther King Drive on the west to Cottage Grove on the east; the camp 

was near the old University of Chicago, on part of the estate of Stephen A. Douglas, for 

whom the camp was named. After the fall of Fort Donelson in the winter of 1862, it was 

converted into a camp for Confederate prisoners of war (fig. 55). Wooden barracks were 

surrounded by a high wooden wall with guard towers. Hospital facilities and a ‘pest 

house’ were occupied by patients with communicable diseases like smallpox. During the 

Civil War, more than 26,000 Confederate prisoners passed through Camp Douglas and 

more than 4,000 died there (fig. 56).66

As was the case with many of the Union prisoner-of-war camps, 60-acre Camp Douglas 

evolved over the life of the facility. The army fenced off smaller areas for specific uses. 

Garrison square enclosed 20 acres and housed the garrison and camp headquarters. 

Buildings lined all four sides of the square, leaving an open parade ground in the 

middle. Two other squares of 10 acres each made up the rest of the enclosed camp 

compound. Hospital square housed the medical facilities, and prison square the camp 

prison. In early 1862, Union authorities housed Confederate prisoners in the prison 

square. There were sixty-four barracks each designed to hold ninety-five men each, but 

they often housed more than 180 (fig. 57).67

By 1864, Camp Douglas’s facilities had been repurposed as a prisoner-of-war camp. The 

original log stockade was improved in 1863 using oak planks to encompass three miles 

of 14-foot-high board fence surrounding the compounds. Streets 50 feet wide separated 

the barracks. Each barrack was fitted with three-tiered bunks and a kitchen. A single 

barracks could house 125 to 150 men. The camp had quartermaster, commissary, and 

ordnance warehouses. There were three hospitals: a general hospital, smallpox hospital, 

and post hospital—each of which had four wings. Also located within the stockade were 

two guardhouses, a dispensary, wash house, bakery, court-martial hall, and post church. 

Prisoner labor was employed to build many of the camps’ structures.68

Life for the Confederate prisoners was dismal. Overcrowding, lack of proper 

sanitation facilities, and inadequate heating for the barracks led to a mortality rate of 

approximately one death for every eight prisoners.69

The complex history of the Confederate dead now interred in Oak Woods Cemetery in 

Chicago is one of indifference and corruption. Estimates of the number of dead vary 

from 4,039, the figure listed on the memorial, up to 7,500. Lost records, lost bodies, the 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

78

1871 Chicago fire, contractor corruption, and incompetence contributed to 

the discrepancies. The men who died at Camp Douglas were buried at one 

of two places: City Cemetery, now Lincoln Park, and one of two smallpox 

cemeteries near the camp. In November 1865, the quartermaster at Chicago 

estimated that approximately 5,000 Confederate prisoners were buried in 

the city, and that those remains would have to be moved.70

Figure 56 . Prisoners at Camp 

Douglas, ca. 1864. Some are 

wearing blankets and what 

appear to be Union uniforms or 

top coats.. From Francis Trevelyan 

Miller, Photographic History of the 

Civil War, Volume 7.

Camp Douglas Cemeteries

From Chicago, Colonel J. J. Dana wrote to Quartermaster General 

Montgomery C. Meigs in October 1865, about the cemeteries associated 

with Camp Douglas. Camp Douglas Chaplain E. B. Tuttle had voiced his 

concern that there was no fence around the smallpox hospital cemetery or 

the Confederate cemetery near the corner of Colfax and Crittenden avenues. 

Dana estimated that approximately 300 graves were in the smallpox hospital 

cemetery, Union soldiers who had been guards at the hospital, and the 

remainder as Confederate prisoners. Dana also estimated that 500 prisoners were buried 

in the Confederate cemetery. 

When Dana looked into the matter it became apparent that fences were not the only 

issue. The land on which the smallpox hospital and cemetery were located had been 

leased from the University of Chicago, with the proviso that both would be removed 

when the war ended. Owners of the property at Colfax and Crittenden avenues, 

containing the Confederate cemetery, were adamantly opposed to ring fencing the 

cemetery. In fact, they wanted the cemetery to be moved in order for development plans 

to proceed; they also implied that the city would not support the idea of retaining the 

cemetery in city limits. After some consideration, Colonel Dana assigned Captain L. H. 

Peirce of the Quartermaster Department in Chicago to investigate further.71

Figure 57 . Illustration of Camp Douglas, ca. 1863, probably prior to major camp improvements in 1864. The Soldier in Our Civil War, 1896.
79

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Within two weeks Captain Peirce communicated to Quartermaster Meigs that, “In the 

vicinity of Camp Douglas there are nearly 1,000 Confederate soldiers buried. And in the 

City Cemetery situated within the city limits there are buried some 4,000 Confederate 

soldiers. Those near Camp Douglas should be moved.” Peirce recommended that a lot 

in Oak Woods Cemetery be purchased because, at $200 per acre, it was cheaper than 

land in the cemeteries north of the city. Peirce suggested that approximately one acre of 

land for every 300 men would be needed. Colonel Dana agreed with Captain Peirce and 

recommended that 5 acres be purchased at Oak Woods Cemetery.72

Toward the end of 1865, the remains of 655 Confederates were removed from both the 

smallpox cemetery and the cemetery at Colfax and Crittenden avenues and reinterred at 

Oak Woods. At least twelve, and probably twenty-four, Union dead were moved to Oak 

Woods as well. According to George Levy’s To Die In Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at 

Camp Douglas 1862–65, the only in-depth study of Camp Douglas prison undertaken 

to date, twenty-three Union soldiers and one sailor were buried in the smallpox hospital 

and now probably rest at the Confederate Mound site. Levy bases his figures on Camp 

Douglas hospital records that list twenty-four deaths of Union military personnel 

between January 1864 and January 1865.73

Most Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Douglas were, however, interred in the 

City Cemetery near Lake Michigan; today it is known as Lincoln Park. Prisoners were 

buried on low swampy ground adjacent to a slough that emptied into Lake Michigan 

and was vulnerable to flooding. In order to avoid these problems, the City of Chicago 

began to close the cemetery in 1866 and informed the federal government that all the 

bodies the government had interred there would have to be moved.74

In response, the government bought a 2-acre lot in Oak Woods Cemetery in the 

Woodlawn neighborhood. A spur line of the Illinois Central Railroad placed the 

cemetery within easy reach of all residents and visitors to the city.75 The government 

moved the remains of the Confederate prisoners from the City Cemetery to Oak Woods 

Cemetery in 1867, but the precise number of bodies removed is uncertain. Government 

procedure at that time was to request proposals from contractors to disinter the remains, 

place them in new coffins, and transport them to the cemetery. Oak Woods personnel 

reinterred the remains in the government lot and copied names and grave numbers 

from the City Cemetery register into the Oak Woods Cemetery register. The contractor 

who submitted the lowest bid, $1.98 per body, was awarded the job. According to 

Department of the Army records, 3,384 bodies were moved from the City Cemetery to 

Oak Woods.76

Captain Peirce estimated in his 1865 letter that there were 5,000 Confederates buried 

in Chicago. In contrast, Marcus Wright, a former Confederate officer and an agent 

in the Department of War for the collection of Confederate records, determined that 

6,229 Confederate prisoners had been interred in Chicago. Wright based his numbers 

on an estimated 1,500 missing names supposedly documented in registers that burned 

in 1871. Department of War records showed that 655 individuals were moved to Oak 

Woods in 1865 and 3,384 in 1867, for a total of 4,039. Eventually the Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead placed 4,243 names on the bronze plaques on the 

Confederate monument in Oak Woods.77
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80

After moving the remains to Oak Woods, the U.S. government did very little else. The 

Oak Woods Cemetery Association cut the weeds at “Confederate Mound,” as the lot 

became known, twice per year. No markers or memorial were placed on the lot.78

Figure 58 . John C. Underwood, 

ca. 1895. From John C. Underwood, 

Report of the Proceedings Incidental 

to the Erection and Dedication of the 

Confederate Monument.

John C. Underwood and the Confederate 

Monument

In 1887, the Ex-Confederate Association of Chicago received permission from the 

quartermaster to erect a memorial in the Oak Woods Cemetery government lot. The 

Ex-Confederates Association monument was not to be a simple shaft over a large 

burial site, but rather was to be an oversized and elaborate obelisk. In 1892, John 

C. Underwood, who had been put in charge of fundraising for the memorial by the 

Chicago United Confederate Veterans (UCV) Camp No. 8, aggressively pushed ahead.79

Underwood, a former Confederate engineer, was born in Washington, D.C., and 

grew up in Kentucky (fig. 58). After the war he worked in Kentucky as a civil engineer 

and entered politics. During the 1870s he was elected mayor of Bowling Green then 

lieutenant governor of Kentucky. He moved to Chicago in 1890, where he joined the 

Ex-Confederate Association and was later appointed commander of the Provisional 

Department of the North, UCV. Underwood’s position in the UCV made it possible for 

him to solicit funds nationally.80

Figure 59 . The monument in 1895 with a gun and 

cannonball in the background. From Underwood, 

Dedication of the Confederate Monument.

Underwood started with $1,600 raised from a lecture given by former 

Confederate General John B. Gordon; his goal was to raise $10,000. 

Underwood designed the monument and submitted it to the U.S. 

Quartermaster’s office. As soon as it was approved, he requested bids 

from contractors. The Southern Granite Company of Georgia won the 

contract to build it based on the specifications of Underwood’s design. 

Underwood also requested and received from the Department of 

War four 3-inch ordnance rifles and enough projectiles to create four 

pyramidal stacks to be placed around the monument. A pyramidal 

stack of 12-pounder cannonballs was installed at the two principal 

entrances to the lot.81

There is no known record of the time taken to construct the 

monument. Underwood began fundraising in 1892 and was granted 

permission to erect the monument in May 1893. Congress approved 

in January 1895 the four obsolete artillery pieces and the projectiles to 

be used in the project. The guns and ordnance arrived from the Rock 

Island Arsenal, along with plans for constructing the stone bases for 

the stacks of projectiles.82 Underwood published a 285-page souvenir 

book on the monument project but it does not name the sculptor, nor 

the person or persons responsible for the bronze plaques.

The monument was dedicated on May 30, 1895. The Confederate 

Veteran was effusive in its praise of Underwood’s achievement, 

proclaiming that he “deserves recognition and expressions of gratitude 
81

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

from every Confederate organization in existence.”83 While the praise might seem 

extravagant, in fact it was not. The unveiling was a lavish spectacle. 

The monument, a granite column more than 30 feet high, was topped with an 8-foot 

bronze of a Confederate soldier (fig. 59). Each of the three faces of the column was 

characterized by a bronze relief depicting a scene in a soldier’s life. The fourth face was 

inscribed: Erected to the Memory of the Six Thousand Soldiers Here Buried, Who Died in 

Camp Douglas Prison, 1862–5. The four cannon stood several yards from each corner 

of the monument, each accompanied by a pyramid of shells. Underwood even obtained 

permission to erect a flagpole “from which to fly a United States flag” (fig. 60).84

Figure 60 . Oak Woods 

Confederate Mound flagstaff for 

the U.S. flag.

The nearly three-hour dedication ceremony began with a parade of fifteen carriages, 

a platoon of city police, and the Chicago City Troops, a private military organization. 

While the procession was en route to the 12th Street Depot, a massive liberty bell rang 

thirteen times, followed by a forty-four-gun salute fired by Russell’s Artillery Battery D 

of the Illinois National Guard (fig. 61). At the depot, the police and City Troop saluted 

the former Confederates as they boarded the train for 60th Street. Upon arriving at the 

60th Street Depot, various dignitaries boarded carriages. As these carriages traveled 

toward Oak Woods, the procession was joined by hundreds of Confederate veterans as 

well as the Black Hussars, a modern cavalry unit of the Illinois National Guard.85

Figure 61 . Dedication procession at the Leland Hotel on Michigan Avenue where the bell was rung on May 30, 1895. From Underwood, 

Dedication of the Confederate Monument.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

82

Figure 62 . Left: A huge crowd gathered at Oak Woods Cemetery for the 

monument dedication. Library of Congress.

Figure 63 . Right: A poignant act in the dedication ceremony was 

the consecration of the guns, when four cannons were spiked. From 

Underwood, Dedication of the Confederate Monument.

A huge crowd that Underwood estimated at 100,000 was on hand to witness the 

ceremony at the cemetery (fig. 62). Reverend H. W. Bolton was honorary chairman and 

master of ceremonies. Bolton, a Methodist minister, had served as commander of a 

Grand Army of the Republic Post and was a former Union soldier. Underwood kicked 

off the proceedings with a speech, followed by an address by Bolton, and a prayer by 

the Reverend Joseph Desha Pickett, a former Confederate chaplain. Wade Hampton, 

formerly a Confederate general, presented the main address that was followed by a poem 

and the final address by the Right Reverend Samuel Fallows.86

The guns were consecrated after Fallows’ speech (fig. 63). During the ceremony, the 

weapons of war were “spiked.”87 As this occurred, a young woman came forward and 

made a brief statement:88

Gen. Underwood: “Consecrate, the Guns!”

At Cannon No. 1 – Col. [R. H.] Stewart, standing near the breech of the 

cannon said: “This gun having fired its last shot on the field of battle, will 

now be silenced forever. Spike, the Guns!”

Thereupon the cannon was spiked, Lieut.-Col. [R. Lee] France placing 

the spike, and Comrade [Theodore] Noel driving it home.

After this Col. Stewart assisted Miss Lucy Lee Hill on a pedestal, and the 

lady said; 

“This cannon, with its glorious record on the field of battle, having been 

silenced forever, I do consecrate to the memory of the valorous soldiery 

we now monument, as a military decoration for their bravery and honor 

unto death.”89
83

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

This ceremony was repeated at each gun with the only variation being the individuals 

involved and the last line that the young women spoke. 

At Gun 2: 

“This cannon, with its glorious record on the field of battle, having been 

silenced forever, I do consecrate to the memory of the southern soldiers 

here buried, as a monument to their fortitude and endurance of the 

hardships of captive life.”

At Gun 3: 

“This cannon, with its glorious record on the field of battle, having been 

silenced forever, I do consecrate to the memory of the Confederates, whose 

soldierly remains lie beneath this sacred sod, in monumental token of 

their firmness and manhood on the field of battle and in prison.”

At Gun 4: 

“This cannon, with its glorious record on the field of battle, having been 

silenced forever, I do consecrate to the memory of those true men who 

gave their lives to the cause, and who, after three interments, are here 

sleeping, far from their loved southland.”90

After the four guns were consecrated, a regiment of the Illinois National Guard fired 

three volleys. Music and hymns accompanied each part of the ceremony, which was 

replete with military honors. A bugler played “Blare” and “Taps,” and two wreaths were 

then laid at the foot of the monument. The ceremony ended with a benediction. That 

evening, a reception was held at the National Guard armory at 16th Street and Michigan 

Avenue, which also featured a promenade concert. As a souvenir, John Underwood had 

printed nearly 300 grandly illustrated hardbound volumes containing the entire text 

of the speeches and poems, as well as the menus of banquets held in Chicago and, on 

June 1, 1895, in Cincinnati, where the southern dignitaries were treated to a sumptuous 

banquet by the chamber of commerce. All in all, it was a remarkable event.91

A small cast-iron tablet depicting a brief history of the monument and the artillery was 

placed just east of the monument. Underwood does not mention this item, nor can it 

be seen in the photograph of the monument printed in the souvenir program. However, 

given the wording, it is likely the tablet was placed by Underwood’s group (fig. 64).

Figure 64 . A cast-iron plaque 

provides a brief history of the 

monument and site, located in 

cemetery Division 1, Section K.

After the dedication, neither the Ex-Confederate Association nor the federal 

government allocated funds to maintain the site. Within four years, in 1899, Confederate

Mound was in poor condition. During this period, the marshy land surrounding it 

had been raised, thus leaving it on a “low and depressed piece of ground.” The adopted 

solution was to build up the center of Confederate Mound—remove the trees, take 

the monument down, add 3 feet of fill, install plumbing and drainage, reerect the 

monument, and replant trees and grass. The proposed project was expected to take 

several years to complete. On May 20, 1902, Congress appropriated the funding 

necessary to complete the upgrades at Confederate Mound; the same bill also stipulated 

an annual appropriation, not to exceed $250, for care and maintenance of the lot. The 

funding for maintenance was the largest extent of the government’s involvement at Oak 

Woods Cemetery until the commission was formed in 1906.92
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

84

The Commission

Several years later when the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead 

was established, Confederate Mound was not specifically excluded from the legislation. 

However, Representative James R. Mann of Illinois, who was instrumental in getting 

the legislation passed for the improvement and maintenance of Confederate Mound, 

suspected that there was an understanding that no action would be taken at the site. 

Mann worried that the site would be desecrated by putting “marks or an additional 

monument on Confederate Mound.” On December 24, 1907, he wrote to Secretary of 

War William H. Taft, stating succinctly that, “It would in my judgment, be a desecration 

of one of the most beautiful burial spots in the country. The monument and the grounds, 

now constitute in the Confederate Mound, Oakwood Cemetery, a spot which is the pride 

of all exconfederates and other people both from the south and the north who view it.”93

Mann’s letter had been prompted by Commissioner William Elliott and L. Frank Nye’s 

trip to Chicago in October 1907. The two men had gone to Chicago to determine 

how best to mark the graves of the Confederate dead at Oak Woods Cemetery. Nye 

wrote several pages of meeting notes and included pages from the Cook County 

Recorder’s Office Deed Book. His detailed notes included a frank discussion with Oak 

Woods trustees regarding installation of headstones on Confederate Mound. The 1906 

enabling legislation specified that individual headstones would be used to mark the 

graves of Confederate dead. In Chicago—as in Alton, Finn’s Point, Point Lookout, and 

Indianapolis—it was becoming apparent that the implementation of the legislation, 

as written, was not practical or possible at all the sites where Confederate prisoners 

of war were interred. In his notes, Nye went so far as to list the Oak Woods trustees, 

and to indicate next to George Forrester’s name, that he was the only trustee to favor 

headstones. However, he also recorded that, upon his suggestion to place names on 

metal tablets, the trustees “united very strongly.”94

Later correspondence between the Oak Woods Cemetery Association and Elliott, 

and his successor Commissioner William C. Oates, ended, however, in an impasse. 

The association rejected Elliott’s suggestion to place flush markers at the site, instead 

preferring that two small plaques be placed on the mound site to inform visitors about 

two volumes in the cemetery office containing the names of the interred Confederate 

soldiers. The commissioners, given their charge to mark the graves, sought a different 

solution.95

Although correspondence continued into 1908-1909, a change in the enabling legislation 

rendered the efforts moot. In February 1908, a joint resolution of congress extended 

the original act for marking the Confederate graves for another two years. However, the 

resolution specifically excluded Confederate Mound from the provisions of the act. It 

is very likely that Elliott’s 1907 Chicago visit led directly to the change. Given the tone 

of Congressman James Mann’s December 1907 letter, it is likely he had inserted the 

exclusion.96

In January 1910, the Van Amringe Granite Company of Boston, Massachusetts, 

proposed a solution that was acceptable to all of the concerned parties. The company 

had abundant experience; it had constructed the single monuments at Finn’s Point, 

Point Lookout, Alton, and Greenlawn Cemetery in Indianapolis, and had built large 

monuments and memorials at various places across the country. W. M. Van Amringe 
85

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

met with the president of Oak Woods Cemetery Association, Fred Farwell, and 

discussed raising the monument, building a new base, and placing bronze plaques with 

the names on that base. Van Amringe addressed any concerns that Farwell voiced, and 

he left the meeting with the understanding that if the UCV and the United Daughters 

of the Confederacy (UDC) had no objections, the project could move ahead. Not only 

that, Farwell believed that he could convince Representative Mann to support the 

extension of the commission, which was then before Congress.97

The commission was extended for another two years in February 1910. In March of 

that year the UCV, the Board of Trustees, and the supervisor of Oak Woods Cemetery 

withdrew their objections to the government altering the monument at Confederate 

Mound. As a result, Representative Mann amended the joint resolution that extended 

the commission; and on June 11, 1910, Confederate Mound came under the umbrella 

of the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, thereby allowing the 

Chicago project to get underway.98

The compromise reached on changes to the monument had been based on Van 

Amringe’s design; that compromise helped enable the passage of legislation placing 

the monument under the scope of the commission. Given these extenuating 

circumstances, it was believed that Van Amringe could be contracted to proceed with 

the alterations to Confederate Mound and the monument. Eventually, an opinion 

was sought from the adjutant general, who ruled that work on the monument had 

to be advertised for competitive bids. A circular was issued and bids were taken. The 

Van Amringe Granite Company was awarded the contract in 1910 for alterations and 

additions to the Confederate Mound Monument.99

The Van Amringe plan required them to raise the monument while a steel-reinforced 

poured-concrete foundation was installed. The foundation was faced with polished 

granite to which the bronze plaques bearing the names of the prisoners buried in the 

cemetery would be affixed. Van Amringe assured the cemetery, UDC, and UCV that 

no changes would be made to the original monument. The contract was let on October 

5, 1910, and the final payment was authorized by the government in July 1911 (figs. 

65-66).100

Figure 65 . Left: Section and 

elevation drawing of proposed 

changes to the monument by Van 

Amringe Granite Company, 1910. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Figure 66 . Right: Plan view of 

granite mound and concrete 

monument foundation, changes 

proposed by Van Amringe Granite 

Company, 1910. National Archives 

and Records Administration.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

86

Figure 67 . As the Commission 

could not identify all 6,000 soldiers 

reputedly buried in Oak Woods 

Cemetery, the monument’s 

bronze plaques list only 4,275 

names; this number is cited on the 

rededication plaque.

The extent of the physical components of the monument 

project was dwarfed by the efforts required to compile 

an accurate list of names and compose the dedication 

language. An inscription on the original monument states 

that 6,000 soldiers were buried in Chicago (fig. 67). All 

three commissioners tried to account for the names of 

6,000 Confederate soldiers, but they were unable to do so. 

Underwood insisted there was an additional list of 1,500 

names, “[O]wing to the destruction of the registers at the time 

of the great fire in 1871, cannot be traced further, except in 

numbers.” Underwood’s list was never found. Oates worked 

with former Confederates in Chicago but they failed to find 

the list. Commissioner Berry also tried to locate the list, going 

so far as to contact former Union Quartermaster Luther H. 

Peirce, again to no avail. In the end, the commission came up 

with the 4,275 names that are engraved on the plaques.101

The last piece of business was the recognition plaque. The wrangling over the proposed 

wording dragged on for two months and involved the secretary of war, Commissioner 

Berry, John Underwood, and the entire board of trustees of the Confederate monument. 

However, by the end of March 1911, the inscription was finally approved by all and sent 

to the manufacturer (fig. 68). Berry’s language was to the point:

Figure 68 . The 1911 recognition 

plaque on the Confederate 

Mound Monument, Oak Woods 

Cemetery, 2009.

1911 / These Tablets / Were Placed Upon The 

Monument By / The United States / Giving the 

Names, Company And Regiment Of / 4275 

Confederate Soldiers And Sailors, As Shown 

/ By The Official Records, Who Died In The 

Prison / At Camp Douglas, Illinois, And 

Whose Bodies Are / Buried In This Cemetery

Later that year, at a cost of just more than $22,000, the changes 

to the Confederate Mound Monument were fulfilled.102

Five of the six stacks of shells placed at Confederate Mound 

in 1895 have since disappeared (fig. 69). In 2009, a few of the 

3-inch ordnance shells were displayed in a case in the Oak 

Woods Cemetery office. When questioned, cemetery staff 

indicated that vandalism, coupled with rust, had destroyed 

the stacks. There is no indication of what became of the other 

ordnance. In 1953, on the 100th anniversary of Oak Woods 

Cemetery, Louisiana Governor Robert Kennon presented 

a magnolia tree to be planted at Confederate Mound, and 

Mississippi Governor Hugh White supplied a tree in soil from 

the Vicksburg battlefield.103

NCA records indicate that in 1991, the Commission on 

Chicago Landmarks sought city landmark status for the 

Confederate Mound Monument, but such designation was 
87

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

never achieved. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks could provide no information 

on why the monument was not listed.104

Figure 69 . The only surviving 

cannonball pyramid at 

Confederate Mound.

The lot at Oak Woods Cemetery remains essentially as it was when the commission 

finished its work (fig. 70). When compared to an 1895 photograph, it appears that 

headstones for the twelve unknown Union soldiers have been moved closer to the north 

side of the monument. A single Confederate headstone for James W. Leak, Co. C, 1st 

Alabama Infantry, has been placed near the monument. A Jos. W. Leak of the same 

company and regiment is listed on the monument. According to L. Frank Nye’s notes, 

a headstone for James W. Leak was on the property in 1907. The extant headstone is a 

replacement.

Just off the Confederate Mound property, near the road, is a larger stone inscribed

“CENOTAPH.” This memorial object to Southerners who opposed secession and 

remained loyal to the Union was probably erected about the time of the original 

monument (fig. 71).105

Figure 70 . Above: A tinted photograph, 1895, shows the Union 

headstones between two stacks of cannonballs and close to 

the monument. From Underwood, Dedication of the Confederate 

Monument.

Figure 71 . The Cenotaph Monument, donated by prominent 

Chicagoan Thomas D. Lowther ca. 1890s, opposite Confederate 

Mound in Oak Woods Cemetery.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

88

Figure 72 . Johnson’s Island and Sandusky Bay, Ohio. Based on U.S. Engineers Chart of a Portion of Sandusky Bay, 1887.
89

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CONFEDERATE STOCKADE CEMETERY JOHNSON’S ISLAND

Sandusky, Ohio

Colonel William Hoffman chose Johnson’s Island as the site for a Confederate prisonerof-war camp after visiting several islands in Lake Erie. Hoffman settled on Johnson’s 

Island because of its proximity to Sandusky, Ohio. Its location, just less than 3 miles 

from the city and a mile from the northern shore of Sandusky Bay was convenient. It 

allowed the delivery of supplies and offered protection of the facility from uprisings to 

have a large civilian population nearby that could be alerted in case of prisoner revolt; 

escaped prisoners could also be easily recaptured (fig. 72).106

Based on Hoffman’s recommendation, on November 15, 1861, a lease for half of 

Johnson’s Island was signed and construction of the prison facilities began. Johnson’s 

Island is just more than a mile long and approximately 0.5-mile across; it had good 

railroad connections via Sandusky and access to abundant lumber and labor. Equally 

attractive was that half of the island could be rented for $500 annually, a lease that 

granted the U.S. government control of the entire island. The only way to reach the 

island was by boat. A wharf on the southeastern side, near what would become the 

cemetery, allowed boats to dock.107

Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Camp

A cleared area of about 15 acres on the southeast shore of the island was chosen for 

the prison facility. When completed, the prison included a 14-foot-tall board stockade, 

which enclosed thirteen 2-story barracks, one of which served as a hospital. Each 

barracks had two external kitchens. Outside of the prison wall were forty structures 

built for the prison staff comprised of barracks, officers’ quarters, band room, limekiln, 

express office, post headquarters, stable, storehouses, barn, powder magazine, laundress 

quarters, and sutler’s store. A redoubt with artillery surrounded the prison facility to 

ensure that no riot or insurrection occur (figs. 73-74).108

The army appointed former Sandusky mayor, William S. Pierson, as commandant 

with the rank of major. The first prisoners arrived on Johnson’s Island in April 1862. 

Originally, the facility accepted all types of prisoners: officers, enlisted men, and 

political. However, in June 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered that all 

Confederate officers be confined there. From that point on, Johnson’s Island became 

the official holding facility for Confederate officers, though not exclusively—officers 

continued to be held at other facilities.109

The exact number of prisoners held on Johnson’s Island over the course of the war is not 

known, but it is estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 men. The prison population 

at Johnson’s Island, like all the Union prison facilities, varied from month to month. In 

May 1863, while the exchange cartel was in effect, there were only seventy-three men, 
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90

Figure 73 . Map of Johnson’s Island Confederate Prison, ca. 1863. National Archives and Records Administration.

the lowest monthly number recorded there. However, when the cartel failed later that 

year, a record was reached of more than 3,000 men in the facility. 

All in all, conditions at Johnson’s Island were better than at many Union prisons. Of the 

12,000 or so individuals who had been confined here, only 239 died. The first recorded 

death was Pvt. David T. J. Wood, 20th Tennessee Infantry, who succumbed on May 6, 

1862. The last was Lt. William Michael, 59th Virginia Infantry, who died in June 1865. 

All of the prisoners who died at Johnson’s Island were buried in a cemetery on the island 

about 0.5 mile from the prison.110
91

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 74 . Interior view of the fort overlooking the Johnson’s Island prisoner-of-war camp. From Francis Trevelyan Miller Photographic History of 

the Civil War, Volume 7.

Prison Cemetery

Digging graves in the island’s soft loam soil was not difficult. However, between 4 feet 

and 5 feet down was solid bedrock. It was officially reported that the graves were “dug 

as deep as the stone will admit; not as deep as desirable under the circumstances, but 

sufficient for all sanitary reasons.” The graves were marked with wooden headboards. 

Sometime in 1863, the army erected a wooden fence around the cemetery. Either 

during the war or sometime after, friends or relatives removed more than twenty of the 

bodies.111

In the years after the Civil War few physical changes occurred at the prison cemetery. 

In 1878, Congress appropriated funds for the care and protection of the Confederate 

cemetery at Johnson’s Island, but the funds came with the stipulation that no money 

was to be spent until the government had title to the land. The owner, L. B. Johnson, 

refused to donate the land without conditions, which turned out to be unacceptable. The 

appropriated funds could not be used for acquisitions. Consequently, little was done at 

the cemetery.112

On Decoration Day 1883, members and guests of the local Grand Army of the Republic 

(GAR) chapter, McMeens Post, took the steamboat Hayes to Johnson’s Island to decorate 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

92

the graves of the Confederate prisoners.113 The Sandusky Register reported, “The weather 

yesterday [May 30, 1883] was very unfavorable for the carrying out of the program 

arranged for the observance of Decoration Day, but despite the driving rain the occasion 

was observed in a fitting manner.”114 A decorated speakers’ stand had been prepared for 

the occasion. A Sandusky Register article, dated May 31, 1883, reported that the speakers’ 

stand was in “the usual place,” indicating that this was not the first ceremony of its kind 

performed at the cemetery. One source noted that a mound was erected in honor of the 

unknown dead. Prayers were said and hymns sung, and then the assemblage decorated 

the graves of the dead, a few of which were marked with marble headstones. Wooden 

headboards still marked some of the other graves, but not all.115

Five years or so later, in late 1887 or 1888, a wire fence was erected around the cemetery. 

In fall 1889, a group from Georgia visited the cemetery. The Southerners, seeing the 

poor condition of the old headboards, took it upon themselves to provide permanent 

markers for the graves. Enough money was raised in Georgia and South Carolina to 

pay for 206 marble headstones (3 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 2 inches thick) (fig. 75). 

The Marietta Marble Company, Marietta, Georgia, produced the headstones, and the 

J. F. Thom & Company of Cleveland, Ohio, installed them. A plat showing the location 

of the graves and other information provided by Johnson aided the installation of the 

headstones.116

Figure 75 . A typical headstone 

placed at Johnson’s Island in the 

1880s.

In 1899, W. H. H. Blackman, a reporter with the Richmond (Virginia) Dispatch, visited 

the cemetery on Johnson’s Island. In a brief article appearing in the Southern Historical 

Society Papers, he described the cemetery as a lonely spot covered by trees and 

undergrowth. He also made note of “a wrought iron” fence with a gate on the south end 

of the cemetery, which he and his companion walked through. Blackman mentioned the 

withered wreaths on the graves, remains of those placed by the GAR in the spring. He 

felt that the cemetery deserved more care than it was being given. It was overgrown and 

trees and underbrush needed to be removed. He believed that a large single memorial 

honoring all of the dead should be erected. He ended his piece by encouraging someone 

to take up the cause and raise funds to care for the cemetery. No one immediately 

heeded his call.117

On March 1, 1905, the Robert Patton Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy 

(UDC) signed a memorandum of agreement with landowners James H. Emrich and 

Charles Dick to purchase two lots on Johnson’s Island. The property, about 100 feet wide 

and 484 feet long, encompassed the cemetery and ran to the water’s edge.118

The Commission and Mary Patton Hudson

For more than twenty years, the UDC would care for the Johnson Island Confederate 

cemetery. Mary Patton Hudson organized the Robert Patton Chapter, UDC, and worked 

with that organization until her death. When the Commission for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead was formed in 1906, Hudson took immediate action. In a letter to 

Commissioner William Elliott in March, she explained that because the government 

had failed to renew its lease and had failed to purchase the property, her UDC chapter 

had decided to step in. “We have paid for the graves by almost super human endeavor 

and have arrangement with Sir. Moses Ezekiel (one of Marse Robert’s boys) to have a 

monument cast for the spot in Rome, Italy.”119 Hudson also informed Commissioner 
93

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Elliott that he should get in touch with her before contacting anyone else in Ohio. She 

dropped a few names and underlined significant names on her advisory board, all of 

whom were Confederate veterans. She even included a photograph of herself “so that 

you might see who was talkin’ to you” (fig. 76).120

Figure 76 . Mary Patton Hudson, ca. 

1906. National Archives and Records 

Administration.

In fall 1906, the commission visited Johnson’s Island with Senator Joseph B. Foraker 

of Ohio. L. Frank Nye, clerk to the commission, gathered information on the graves 

that had been marked and the process by which the headstones were placed (fig. 77). 

Nye obtained a copy of the pamphlet “Confederate Dead” published by John T. Mack, 

which included a list of the dead and a plat of the cemetery, as well as a report written by 

Chaplain D. W. Tolford for the governor of Ohio in 1866. In addition, Nye interviewed 

Captain Henry C. Strong, who came to Johnson’s Island from Camp Chase. As part of 

his duties, Strong catalogued the first roster of prisoners. Later he was detailed to the 

office of the post adjutant and finally to the Quartermaster Department. Strong provided

Nye with interesting information, but unfortunately his duties did not involve burial or 

the recording of prison burials. He recalled that the first men to die were sent to border 

states and, he thought, from there to their states of residence. Strong told Nye that, as 

far as he could remember, the first burial on the island took place in fall1862. Strong’s 

recollection was off by only a few months. The most up-to-date documentation states 

that the first burials of prisoners took place in July 1862.121

Initially, Strong said, Johnson’s Island prison was told to report to the commissary of 

prisoners and he, Strong, was under the direct orders of the Secretary of War, William 

Howard Taft; but the prison was later placed under the Quartermaster Department. 

Strong told Nye that a detail of prisoners, generally accompanied by a Union officer, 

were tasked with burying the dead. The burial detail took the headboards with them in 

order to mark the graves.122

Figure 77 . One of the books L. Frank 

Nye used to research Johnson’s Island 

burials. National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Commissioner Elliott gave the burial records obtained in Ohio to the secretary of 

war and the War Records Department for verification. In March 1907, Elliott wrote 

John Mack, saying that he had found 100 additional names as well as mistakes and 

duplications on the headstones erected in the 1880s. Elliott believed that some of the 

unknowns could now be identified and should be marked by headstones inscribed with 

their names. However, Elliot did not believe that the headstones erected in the 1880s 

should be replaced.123 “Shall the present headstones be replaced . . . by the new ones 

provided by law? Considering the interesting circumstances that brought about their 

erection, I should say not.”124

Spring 1907 proved to be volatile, setting the commission and Mary Patton Hudson on 

a collision course. Commissioner Elliott finally decided that the government would not 

pay for improvements at Johnson’s Island, specifically a fence and landscaping, until the 

UDC Robert Patton Chapter transferred the cemetery to federal ownership. The judge 

advocate general ruled on April 10, 1907, that the law did not prevent the commission 

from using government funds to erect a fence at the privately-owned Johnson’s Island 

cemetery.125

In spite of the ruling, Commissioner Elliott decided that the commission would 

not spend any money at Johnson’s Island until the property was transferred. Elliott’s 

decision may well have been influenced by the volume and the tone of correspondence 

with which Hudson bombarded his office. Elliott, it seems, had determined that 
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condemnation was the only course of action. He gathered evidence to support his 

conclusion and sent a five-page report to Secretary of War Taft.126

Elliott’s “Exhibit A” was a letter from Stephen Dill Lee, commanding general of the 

United Confederate Veterans (UCV). Elliot had written to Lee to get his opinion on 

Hudson and spending money on property that the government did not own. Lee replied, 

“It is very evident to me that unless the general government cares for the cemeteries 

at the North, where Confederate soldiers died in prison or in hospitals, the cemeteries 

will soon come into ruin and destruction.” Lee went on to say that numerous UCV and 

UDC chapters had failed and that he believed that the Robert Patton Chapter would be 

dissolved after Hudson’s death.127

Elliott wrote again to Hudson, asking that she reconsider. The Robert Patton Chapter 

replied, “It is the unanimous opinion of this organization, that we have no wish to part 

with this sacred holding.”128

In July 1907, Hudson fired off a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt. She wrote that 

Commissioner Elliott was trying to condemn Johnson’s Island so that the government 

could assume ownership, a move that she called “little less than piratical.” Once again 

she pointed out that the chapter had bought the cemetery after the government had 

failed to act, and that condemnation would be “unpopular and unwise.” Hudson claimed 

the support not only of her board of “distinguished Southern men,” but also “the entire 

Southern People.”129

Commissioner Elliott sent two letters to Secretary of War Taft on August 10, 1907. The 

first, marked “personal,” requested information on the condemnation procedure. He also 

cautioned the secretary to be careful in what he told Hudson and suggested only giving 

her the “main points of the matter.” The second was a refutation of the letter Hudson had 

written to President Roosevelt that July. Elliott pointed out that her claim of having the 

Southern people on her side was a fallacy; that it was Southern veterans who had helped 

to create the legislation under which he now operated. He went on to say that the Robert 

Patton Chapter was raising money across the South to carry out its plan, work that 

could be done with the appropriations for his commission. Finally, Elliott pointed out 

that the Robert Patton Chapter was not officially associated with the UDC; the parent 

organization had ceased to recognize the chapter in 1906.130

Commissioner Elliott’s final communication on the subject of a fence for Johnson’s 

Island was short and to the point: if the government did not own the property, no funds 

would be spent. Finally, he said, “The property is already inclosed (sic) by a substantial 

fence which serves all purposes of protection” (fig. 78). Elliott’s death in December 1907 

ended their correspondence but not Hudson’s feud with the commission.131

Less than two weeks after Elliott’s death, Hudson wrote to the new commissioner, 

William Oates. She urged Oates, “I hope you will feel more enthusiastic interest in 

the work being done in Ohio than Colonel Elliott did.” She referred to several Ohio 

politicians, including Senator Foraker, whom Hudson suggested would “tell you 

that I was no small help to him toward getting the bill (under which you now hold 

commission) passed.” She claimed that her letters to the Kentucky congressional 

delegation had helped to dispel any southern opposition to the bill. Hudson wanted 

a fence for the cemetery, which Elliott had stoutly refused to do. She hoped that by 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 78 . Confederate cemetery at Johnson’s Island, ca. 1910, surrounded by a utilitarian wire fence. Archives of Sandusky Library-Follett House 

Museum, Sandusky, Ohio.

sending this letter, in which she named names, Oates might see fit to fund her fence. 

“This letter is written with the intention of getting your opinion—if you will kindly give 

it—regarding the fence,” she wrote, “The form of legislation we will ask for will depend 

upon the position you maintain regarding this matter. I have facts in my possession 

that may be valuable to you regarding graves of our dead in Northern soil.” This letterwriting campaign did not engender William Oates’s goodwill.132

Undaunted, Hudson pressed on. She wrote to Marcus J. Wright, an agent in the 

Department of War charged with collecting and compiling official Confederate army 

records, urging him to order Oates to build a fence, although Wright had no power to 

do so. When that failed, she wrote again to Oates, this time with a proposal. The Robert 

Patton Chapter, she said, would deed 6 feet around the cemetery to the U.S. government, 

onto which the commission could build a fence. “Do try to see a way clear to help secure 

the cemetery from destruction by means of a fence, for we cannot sell [it] to you,” she 

closed.133

William Oates accepted her proposal. He wrote Secretary of War Taft suggesting that 

Hudson’s land offer be accepted and a fence erected. The letter dated April 29, 1909, 

included two notations from War Department personnel. The first, from the judge 

advocate general, agreed with Oates and recommended accepting the land and building 

the fence. The second, from Acting Secretary of War Robert Shaw Oliver, declined. 

Oliver felt that the only way to protect the graves was to own the cemetery. He wrote, 

“The only condition upon which this improvement will be undertaken is the transfer of 

a fee simple title to the cemetery in its entirety.”134
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Figure 79 . A crowd at the dedication of the “Lookout” monument at Confederate Stockade, 1910. Archives of Sandusky Library—Follett House 

Museum, Sandusky, Ohio.

Hudson wrote more letters. After speaking with Secretary of War Taft, Marcus Wright 

urged her to give the property to the government. She refused. The Robert Patton 

Chapter kept the property and forged ahead with plans to erect a monument. In 

December 1909, a site at the southeastern end of the cemetery was chosen and work on 

the monument, for which the chapter had solicited funds, began.135

In spring 1910, plans were made for the Confederate Memorial’s unveiling. The base, 

created by W. J. Dingle of Sandusky, was made of granite from South Carolina. The 

bronze figure, the “Lookout,” was executed by Virginia-born sculptor Sir Ezekiel Moses 

and cast in Rome, Italy. The base was finished in April and the 19-foot-tall figure arrived 

in May. The monument was to be unveiled on June 8, 1910. There was a slight flap over 

a proposed parade when the local GAR chapter refused to march behind a Confederate 

flag. In the end there was no parade and the ceremonies only included the U.S. flag, but 

the unveiling was a grand affair (fig. 79).136 The Cedar Point Resort Company arranged 

for the steamer R. B. Hayes to provide roundtrip service to the island for a fare of 25 

cents beginning at 8 a.m. A twenty-five-piece band played music. Hudson, George W. 

Gordon, Julius Carr of the UCV, and the sculptor each spoke. The graves were decorated 

and a wreath placed at the foot of the memorial, which was positioned so the figure 

looked outward from the cemetery toward Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. After the 

ceremony, the crowd returned to Sandusky where many former Confederates toured the 

Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home.137

During summer 1912, L. Frank Nye returned to Johnson’s Island to assess the condition 

of the cemetery for the commission’s final report to Congress. While in Sandusky, he 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

spoke with Sandusky Register editor John T. Mack, who 

said the monument had been soiled by people climbing 

onto it, specifically marks made by shoes. He again 

mentioned the necessity for a fence.138

Finally in autumn 1912, the Robert Patton Chapter 

contracted with Mack Iron & Wire of Sandusky to erect 

a fence around the cemetery. The enclosure was 4 feet 

tall with ornamental posts and an ornamental arched 

gate at the south end by the water. It is thought that the 

cemetery fence extant today is the same one erected in 

1912; the words on the arch read, “Confederate Soldiers 

1861–1912” (fig. 80).139

Figure 80 . Cemetery entrance facing 

the bay and fence erected by the 

Robert Patton Chapter UDC in 1912, 

framing the “Lookout” Monument in 

2009.

Mary Patton Hudson died in 1920 but her UDC 

chapter honored her wishes and kept the property. For more than a decade the chapter 

maintained the cemetery. Finally in 1932, the last surviving member of the Robert 

Patton Chapter transferred the deed for the cemetery to the Ohio Division of the UDC, 

which in turn donated it to the federal government.140

On June 7, 1932, in a large ceremony that was broadcast on the local NBC radio affiliate, 

the deed was signed and handed over to the federal government. Mrs. G. R. Runner 

acted on behalf of the UDC, and Lieutenant Lee N. Murlin, assistant U.S. District 

Attorney, and Captain T. J. McGrath of the Erie Proving Ground, represented the 

Department of War. The U.S. flag was raised over the cemetery—finally the property of 

the Department of War.141

The first use of “Stockade Cemetery” appears to be in the program for the 1910 

dedication of the “Lookout,” which states, “Dedication of Bronze Monument to 

Confederate Soldier in Johnson’s Island, Ohio, Stockade Cemetery.”142 Whereas, the 

1932 warranty deed between the UDC Robert Patton Chapter and the Department of 

War, refers to the property as “Confederate Stockade Cemetery”—as does the metesand-bounds description prepared in 1939. Earlier correspondence refers to the cemetery 

as the “Confederate Cemetery at Johnson’s Island” or “Johnson’s Island Confederate 

Cemetery.”143

The two small plaques located south of the “Lookout” monument were dedicated in 

1935. One honors Mary Patton Hudson as responsible for preservation of the cemetery, 

and erection of the memorial and fence. The second plaque honors Alice Davenport 

Mack and Elizabeth Morrison Houk, who are credited with assembling the only 

authentic list of the dead buried on the island. The plaques were dedicated during the 

annual Decoration Day ceremonies, which continue to this day (fig. 81).144

Figure 81 . One of two monuments 

erected in 1935 to honor Alice 

Davenport Mack, Elizabeth Morrison 

Houk, and Mary Patton Hudson.

In 1990 the cemetery was included in the National Historic Landmark nomination 

for Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison. The historic landmark property is now classified 

as “threatened” by the National Park Service due to residential development on the 

island. Starting in 1989, David R. Bush, Center for Historic and Military Archaeology at 

Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, began carrying out archaeological investigations 

of the prison camp. All subsurface investigations were limited to the prison area; 

however, Bush conducted a non-invasive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of 
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98

the cemetery. Today, a toll causeway allows access to the island and the cemetery. The 

Johnson’s Island Preservation Society, housed in the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky, 

erected the interpretive wayside sign outside of the cemetery fence. The other nonprofit 

affiliate of the cemetery is the Friends and Descendants of Johnson’s Island Civil War 

Prison; this organization has purchased property on the island associated with the 

prison in order to ensure its preservation. Both organizations have undertaken research 

in collaboration with Heidelberg University. 

Few physical changes have been made to the cemetery since the 1930s. The fence has 

suffered some damage inflicted by falling trees. Most of the headstones are original, 

placed in the cemetery in the 1880s, along with a few older examples and newer 

replacement government-issued headstones.

Figure 82 . One of two 

monuments erected in 2003 by 

the Johnson’s Island Committee.
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Two large interpretive granite markers were placed at the cemetery in 2003, funded by 

the Johnson’s Island Committee composed of the Ohio Division of the UDC and the 

Lieutenant James Longstreet Camp 1658 Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) (fig. 82). 

According to the inscriptions, 267 burials within and outside of the cemetery enclosure 

have been located using GPR. In a report about this work at the cemetery, “The Union 

rolls and other records have confirmed at least 239 deaths at Johnson’s Island.” The 

report lists the names on the 154 known graves in the cemetery and indicates there are 

fifty-two graves marked “unknown,” for a total of 206 graves. He also lists the names of 

eighty-eight men determined to have died at Johnson’s Island but whose “graves are not 

marked by a tombstone, or their body was taken South to be buried.” Eighteen names on 

the list are referenced as “reported as body sent South,” leaving seventy men he believes 

to be interred at Johnson’s Island in either graves with “unknown” markers or graves 

with no marker.145
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100

Figure 83 . Map of Indianapolis showing Greenlawn and Crown Hill cemeteries, and other sites related to Camp Morton and 

Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead work. Based on 1908 G. W. Baist Index Map and Basken-Foster 1876 Map of 

Indianapolis.
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CROWN HILL CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

Indianapolis, Indiana

The Confederate prisoners interred at Crown Hill Cemetery died in Camp 

Morton Prison Camp in Indianapolis, Indiana. They were originally buried 

in Greenlawn Cemetery and eventually moved to Crown Hill Cemetery. How 

those men came to be at Crown Hill is the story of a flourishing city and of 

burials forgotten, remembered, moved, and remembered again (fig. 83).

Camp Morton

Camp Morton was situated on a 36-acre tract—the former Samuel Henderson farm—

bounded by present-day 19th Street, Talbott Avenue, 22nd Street, and Central Avenue. 

It was created when Indiana answered President Abraham Lincoln’s call for 75,000 

troops to suppress the rebellion. Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton wired Lincoln 

and offered 10,000 men for service. Hoosiers across the state answered the call for 

volunteers and thousands of men poured into Indianapolis. The new city fairgrounds 

became a training camp. At least six regiments were filled at the camp by the end of 

1861.146

Change came quickly to Camp Morton. In February 1862, the Confederate strongholds 

at Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee surrendered to Union forces. Suddenly 

12,000 prisoners needed to be housed and fed. General Henry Halleck wired Governor 

Morton to ask how many prisoners Indiana could handle. Morton replied that Indiana 

would take 3,000. That day, Camp Morton assumed the new role of prison camp.147

General Halleck sent 3,700 men to Indianapolis. As with every other place where 

prisoners were sent, Camp Morton was unprepared for the influx. The fairgroundsturned-training camp was at best a makeshift prison. Prior to the arrival of the 

prisoners, Union soldiers built a wall around the old buildings that were used to house 

trainees. They constructed stout gates and dug latrines.148

The prisoners were housed in a 5-acre enclosure that had been the fairgrounds and, on 

occasion, hosted Methodist camp meetings. The early prison facilities consisted of five 

wood-frame buildings. One served as camp hospital; the other four served as barracks 

that could accommodate 1,000 men. The best buildings were originally fairground 

exhibition halls with open floor plans. Others were former stables equipped with stalls. 

All had dirt floors. The plank siding on the buildings had warped and sagged with 

age. The prisoners suffered from the cold, and some patients in the hospital used their 

only blanket to cover gaps in the walls to block the frigid air. An open trench near the 

middle of the compound served as the latrine. When it was full, a new trench was dug 

elsewhere in the camp. This cycle continued, with latrines dug out in various locations, 

but the camp quickly became a highly unhealthy place (fig. 84).149
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Figure 84 . The elaborate gate and 

house with “gingerbread” trim 

were part of the old fairgrounds 

complex; the house, right, served 

as the prison guard house. 

From Francis Trevelyan Miller, 

Photographic History of the Civil 

War, Volume 7.

Colonel Richard Owen was put in command of the prison. Although he did his utmost 

to operate the prison, the fledgling Commissary Department in Indianapolis already 

had difficulty acquiring food for its Union trainees—so feeding the prisoners would 

be a problem, too (fig. 85).150 Supplies were also scarce. Prisoners arrived in Indiana 

without blankets or proper winter clothing, and the Ladies’ Patriotic Societies and the 

U.S. Sanitary Commission provided them. Another 1,000 prisoners, men captured at 

the Battle of Shiloh, arrived in April 1862. Colonel David G. Rose soon took over from 

Owen as commandant. Early in Rose’s tenure, a riot broke out when a group of prisoners 

threw stones and other missiles at several hundred Tennessee prisoners who were 

standing outside the stockade to take the oath of allegiance. When one prisoner refused 

to climb down from the wall, a guard fired, wounding him and killing another prisoner. 

Rose’s tenured ended in August when a prisoner exchange temporarily emptied the 

prison.151

The prisoner exchange began in late August 1862. On August 23, Camp Morton 

prisoners were placed on railroad cars and sent to Cairo, Illinois, where they boarded 

steamboats for Vicksburg, Mississippi. It took over one week just to move the men to 

Cairo. The trains ran once a day out of Indianapolis, carrying between 333 and 1,238 

men each trip. The exchange finally took place at Vicksburg in early September.152
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 85 . Plan of Camp Morton, 

1865. 1. Headquarters; 2. Old 

hospital; 3. Hospital tents; 4. Sutler; 

5. Hospitals-built 1863; 6. New 

hospitals-built 1864; 7. Barracks; 

9. Gates; 10. Quartermaster; 11. 

Commissary; 12. Bakery; 13. Baseball 

grounds; 15. Bridges; 16. Pumps; 17. 

Sheds; 19. Dining room; 20. Kitchen; 

21. Dining room; 22. Consulting 

room; 23. Reception room; 24. 

Engineer; 25. Prescription, supplies. 

Dashed line (———) indicates the 

guard line.

The mortality rate during the prison operation at Camp Morton was fairly low. There 

were no epidemics and, over the seven-month period, 800 or so men were treated in the 

city’s hospitals. No records of deaths were found to have occurred between February 

and June 1862. The extant records indicate that fifty Confederates died at Camp Morton 

between July and September 1862.153

Reactivation of the Prisoner-of-War Camp

Despite that Camp Morton was emptied of prisoners in summer 1862, Union officials 

deemed it necessary to reactivate the prison facility in February 1863. A January 

inspection confirmed that the camp needed more barracks space. Captain H. W. 

Freedley recommended moving three buildings from Camp Carrington in the north 

part of the city, to Camp Morton:154

The barracks I have recommended to be removed from Camp Carrington 

are barracks that have been erected for the temporary accommodation 

of troops organizing here and can be removed at but little expense. They 

are temporary frame barracks, 16 by 100 feet, divided into four rooms 

and capable of accommodating 100 troops each.155

The prison population remained fairly low in the early months of 1863, at around 

650, but by October the number more than tripled to in excess of 2,000, to include 

Confederate soldiers, officers, and civilian political prisoners.156
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104

Figure 86 . Camp Morton prison camp at Indianapolis, winter 1864. The ditch (foreground) was an unnamed creek the prisoners called the 

“Potomac.” Library of Congress.

Surgeon A. M. Clark wrote a scathing inspection report on October 22, 1863, that began, 

“[T]his camp is a disgrace to the name of a military prison.” His condemnation was 

universal:

Drainage—bad from want of attention; ditches and drains choked with 

rubbish. Discipline in camp—lax. Sinks, construction—exceedingly 

faulty, two excavations about twenty feet long, five feet wide, two feet 

deep, entirely open. Sinks, condition and position—very foul. Cleanliness 

of men and clothing—foul; bathing and laundry facilities entirely 

insufficient. Blankets and bedding—insufficient both in hospital and 

camp; no satisfactory reason given therefore. Condition of men—

in barracks, exceedingly foul; in hospital, miserable. Mortality from 

diseases—during the month of September 23 out of 183 patients died, 

being over 12.45 per cent.

157

He criticized the buildings, hospital care in general, and hospital staff in particular. He 

recommended firing the surgeon in charge. There was plenty of food and the water was 

good. Other than that, he could find very little positive to report on Camp Morton.158

Colonel Ambrose A. Stevens assumed command of Camp Morton on October 22, the 

same day surgeon Clark wrote up his inspection findings. Stevens, a former infantry 

colonel who was wounded at Perryville, Kentucky, had resigned and thereafter been 

appointed colonel of an Invalid Corps regiment. Stevens worked to improve conditions 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

at Camp Morton, but he had an uphill fight against the elements and the bureaucracy of 

the Union prison system.159

Orders forbade Stevens to issue new clothing to prisoners unless they were practically 

naked. Only “members of his immediate family, and only when they are in absolute 

want,” were allowed to give prisoners clothing. In December 1863, space was also 

diminishing quickly, as 3,300 prisoners were crowded into the prison. The winter of 

1863-1864 was bitterly cold, aggravating the prisoners’ suffering from drafty barracks 

and insufficient clothing. Stevens went ahead and issued clothing, blankets, straw, and 

extra fuel. These measures helped, but during a single thirty-day period of sub-zero 

temperatures, 263 prisoners died (fig. 86).160

As the weather grew warmer in May 1864, the war was going badly for the Confederacy. 

The prisoner-exchange agreement was mired over the Confederate’s refusal to treat U.S. 

Colored Troops as prisoners of war; throughout most of 1864 without any exchanges, 

hope sagged for the men in Camp Morton. In summer 1864, malaria and other illnesses 

struck, fueled by the heat, insects, vermin, and unsanitary conditions. By the time Camp 

Morton closed in June 1865, approximately 1,763 prisoners had died.161

Confederate Dead and Greenlawn Cemetery

Initially known as City Cemetery, and the first cemetery in Indianapolis, Greenlawn 

Cemetery dates to the 1820s. It is situated on the southern edge of the city, seven blocks 

south of the circle between Kentucky Avenue and the White River. Many of the first 

citizens of Indianapolis are buried there. 

The State of Indiana purchased five lots in Greenlawn Cemetery in order to bury the 

Confederate dead from Camp Morton. A contract was let to Weaver and Williams, 

undertakers, to supply plain wooden coffins at the price of $3.50 each. The dead were 

interred by details of prisoners who put the bodies in the coffins, dug grave trenches 

that measured 20 feet long, and covered the coffins. Coffins were placed side by side in 

a trench until it was filled. A wooden headboard with a number marked the location of 

each set of remains. 

Some Confederate dead were removed from the cemetery and the remains taken 

south by friends or relatives for reburial; exactly how many remains, and when this 

allegedly occurred, was not included. The Confederate dead that did remain, however, 

were largely forgotten. An industrial complex grew up around the cemetery, gradually 

diminishing the attractiveness of the old burial grounds. Brevet Major General Lorenzo 

Thomas wrote in an 1868 cemetery inspection report that 1,556 Confederate prisoners 

were buried at Greenlawn Cemetery, but by the end of the decade it was no longer used 

or cared for.162 Greenlawn declined into a pauper’s cemetery. In the meantime, Crown 

Hill Cemetery, established in 1863 at the north end of the city limits, was growing into 

Indianapolis’s principal cemetery. 

In 1870, the Terre Haute, Vandalia, and St. Louis Railroad “exchanged some property 

on the west side of the [Greenlawn] cemetery for the ground covered by two tiers of 

graves on the north.”163 The area of Greenlawn Cemetery that was acquired in 1862 for 

the purpose of reburying the remains of Confederate prisoners was known as the Price 
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106

tract. In 1870, the railroad acquired the Price tract to allow for the railroad’s widening 

operations. At or around the same time, the railroad purchased a second half-acre tract, 

far from the tracks in the west end of Greenlawn Cemetery, in order to accommodate 

the Confederate remains removed from the Price tract.164 The Confederate remains were 

exhumed, “placed in boxes 5 feet long, 16 to 18 inches wide, and about 8 inches deep. 

They were laid close together in a trench, but not on top of each other.”165 The removal of 

the remains, funded by the Terre Haute, Vandalia, and St. Louis Railroad, was handled 

neither sensitively nor professionally. There was no attempt to maintain the reinterred 

remains in the same order as they had been interred originally, or were headboards 

installed on the new graves. After the remains were moved, the tract in which the 

Confederates had been reinterred was sold to the U.S. government for one dollar.166

The 1874 cemetery inspection repeated that fact 1,556 Confederate prisoners 

were buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, but it does not mention the exhumation and 

reinterment of the remains. However, the inspector offered a prophetic observation 

about encroaching business and industrial interests: “The land in this vicinity is so 

valuable that this cemetery will be removed before many years, I think.”167

The Common Council of Indianapolis passed an ordinance in 1892 to convert 

Greenlawn Cemetery into a public park. In doing so, the city was obligated to contact 

the families of persons buried in the cemetery to obtain permission to move remains to 

a new lot in the popular Crown Hill Cemetery. By the end of 1892, when Greenlawn was 

more or less abandoned, most citizens of Indianapolis were choosing burial in Crown 

Hill. This stylish “rural” cemetery, designed by John Chislett, incorporated natural 

features and landscape into the plan. The city did not move the Confederate dead nor 

did it contact the federal government about moving them. The Union soldiers buried in 

Greenlawn were, however, moved to what became Crown Hill National Cemetery in the 

late 1860s. An 1880s newspaper article, as well as an early city history, both erroneously 

state that the Confederate burials were moved to Crown Hill sometime after 1870.168

The Commission

The graves of the Confederate prisoners buried in Greenlawn Cemetery were eligible 

for the provisions of the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead. 

Commissioner William Elliott and L. Frank Nye visited Indianapolis in November 1906 

to assess the burials of the Confederate prisoners from Camp Morton. Elliott and Nye 

spent nearly two weeks in Indianapolis trying to sort out what had happened to the 

graves. It had been forty-one years since Camp Morton closed, and thirty-five years 

since the railroad bought the property; personal accounts and much information had 

since been lost. 

In an effort to discover where the graves were located Nye visited several Indianapolis 

repositories, including the land office and Indiana State Library. His findings were 

both useful and confusing. At the library he found “a Confederate Mortuary List” 

with the names of prisoners who died at the camp, compiled by Charles A. Williams, 

the government undertaker for Camp Morton. He also located a city history and a 

newspaper article stating that the Confederate burials had been moved to Crown 

Hill Cemetery.169 The latter caused Nye and the commissioner to visit the Crown Hill 

Cemetery offices. “I expected to find these [graves] in Crown Hill Cemetery, and went 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

there yesterday afternoon for that purpose,” Nye wrote. “At the cemetery I was informed 

that not a single one of the Confederate dead has ever been buried there. The situation 

here is surely unusual and difficult to solve.”170

The commission finally determined that the Confederate dead had not been moved 

to Crown Hill, but were still interred at Greenlawn; it turned out that some remains 

had been moved from one lot to another in the same cemetery. Nye and Elliott spent 

the remainder of their stay in Indianapolis trying to discover exactly where the bodies 

were moved, some of it interviewing individuals who had, or thought they had, relevant 

information. Nye and Elliott interviewed twenty-six individuals—in homes, at the hotel 

where they stayed, and at the cemetery. Several individuals were interviewed more than 

once, and a few accompanied Nye and Elliott on multiple visits to Greenlawn (fig. 22).171

After a couple of days in Indianapolis, Commissioner Elliott expressed his frustration. 

“It’s a difficult task. There are scores of persons who are ready to give information, but 

the facts are strangely conflicting.”172 Two Indianapolis Star articles published November 

20 and 21, 1906, featured interviews with people who claimed to know about the 

Confederate burials, but the accounts were riddled with contradictions. It complicated 

matters that by 1906 the old Greenlawn Cemetery was in name a city park, but in reality 

functioned as a buffer between the railroad complex and the growing industrial center of 

Indianapolis.173

Elliott and Nye left Indianapolis at the 

end of November 1906. By then they had 

determined that a portion of the Confederate 

dead had been moved to another location 

in Greenlawn Cemetery in 1870. After 

combing through old records they pieced 

together what had happened. According to 

the judge advocate general’s office, the Terre 

Haute, Vandalia, and St. Louis Railroad 

purchased an undetermined number of lots 

in Greenlawn Cemetery, 134 of which were 

in Sections A and K. The railroad needed 

the lots in Sections A and K to expand its 

operations, but lots 172 to 190 in Section A, 

and lots 125 to 239 in Section K contained 

the remains of Confederate prisoners. The 

railroad moved the remains to the lots it 

purchased in Sections D and F, and then 

transferred the deed for those lots to the 

government for one dollar (fig. 87).174

Figure 87 . Map of Greenlawn 

Cemetery showing areas from which 

Confederate remains were removed 

(brown) to where they were interred 

(gray).

If Commissioner Elliott had decided to place headstones over the reinterred remains 

in Indianapolis, his position was never shared, as his paper trail ends in 1906. It was 

1908, nearly two years after Elliott’s Indiana visit, when Commissioner William C. Oates 

decided he could not mark individual graves there. “It’s a hopeless task. The graves are 

all there—there is no doubt about that; but it would be impossible to mark each grave 

and give the name to the right man who lies there. Who is going to be able to tell which 

grave is that of William Jones and which grave is that of James Smith. It is impossible 
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108

to do this.”175 Seeking a resolution to the problem, he wrote Secretary of War Luke E. 

Wright asking for permission to erect a single monument at the site of the burials with 

the names of the men inscribed upon it.176 

Secretary of War Wright referred the query to George B. Davis, the judge advocate 

general. Davis replied:

In the exercise of the discretion so vested, it is the opinion of this office 

that it is the duty of the Department, where the grave of a deceased 

Confederate prisoner-of-war has been located, to erect a headstone of the 

standard type. Where the burial place of a number has been discovered, 

and the names of the dead are known but the location of the individual 

graves is unknown, it is the duty of the Secretary of War to see that the 

most complete execution possible shall be given the statute. As, in such 

a case, individual stones cannot be erected, it is the opinion of this office 

that a suitable monument may be erected upon which shall be inscribed 

the names of the deceased prisoners of war who are buried within the 

enclosure, and that the erection of such a monument will be a reasonable 

execution of the requirements of the Act of March 9, 1906.

177

In a second memorandum issued the following day, Davis addressed the matter of an 

inscription. He cited the legislation of March 3, 1893, which stated that a tablet could 

“have a brief historical legend, compiled without praise and without censure.” He 

also pointed out that the word “valorous” was stricken from a Union monument at 

Gettysburg. In summation, he wrote: 

In view of the legislation in that regard, it is suggested that no more be 

attempted in the inscription upon the monument at Indianapolis than 

to set forth the fact that it is erected with a view to properly mark the 

resting place of the officers and men of the Confederate Army and Navy 

who died as prisoners of war at Camp Morton, Indiana, between 1862 

and 1865.178

Figure 88 . Monument and fence at Greenlawn Cemetery, surrounded by 

industrial buildings in 1910. National Archives and Records Administration.

In February 1909, the government let bids for the 

monument. Van Amringe Granite Company of 

Boston, Massachusetts, was awarded the contract 

and completed the monument in late 1909. The 

dedication inscription read: “Erected by the United 

States to mark the burial place of 1,616 Confederate 

soldiers and sailors who died here while prisoners 

of war and whose graves cannot now be identified.” 

The names were inscribed on six bronze plaques 

attached to the base of the monument. By summer 

1910, 500 feet of iron fence had been installed around 

the government lot (fig. 88). The monument and 

fence were situated in the middle of an area that 

was rapidly turning into an industrial complex. 

The Southern Club of Indianapolis and the United 

Daughters of the Confederacy petitioned to have the 

monument moved from Greenlawn to Garfield Park. 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

On May 15, 1928, Congress appropriated $3,000 for this purpose in response to the 

petition (fig. 89).179

Figure 89 . The original Confederate 

Monument at Garfield Park in 2009.

The monument was moved, but the Confederate dead remained in the all-butabandoned Greenlawn Cemetery. When the remains were moved three years later, it 

was not to Garfield Park where the monument now stood, but to Crown Hill Cemetery 

(fig. 90). In October 1931, twenty-five boxes of human remains were removed from 

the old burial ground at Greenlawn for reburial at Crown Hill. In an elaborate military 

ceremony, one set of remains were placed in a coffin, which was then draped with 

a Confederate flag. The coffin was carried from the chapel at Crown Hill to Section 

32—not far from Crown Hill National Cemetery where the Union dead already lay—

to be interred for the third and last time (fig. 91). Six members of the Southern Club 

of Indianapolis served as pallbearers. An infantry detachment from Fort Benjamin 

Harrison in nearby Lawrence, Indiana, fired a salute as the body was buried (fig. 92). 

Figure 90 . Greenlawn Cemetery, ca. 1876, indicates that the area was already becoming industrialized. From the “Illustrated Historical Atlas of 

Indiana,” 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
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110

Figure 91 . Map of Crown Hill Cemetery showing national cemetery and 

Confederate plot.

The federal government erected a new granite 

monument, approximately 7 feet tall, at the site 

with the inscription: Remains of / 1616 Unknown / 

Confederate / Soldiers / Who Died At / Indianapolis / 

While / Prisoners / of War.180

In 1989, Indianapolis policeman Stephen Staletovich 

undertook a project to correct what he and others 

felt was an egregious wrong. The 1931 monument 

marking the remains of the Confederate dead at 

Crown Hill stated that the 1,616 men were unknown.

In fact, the men were not unknown. After 

conducting research for a number of years, 

Staletovich and others eventually identified the 

names of 1,745 men who died at Camp Morton. The 

names were inscribed on ten bronze plaques that 

were installed on the grave site, virtually filling the 

small lot. A bronze plaque was also placed over the 

inscription on the 1931 monument (fig. 93). Crown 

Hill Confederate Cemetery was rededicated on 

October 3, 1993; the new plaque on the monument 

reads:181

Figure 92 . Left: The Confederate 

monument placed by the federal 

government in 1931. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 93 . Right: The 1931 

monument with revised inscription 

added in 1993. 
111

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Confederate Mound / These Confederate / Soldiers And Sailors Died 

/ At Indianapolis While / Prisoners Of War. / They were Transferred 

/ Here From Greenlawn / Cemetery In 1933 [sic] / To rest Eternal. / 

A large Monument To / These Dead Now Stands In / Garfield Park / 

Indianapolis, Indiana. / PAX. 

The historic appearance of Confederate Mound at Crown Hill Cemetery was 

considerably altered in 1993 when the eleven bronze plaques were introduced to the site 

(fig. 94).

Figure 94 . Confederate soldiers’ lot in Section 32, Crown Hill Cemetery, ca. 2009.
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112

Figure 95 . Greater New York City area map showing prison and hospital facilities associated with Confederate burials at Union 

Grounds, Cypress Hills Cemetery. Based on New York City map, ca.1915.
113

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

CYPRESS HILLS NATIONAL CEMETERY

Brooklyn, New York

Although no Civil War battles were fought in New York State, many Union soldiers 

nevertheless passed through New York City. Before the war ended, thousands of 

Confederate prisoners did too, as they were held in city prisons or treated in city 

hospitals. Some of these men died and many were buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in 

Brooklyn (fig. 95). 

Civil War Prisons and Hospitals in New York City 

The “Tombs,” Fort Lafayette, Governors Island, Bedloe’s (Liberty) Island, Fort Schuyler, 

Rikers Island, and Hart’s Island all served as Confederate prisons. The Tombs, completed 

in 1838, was in the city and served as the New York City Hall of Justice and jail. The 

Egyptian Revival structure designed by John Haviland was old and overcrowded by the 

time the Civil War started. Fort Schuyler was on Throgs Neck, between the East River 

and Long Island Sound. The remainder of the prisons were located on islands. The 

first prisoners of war to arrive in New York were thirteen sailors from the Confederate 

privateer Savannah, captured by the Union navy in the harbor at Charleston, South 

Carolina, in June 1861. The prisoners were briefly confined in the Tombs, the New York 

City prison, before being transferred to the island of Fort Lafayette. They were the first 

and last military prisoners incarcerated at the Tombs (fig. 96).182

Built in 1822, Fort Lafayette was an octagonal structure with 30-foot-high walls. 

Prisoners were kept in six casemates (fortified gun emplacements) that tended to be 

dank and dark. When the fort was converted for use as a prison in 1861, it was intended 

to hold fifty prisoners, but often held one hundred or more. At one point, 134 men were 

crowded into the old brick fort. Fort Lafayette was in nearly constant use throughout the 

war and for several months after the war ended. Five Confederate prisoners were being 

held there as late as October 31, 1865 (fig. 97).183

Fort Columbus and Castle Williams on Governors Island also housed prisoners (figs. 

98–99). Fort Columbus, the oldest of the forts, was built in 1794. The old officers’ 

quarters inside the fort confined Confederate officers. Castle Williams, a round structure 

locally known as “the cheese box,” housed as many as 713 Confederate enlisted men. 

As Fort Lafayette, Fort Columbus and Castle Williams came into use early in the war. 

When conditions on Governors Island reached breaking point, some of the men were 

transferred to Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island. By the end of October 1861, Confederate 

prisoners in the forts had been moved to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.184

Between 1862 and the end of the war, the collective prisoner population in New 

York facilities fluctuated but remained relatively low, never reaching 1,000 men. The 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

114

Figure 96 . The Tombs, ca. 1870; the building 

was razed in 1902. Appletons’ Journal, “New 

York Illustrated. No. 1“ Art Supplement,” April 

24, 1869.

Figure 97 . Fort Lafayette was a coastal fortification that housed Confederate 

prisoners, ca. 1904. Library of Congress.

Figure 98 . Barracks at Fort Columbus on Governors Island in New York harbor housed Confederate officers. 

Historic American Buildings Survey photograph, ca. 1934, Library of Congress.
115

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

population spiked in summer and fall 1863 after the Battle of Gettysburg; and again in 

fall 1864 during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. 

From July 1862 until March 1865 the only facilities listed in Abstract from monthly 

returns of the principal U.S. military prisons were Fort Columbus, Fort Lafayette, and Fort 

Woods.185

Figure 99 . Castle Williams 

on Governors Island housed 

Confederate enlisted men, 

photograph ca. 1912. Library 

of Congress.

A new facility that opened on Hart’s Island toward the end of the war became the largest 

prison in the New York City area. A former Tennessee soldier recalled his arrival there 

in April 1865: 

At Newbern they put us on a ship and sent us to Hart’s Island, about 

eighteen miles above New York City, where we arrived on the 12th of 

April, 1865. I was very sick when we landed. Captain Horn, who had 

charge of the prisoners, told me while we waited at the entrance that the 

war was over, that Lee had surrendered, and if I would take the oath, he 

would take me home with him and care for me until I got well, that if I 

went into the prison I would have to become acclimated and would not 

likely come out alive. I did not believe that Lee had surrendered, but I 

thanked him and told him that I had fought the thing through and would 

not go home until I could do so honorably. About that time the gates were 

thrown open and we marched through. I did come very near dying.

186

The Hart’s Island facility was authorized in late 1864 but no prisoners arrived until April 

1865 with 3,400 men, mostly captured in the last battles in Virginia and North Carolina. 

From that time until the Hart’s Island prison closed in July 1865, its population exceeded 

3,000; 234 Confederate prisoners died there.187
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

116

Figure 100 . De Camp General Hospital on Davids’ Island as it appeared in 1863. From U.S. Army Regulations for the De Camp General Hospital, 

1864.

De Camp General Hospital on Davids’ Island was not a prison, but notwithstanding, 

approximately 2,500 Confederate officers and enlisted men were retained there after the 

Battle of Gettysburg. The report by Provost Marshall General M. R. Patrick does not 

mention if all were hospitalized or were simply confined on the island. Nevertheless, this 

location held the most prisoners in the New York area until 1865, when the Hart’s Island 

prison opened. More than 150 Confederates were reported to have died at De Camp 

General Hospital (fig. 100).188 One Confederate soldier captured at Gettysburg later 

wrote of his experience here in the war:

When we arrived at David’s (sic) Island, we found there a first class 

hospital in every respect. It was called “De Camp General Hospital.” It 

consisted of a number of long pavilions and other buildings delightfully 

and comfortably arranged and furnished with every appliance needed 

to relieve the wounded and sick. It had been previously occupied by the 

Federal sick and wounded. It was quite a relief for us to get there.

189

Union Grounds at Cypress Hills Cemetery

Cypress Hills National Cemetery, created to serve as a burial ground for Union soldiers 

who died in New York City hospitals, was established in 1862. The tract is located within 

Cypress Hills Cemetery, a private cemetery established in 1847 that is still in use (fig. 

101).190
117

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Unlike other national cemeteries where Confederates are buried, those at Cypress 

Hills are not now nor have they ever been segregated from Union burials. James 

L. Farley, assistant adjutant general of the New York Grand Army of the Republic 

(GAR), described this in a letter he wrote to N. P. Clubman, GAR adjutant general in 

Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1868:

In Cypress Hills Cem. in this city (Brooklyn) is a plot belonging to the 

U.S. in which 5,000 graves 4,500 Union and 500 Rebs (about) mixed up 

promiscuously – they having been buried by contract – A few of these 

graves are of men whose bodies have brought from Portsmouth Grove, R. 

I. and have wooden headboards.

191

Some of the Confederates were buried in Cypress Hills National Cemetery immediately 

after they died; others were moved from Hart’s Island and Davids’ Island and, as Farley 

indicated, a few were moved from Rhode Island (see fig. 95).192

The 1869 army inspection report is very complimentary, noting that a lodge had been 

built, graves were well-sodded and most were marked. About seventy graves were 

marked with private headstones. The graves of 298 soldiers brought from Rhode Island 

were unmarked but the remaining graves were marked with headboards. The cemetery 

was not fenced, but as it was inside an existing cemetery, enclosure was not necessary.193 

The next cemetery inspection, in September 1870, made note of a few small changes. 

The graves were in “concentric rows” following the curve of Cypress Avenue. A flagstaff 

Figure 101 . Map showing Union 

Grounds within Cypress Hills 

Cemetery and Cypress Hills 

Cemetery on Jamaica Avenue.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

118

and four gun monuments had been installed. This report also mentions that the rows of 

graves are marked with small marble slabs.194

Figure 102 . By the time the U.S. 

Army Quartermaster Department 

issued this 1892 map, Cypress Hills 

National Cemetery was composed 

of two discontiguous tracts; the 

older Union Grounds is on left. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Most of the graves are marked by having a small marble slab placed at 

the first grave in each row, with the numbers cut on it, indicating the 

number of graves in a row, as 1 to 65; 66 to 130; and so on.

195

The 1869 report stated that the graves of the Rhode Island soldiers were not marked with 

headboards; whereas, the 1870 report said they were marked with original headboards 

that were in very poor condition. Both reports gave the number of Confederates buried 

in the cemetery as 461.

Additional burials took place at Cypress Hills National Cemetery following the passage 

of An Act to authorize the Interment of Honorably Discharged Soldiers, Sailors, and 

Marines in the National Cemeteries of the United States on March 3, 1873. The act 

allowed all honorably discharged Union veterans to be buried in national cemeteries 

free of cost, a benefit to offset economic hardships the men faced. About this time, the 

frame lodge was replaced by a more substantial brick building and a hedge was planted 

to separate the national cemetery from the balance of Cypress Hills Cemetery.196

Headstones were placed on Union graves at Cypress Hills in 1876 as authorized by an act 

passed on June 8, 1873, that read in part, “The Secretary of War shall cause each grave 

to be marked with a small headstone, with the name of the soldier and the name of the 

State inscribed thereon, when the same are known.”197 A New York Sun article published 
119

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

April 3, 1876, took issue with the quality of marble used at Cypress Hills, suggesting that 

not one in ten headstones were white; it went on to describe the cemetery:198

The stones are planted as close together as the soldiers stood when 

shoulder to shoulder in the ranks. Irregular gaps here and there in the 

rows indicate that Confederate dead lie beneath in unmarked graves. 

Thus between 67 and 69 is the first blank space; from 144 to 149 a long 

gap shows the burial place of four Confederates and so on. There are 521 

of these blanks in all.

199

In 1884, to accommodate the growing need for grave space, the government purchased 

an additional 15 acres less than a mile west of the Union Grounds at Cypress Hills 

Cemetery. An 1892 U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of the cemetery verifies 

that the basic configuration of the cemetery remained intact (fig. 102). Then, as now, the 

burials were bisected north-south by a concrete walk and east-west by Cypress Way; a 

flagstaff is located on a rise to the east. The lodge that was located in the southwestern 

quadrant adjacent to Cypress Hills Road is the only landmark that is not extant.200

The Commission

The Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead left few records regarding its 

work at Cypress Hills National Cemetery. In 1909, then-Commissioner William C. Oates 

contacted the adjutants general’s office requesting information on four Confederate 

prisoners mentioned in the official records as having died on Governors Island. Oates 

wrote, “This information is desired in connection with correcting the inscriptions on a 

number of headstones in the Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, marking 

the graves of Confederate prisoners of war whose remains were brought there from 

Governors Island.”201

In June of the following year, Oates issued a circular requesting bids to haul fourteen 

Confederate headstones from the East New York station freight depot in Brooklyn to 

Cypress Hills National Cemetery, and to set them in place.202 In the final report for the 

commission issued in 1912, Commissioner James Berry states: 

Substantial headstones were found in the national cemetery, and by 

adding the requisite inscriptions they were deemed satisfactory markers. 

Several of the headstones were broken, however, and these were replaced 

with new ones.203

The April 1876 New York Sun article described, “Irregular gaps here and there in the 

rows indicate that Confederate dead lie beneath in unmarked graves.” In Berry’s 1912 

report, he highlighted that substantial headstones marked the Confederate graves but 

needed only inscriptions. Oates’s 1909 letter to the adjutant general discussed correcting 

inscriptions. We may therefore surmise that sometime between 1876 and 1909, 

headstones were set on the Confederate graves at Cypress Hills—but the responsible 

party or agency is unknown. The fourteen headstones referred to in the June 1910 

circular may actually be headstones ordered to replace the broken ones mentioned in 

Berry’s report.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

120

Figure 103 . Union Grounds, Section 

1F: Round-top Union and pointedtop Confederate headstones 

are intermingled (foreground), 

and three short rows of upright 

headstones mark the graves of 

World War I veterans (back).

In Appendix A of the 1912 commission report, 515 dead are listed for Cypress Hills. 

This number is based on burial registers. In the Cypress Hills section of the report, Berry 

gives specifics:

The register for this cemetery shows 510 known and 5 unknown, as 

follows: Cypress Hills National Cemetery, 482 soldiers, 1 citizen, and 8 

removed; in addition to which 24 were not located, but were reported 

as having died at the following places: Harts Island, 8; Davids Island, 1; 

Fort Lafayette, 2; Fort Columbus, 12; and Willetts Point, 1.

204

The Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead expired in 1912 but was 

reactivated in 1914 with new legislation. A diary kept by Commissioner Samuel Lewis 

between January and August 1915 noted that 475 old headstones were corrected and 

fourteen new headstones were placed at Cypress Hills. Later diary notations record 456 

Confederate stones, for a total of 451 known and five unknown burials. These numbers 

are credited to a report from the office of the quartermaster general dated June 30, 1914, 

but they do not correspond with the 515 interments noted in the 1912 Commission 

report.205

The general configuration of what is now known as Union Grounds, Cypress Hills 

Cemetery, has not changed since the plan was drawn in 1892. The most significant 

change is the addition of burials from the Spanish-American War and World War I. The 
121

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

order of the grave numbers on the stones indicates that these interments were placed 

at the ends of the old rows, filling in open paths between groups of burials. SpanishAmerican War and World War I graves are also located in the area near the flagstaff, 

which was originally vacant (fig. 103). 

The Confederate headstones appear to have been replaced after 1930. The headstone 

design includes the Confederate Cross of Honor, which was not used on headstones 

placed by the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

122

Figure 104 . Map showing the Delaware River with Fort Delaware and Finn’s Point National Cemetery. Based on George H. Cook and C. C. 

Vermeule’s U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map, 1887.
123

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

FINN’S POINT NATIONAL CEMETERY

Salem, New Jersey 

Finn’s Point National Cemetery, New Jersey, is the final resting place of the Confederate 

prisoners of war held at Fort Delaware, situated on the south end of Pea Patch Island. 

The island, which lies in the Delaware River about one mile east of Delaware City, 

Delaware, and one mile west of Finn’s Point, New Jersey, is approximately one mile 

long and one-half mile wide. Constructed in 1825, Fort Delaware was part of the early 

republic’s coastal defenses. Then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who later becomes 

president of the Confederate States, requested funding to update the brick structure in 

the 1850s. The modernization was completed in 1859. On the eve of the Civil War, Fort 

Delaware was part of the defenses of Philadelphia and considered to be the best fort in 

the U.S. coastal defense system (fig. 104).206

When the war began, Fort Delaware’s garrison numbered twenty men, but by 1862 the 

garrison had grown to more than 300 personnel. However, by then it was clear that 

the Confederate navy posed no threat to Philadelphia. No longer needed for defense, 

the government transformed Fort Delaware into a prison. After Union forces defeated 

General “Stonewall” Jackson at the Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, on March 23, 1862, 

the army sent 248 Confederate prisoners to Pea Patch Island. They were the first of more 

than 30,000 Confederate soldiers and officers eventually imprisoned at Fort Delaware.207

Fort Delaware Prisoner-of-War Camp

When the first Confederate prisoners arrived on Pea Patch Island, facilities were not yet 

prepared to house the men or to bury them. The quartermaster sent Colonel George 

H. Crosman to erect accommodations; Crosman designed barracks with three-tiered

bunks along the walls, separated by a wide central hallway. Pot-bellied stoves were

installed to heat the barracks. A system of gutters carried rain water to troughs inside

the structures.208

Crosman built the barracks outside of the fort’s walls in an 8-acre pen located 

approximately 500 yards northwest of the fort. As was standard procedure, the prison 

was surrounded by a high plank fence with walkways for the guards. The enclosure 

contained two pens: a small pen for officers and a large one for enlisted men.209

The prison contained a hospital composed of twelve barracks and a number of tents, 

located at the upper end of the island. A smallpox hospital, segregated from the general 

hospital complex, treated victims of smallpox and other contagious disease.210

Confederate Captain Lewis Holloway, 27th Virginia Infantry, arrived at Fort Delaware 

with the first group of prisoners. Ill when he arrived, Holloway developed pneumonia 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

124

and died on April 9, 1862. Holloway was a Mason, as was Captain A. A. Gibson, the 

fort’s commanding officer. Gibson had Holloway’s remains transported to Christ Church 

Cemetery in Delaware City, where he had arranged for the burial to include a graveside 

Masonic ceremony.211

Fort Delaware became one of the largest facilities in the Union prisoner-of-war system, 

holding both civilian and Confederate prisoners. As with most Union camps, Fort 

Delaware’s population increased during summer 1863. In July, following the Battle of 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 10,000 Confederate prisoners arrived on Pea Patch Island. Of 

that number a relatively small percentage, 180, died within one month.212 Confederate 

surgeons attending prisoners reported: 

In justice to the officer commanding this post we would beg leave to state 

that everything in his power to add to the comfort of these prisoners is 

being done. The sick are cared for as well as possible and new hospitals 

[are being] built for the accommodation of more. They are not compelled 

to drink water from the ditches, as reported; but water sufficient to supply 

the island is brought here by the boat twice daily from a distance, besides 

the supply of rain water constantly on hand.

213

Confederate officers were held at Fort Delaware into 1865. On February 4, 1865, there 

were 1,260 officers, and 6,420 noncommissioned officers and enlisted men on Pea 

Patch Island. The last officer to die at Fort Delaware was Lieutenant J. M. Gollehon, 

23rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. The last enlisted man to die on the island was Thomas 

Jowers, 1st South Carolina. Jowers died two days after orders arrived to release all ablebodied Confederates.214

Prison Cemeteries

Initially, most Confederate prisoners who died at Fort Delaware were buried on the 

island, as were most Union soldiers and civilians. The Confederate burial ground was 

located northeast of the hospital barracks and west of the Union burial plot. A few 

Confederate dead were interred elsewhere; at least five men, in addition to Captain 

Holloway, were buried at Christ Church Cemetery in Delaware City.215

As the prison population increased so did the number of dead, and the island 

cemetery filled quickly. Due to the high water table, Pea Patch Island was a particularly 

undesirable location for a cemetery. Thus the army decided to establish a cemetery on 

Finn’s Point, a mainland area a mile east of Fort Delaware in Salem County, New Jersey. 

The federal government purchased Finn’s Point in 1837, and from it created the Finn’s 

Point Battery for the defense of Philadelphia. The cemetery at Finn’s Point opened on 

July 20, 1863. Burials continued on the island after that date, but only in cases when the 

weather would not allow boats to reach Finn’s Point.216

Two former prisoners recalled similar practices for burying Confederates at Finn’s Point. 

The first wrote:

I, with others, was detailed to go over to the Jersey shore and bury them. 

We went over on sailboats, and the dead were placed in pine boxes and 
125

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

sent in steamboats. Holes were dug, about six feet square, and into these 

we placed as many as possible, usually about twelve. Whenever we found 

names we would mark the spot in some way. It was an awful task, getting 

the coffins from the steamboat to rowboats, in which they were taken 

ashore.

217

According to the second account:

The manner of burial was to dig a ditch six feet wide and six feet deep, 

put in three boxes containing corpses one on top of the other, then extend 

the ditch, using the dirt to cover the boxes.218

The prison closed on January 1, 1866. Church records show that Confederates originally 

interred in Christ Church Cemetery were moved in 1870, but there was no record of 

who moved them or where they went. Five years later, in May 1875, Virginia Governor 

James L. Kemper wrote the secretary of war inquiring about the possibility of enclosing 

the graves of Confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware. The secretary of war dispatched 

Colonel Oscar A. Mack to inspect the condition of the cemetery. Perhaps as a result of 

the investigation instigated by the Virginia governor, the War Department designated 

the Finn’s Point burial ground as a national cemetery in October 1875.219

After Mack’s inspection, the quartermaster sent a civil engineer to Fort Delaware to 

determine the logistics and cost of moving the island remains to Finn’s Point. 

The bodies referred to are buried in terraces or mounds raised about three 

(3) feet above the natural surface of the island, and there is nothing to

mark the graves, except in the lower lot where there are four headboards

standing and one marble slab.

220

Engineer G. D. Chenoweth determined that the best 

approach was simply to hire men to construct boxes as 

coffins, exhume and contain the remains, and take them 

by boat to Finn’s Point (fig. 105). He requested a man with 

carpentry skill to head up a crew of six. Two men would 

be at Finn’s Point digging new trenches and the other four 

would be exhuming and boxing the remains from the two 

cemeteries on the island. Chenoweth believed the whole 

operation could be completed in eighteen days for less than 

$350.221 Figure 105 . G. D. Chenoweth’s 

sketch of the boxes used to hold the 

remains of Pea Patch Island prisoners, 

provided to the Quartermaster 

Department. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

Oliver Cox, who supervised the work at Fort Delaware, reported:

On opening the trenches & graves it was found that there had been 

interred 135 Union and 209 Confederate; of these, 22 coffins, though well 

preserved, were found to contain nothing. It is thought these remains 

may have been removed by friends.222

As the remains were disinterred, “each was numbered according to its range and 

section.” The remains were placed in new boxes and taken across the river to New Jersey 

where they were buried in separate graves. The Confederate and Union dead moreover 

were buried in separate sections of the cemetery. Headboards numbered “to correspond 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

126

with the original interment, so that should the burial record be subsequently found, 

each grave can be identified” were placed over each grave.223 Cox also described the 

arrangement of the Confederate burial ground at Finn’s Point: 

The Confederates are interred in the Northern part. Those interred 

during the war are in 4 rows of pits 7 trenches all parallel and extending 

across the cemetery from east to west. They are buried 3 or 4 deep in the 

trenches and suppose to number 2300 bodies.

224

Figure 106 . The federal 

government placed this 

monument in Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery in 1879 to 

identify Union soldiers buried 

there; the neoclassical shelter was 

added in 1936.

Finn’s Point National Cemetery

Frederick Schmidt was the first superintendent appointed at the 4.5-acre Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery, in 1875. Upon arrival, he reported that the cemetery was in need of 

repairs. It lacked trees, drives, and drainage, and the fence and headboards were in poor 

shape. By the time the Second Empire–style stone lodge was constructed two years later, 

Schmidt had overseen substantial other improvements to the cemetery: trees had been 

planted, grass sown, and a wall constructed around it. In 1879, the federal government 

erected an obelisk approximately 7 feet high to honor 105 Union dead whose individual 

graves could not be identified. The soldiers’ names were carved on the four faces of the 

white marble monument. In 1885, seven cast-iron tablets bearing quatrains of the poem 

Bivouac of the Dead were installed on the grounds (figs. 106–108).225

Enhancements to the cemetery continued. An inspection report dated August 3, 1888, 

mentions “a double drive and one walk gate of iron at the main entrance and a walk 

gate near the outbuilding. Japanese ivy covered the 

front wall, and Osage hedge had been planted close to 

rear and side walls.” Careful tree plantings screened 

the lodge from the rest of the cemetery.226 An 1892 

U.S. Army Quartermaster Department site plan shows 

the hedge and a flagstaff in the southwest section of 

the cemetery near the Union monument. In addition, 

two gates are shown, one near the lodge and one in the 

east wall. A grass drive leads from the east gate to the 

flagstaff. Nine burial trenches are indicated; six of them 

are in the Confederate section. Only one headstone is 

shown (fig. 109).227

Figure 107 . The Finn’s Point 

Second Empire-style lodge in 

1933. National Archives and Records 

Administration.

In 1896 the cemetery was incorporated into Finn’s Point 

Military Reservation. On December 16, 1897, the name of the installation was changed 

to Fort Mott. Several soldiers who had died while serving at Fort Mott are also buried in 

the cemetery.228

The Commission

In August 1906, Commissioner William Elliott and L. Frank Nye of the Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead visited Finn’s Point National Cemetery to obtain 

the information necessary to mark the graves of Confederate prisoners buried there. 

They spent two days in New Jersey. On August 7 they met with Superintendent John F. 
127

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Tomlin who explained that there were 113 known Union burials and 2,539 unknown 

burials (30 Union, 2,509 Confederate) at the cemetery.229

Figure 108 . Bivouac of the Dead plaques were 

installed at national cemeteries in the early 1880s; 

at Finn’s Point they have been relocated close to the 

lodge.

Figure 109 . U.S. Army Quartermaster 

Department site plan of Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery, 1892; locations of the 

trench burials (gray) have been digitally 

enhanced. National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Nye asked Tomlin if he had any information regarding how the Confederates were 

buried. Tomlin told Nye what he had been told: 

[T]he Confederates were originally buried 7 deep in 6 trenches, and 

which were heaped up on top and afterwards, in 1874, when they had 

commenced to fall in, the ground was all leveled off and trees planted.

230

Filling in the graves and planting trees destroyed any surface indication of the burial 

trenches, which made grave identification difficult at best. Nye also doubted Tomlin’s 

information, writing, “The statement that they were buried 7 deep is incorrect, and it is 

plainly impossible.”231
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

128

The next day, August 8, Elliott and Nye met with G. G. Gibbon of Pennsville, New 

Jersey.232 Gibbon’s father owned the land adjacent to the cemetery. As a boy, Gibbon had 

observed the reinterment of the Confederates, and later helped to remove the remains 

from Fort Delaware. Gibbon’s recollection of the methods used to bury Confederate 

dead at Finn’s Point differed substantially from Tomlin’s information: 

That the first burial was made in a single grave in the northwest corner 

of the cemetery, and that it was Sergeant Pratt, from Virginia. There were 

only a few single graves, afterward they buried in holes large enough to 

hold four bodies, and they were laid in three deep, or 12 to a hole; not 

four deep. Never were more than three deep. After a while they found 

that even burying in this manner would crowd them, so they started to 

dig trenches across the plot, and commenced at the northwest corner; 

toward Newcastle, and continued down the river, each trench starting at 

the river. All Confederate remains are buried above the flag-staff, while 

Union remains are all buried to the south of the flag-staff.

233

Gibbon further explained that the Confederates prisoners dug the graves and buried 

individual remains, three deep in each grave. A detail made up of Union soldiers 

accompanied each burial. The coffins contained a piece of paper with the individual’s 

name, which was protected by a piece of leather. A headboard was placed on each grave 

with the name, company, and regiment of each of the three individuals. Unfortunately, 

the headboards had long since rotted or been destroyed.234

In spring 1907, Commissioner Elliott wrote to the quartermaster in an attempt to clear 

up the inconsistencies he and Nye had found at Finn’s Point. Elliott’s principal concern 

was the discrepancies between the 1892 army site plan and a map thought to have been 

drawn about 1868, the latter which Elliott had examined at the quartermaster general’s 

office in Washington. 

There seem to be variations in course and distance between these two 

plats, and there are most important difference as to the number and 

location of the trenches in which the Confederates were buried, the older 

plat giving thirteen (13) such trenches, some of them not continuous, 

located in the northern half of the cemetery, while the plan of 1892 gives 

only six (6) such trenches (somewhat differently located), and none 

of them broken. There seems also to be a decided difference as to the 

location of the northernmost such trench, and differences also between 

the distances apart of the trenches.

235

Elliott believed that the older map was drawn when the trenches were still visible. He 

believed that if he could obtain information showing the relationship between the 

features shown on the 1868 map and the stone enclosure wall, he might be able to 

mark the graves with headstones. By this time, Elliott had already visited Indianapolis 

and Point Lookout and was he beginning to understand the complexity of marking 

individual graves at cemeteries that had remained unmarked for forty years.236

The quartermaster made inquiries but the answers must have disappointed Elliott. John 

Tomlin, with whom Elliott had spoken the year before, wrote that the construction 

of the wall and the lodge in 1877 destroyed any traces of the “landmarks of 1868.” He 

also mentioned that when the graves were leveled, any remains above the “level of the 
129

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

ground” had been moved and reinterred in the northwest corner of the cemetery. The 

quartermaster in Philadelphia, who was responsible for Finn’s Point, checked his records 

as well. He could find no additional information regarding the two plat maps, at least 

nothing that helped Commissioner Elliott.237

William Elliott died before the situation at Finn’s Point was resolved. In 1908 his 

successor, William Oates, proposed a solution. In locations where individual graves 

could not be identified, that in lieu of individual headstones, the government should 

erect one large monument bearing the names of individuals interred in the cemetery. 

In November of that year, the judge advocate general ruled that erecting a single 

monument was within the spirit of the law. This ruling authorized work to proceed not 

only at Finn’s Point, but also at North Alton Confederate Cemetery, Alton, Illinois; Point 

Lookout, Maryland; and Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana.238

The circular and poster requesting bids for the construction of a monument at Finn’s 

Point National Cemetery was released in May 1909. In August 1909, the Van Amringe 

Granite Company of Boston, Massachusetts, was awarded the contract. Work began that 

fall. Some minor issues with tree removal were worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. 

The 85-foot 6-inch-tall Pennsylvania blue marble obelisk was completed in spring 1910 

(figs. 110–111). A Quartermaster Department engineer inspected and approved the 

work in May that year (fig. 112).239

Figure 110 . Left: Elevation 

drawing of Confederate 

monumentat Finn’s Point by 

Van Amringe Granite Company, 

1909. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

Figure 111 . Center: Section 

and course plan drawing of 

Confederate monument at 

Finn’s Point by Van Amringe 

Granite Company, 1909.

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Figure 112 . Right: Finn’s Point 

monument, 1910. The east face 

includes four bronze plaques, 

the dedication (shaft) and 

three containing the names of 

Confederate dead.
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130

Figure 113 . Finn’s Point 

Confederate monument 

dedication plaque, whose 

inscription omits any eulogy 

or words of bereavement.

The secretary of war approved the monument’s inscription. The simple text was without 

praise or eulogy: Erected by the United States to mark the burial place of 2436 Confederate 

soldiers who died at Fort Delaware while prisoners of war and whose graves cannot now 

be individually identified. Twelve additional bronze plaques—three on each face of the 

mound on which the obelisk was erected—bore the names of the 2,436 Confederate 

prisoners buried in the cemetery (fig. 113).240

A couple of years after the monument was completed, Sam Cunningham, editor of 

Confederate Veteran, wrote the superintendent at Finn’s Point to request a copy of the list 

of prisoners buried there, so that he could publish the list. The superintendent checked 

with the proper authorities—the quartermaster general and the secretary of war—and 

neither had any objection to Cunningham publishing the list. The request then went to 

Commissioner Berry, who sent the list to Cunningham.241

There are two outbuildings on the property: a wood-frame stable built between 1877 

and 1892 is located in the northeast corner of the cemetery behind the lodge. A smaller 

board-and-batten shed, construction date unknown, sits north of the garage. The 

stable was converted in 1936 to a garage/storage building as a part of a Works Progress 

Administration (WPA) project. The same year, the army erected a circular neoclassicalstyle shelter with a cast-concrete dome supported by six Doric columns to protect the 

1879 Union monument (figs. 114–115). When Finn’s Point National Cemetery was 

enlarged in 1941 several changes were made. The old east wall was removed and a new 

wall was constructed to enclose 4.59 acres, increasing the size of the cemetery by 1.09 

acres. In addition, a 75-foot-tall flagstaff was installed (fig. 116).242

During World War II, thirteen prisoners of war who died at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and 

other area camps were buried near the Confederate memorial. Three of the men—

Russians serving in the German army—committed suicide when they learned that they 

were to be sent back to Russia (fig. 117).243

Finn’s Point National Cemetery contains more than 3,000 burials; the vast majority are 

Confederate prisoners. The property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places 

and is included in the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail.

Figure 114 . The new castconcrete neoclassical 

portico built over the 1879 

Union monument and the 

Bivouac of the Dead plaques

in their original location 

(background), photograph 

1936. National Archives and 

Records Administration.
131

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 115 . The old stable at Finn’s 

Point prior to renovation in 1936. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Figure 116 . Layout of Finn’s Point 

National Cemetery ca. 1950, after 

expansion and renovations during 

the 1940s were complete. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 117 . World War II prisoners of 

war were buried at Finn’s Point National 

Cemetery near the Confederate 

monument.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

132

Figure 118 . Map showing Fort Smith National Cemetery, the old fort, and vicinity. Based on the “Map of the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas” by James 

B. Gass, 1894.
133

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

FORT SMITH NATIONAL CEMETERY

Fort Smith, Arkansas 

Fort Smith was established in 1817 after Acting Secretary of War Richard Graham 

directed General Andrew Jackson to establish a post, “where the Osage [tribal] 

boundary crossed the Arkansas River.” Jackson forwarded Graham’s orders to General 

Thomas A. Smith, the army commander near St. Louis, with instructions to select a 

suitable commander, as well as engineers and the men necessary for the expedition. 

After much delay due to sickness and bad weather, the party arrived at Belle Point on 

Christmas Day 1817, in what is today Sebastian County, Arkansas. The commander of 

the expedition, Major William Bradford, named the fort for his commanding officer, 

General Thomas A. Smith. The first person buried in the post cemetery was surgeon 

Thomas Russell, who died on August 24, 1819.244

The federal government abandoned and reoccupied Fort Smith several times throughout 

the early nineteenth century. During periods of occupancy, soldiers who died at the post 

were buried in the small plot where surgeon Russell had been interred. The plot was 

cleaned up, enlarged, and when the fort was reoccupied in 1842 it became the official 

post cemetery (fig. 118).245

The Confederacy occupied Fort Smith from April 23, 1861, until August 31, 1863. As 

Confederate base of operations on the edge of the Indian Territory, Fort Smith also 

served as a quartermaster and commissary depot, and as hospital. Fort Smith’s hospital 

staff cared for both the sick and battle casualties. At least one smallpox epidemic 

was reported in the vicinity. When Union troops took possession of Fort Smith on 

September 1, 1863, they found 1,500 hospital patients in wretched condition. The men 

who died during the Confederate occupation of Fort Smith were buried in the same post 

cemetery (fig. 119).246

Fort Smith National Cemetery

The post cemetery was designated as Fort Smith National Cemetery in 1867. An 1869 

U.S. Army inspection report described the national cemetery as “about 5 acres” and “a 

lodge on a stone foundation [that] was in course of construction.” The cemetery was 

bordered by a graveled avenue 12 feet wide and enclosed with a picket fence. It was 

divided into six large and three small sections separated by 10-foot-wide graveled walks. 

It contained 1,776 individuals of which approximately 200 graves were marked with 

headboards, and the remainder with numbered stakes. The inspection made no mention 

of Confederate burials.247

A report made a year later, noted that the three-room stone lodge had been completed, 

but it was outside of the cemetery wall. Two 24-pounder iron guns (cannons) had been 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

134

Figure 119 . Fort Smith, ca. 1860. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 7, 1865.

Figure 120 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map, 1892, shows the cemetery changed little during its first two decades. National Archives 

and Records Administration.
135

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

“planted as monuments” on either side of the entrance gate set into the wooden picket 

fence that surrounded the cemetery. An Osage orange hedge had been planted inside 

the fence enclosing the 5.5-acre cemetery. In addition to the hedge, the inspector noted 

that large trees were “growing spontaneously” in the cemetery, in addition to small trees 

and shrubs that had recently been planted. The cemetery did not yet have a flagstaff; the 

report suggested that the post flagstaff could be moved south of the main entrance if it 

was suitable. If not, another flagstaff should be obtained. The 1868 report stated that the 

remains of 125 Confederate soldiers, 17 identified, were buried within the confines of 

the cemetery.248

Figure 121 . The UDC planned this 

1903 Confederate monument for 

Fort Smith National Cemetery, but 

the War Department rejected it; it 

stands on the Sebastian County 

Courthouse lawn.

In February 1871, the army abandoned Fort Smith for the last time, and the land 

delineated by the military reservation was turned over to the Department of the Interior. 

In May 1871, by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant, the land containing the 

national cemetery was excluded from the transfer and returned to the Department of 

War. Grant excluded the cemetery from the transfer because the old post cemetery had 

become a national cemetery in 1867. He ordered the War Department to reactivate the 

cemetery for use for military burials.249

By 1875, the cemetery had expanded to 10 acres. A brick wall enclosed the cemetery, 

which measured roughly 425 feet wide (north to south) and 1,024 feet long (east to 

west). The main gate was centered on the east wall, with a smaller gate on the south 

side near the lodge. The cemetery was laid out to reserve areas for specific burial, 

transportation, and ornamental purposes:

From the main entrance a wide avenue has been opened to the former 

entrance to the cemetery proper. From the latter point a drive extends 

around the original lot. Two other drives diverge from this point also, 

a little way to the right and left, and then extend to the west end of the 

lot, at equal distances from each other and from the drives along the 

north and south sides. These, with two cross drives, divide this part of 

the grounds into nine sections, six of which are equal size and similar 

in form, and are used for burial purposes. The other three sections are 

small, and are used for ornamental purposes. The flag-staff and two gunmonuments are located in them.

250

Figure 122 . The federal government 

installed this replacement 

Confederate monument at Fort 

Smith by 1904.

The report said that trees had been planted in the new acreage, the lodge had flower and 

vegetable gardens, and the area in front of the lodge was to be converted into a lawn. The 

graves were sodded and the grass had been cut (fig. 120).251

Union veteran William Dillon spent most of his 36-year career as a superintendent at 

Fort Smith National Cemetery, from 1876 to 1884, and again from 1902 until his death 

in 1930. Among the many changes Dillon oversaw—from the beginning of the National 

Cemetery System, through the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead 

and World War I—were planting trees, some of which remain in the cemetery.252

About a decade after the Civil War ended, former Confederate General James F. Fagan 

and Dr. Elias Duval, a Confederate veteran from Sebastian County, began to raise 

money for a memorial to be placed in Fort Smith National Cemetery in honor of the 

Confederate dead and Generals Alexander Steen and James McIntosh. The women of 

Fort Smith rallied for this cause and raised most of the funds. As a result, sometime 

before 1898, “a modest, yet appropriate shaft” was erected in Section 2 on what the 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

136

Confederate Veteran called “Confederate Mound.” This 

memorial was destroyed by a tornado on January 11, 

1898; the damage also leveled the superintendent’s 

lodge, a portion of the brick wall, and many trees in the 

cemetery.253

Figure 123 . The lodge at Fort 

Smith National Cemetery in 1941. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

In the wake of the tornado, the Ben T. Duval Camp of 

the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) began work to 

restore the Confederate memorial. In 1899, the Varina 

Jefferson Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the 

Confederacy (UDC) joined the UCV in its efforts. The 

members donated money and the women held events 

to raise additional funds. Sometime around 1901, the 

UDC chapter submitted the design for a new memorial 

to the Department of War for approval. Secretary of 

War Elihu Root rejected it; his objection was based on 

the inscription, “Lest We Forget,” and the statue of a 

Confederate soldier atop the shaft (fig. 121). Undaunted, 

the UDC chapter put its monument on the Sebastian County Courthouse lawn. By 1904, 

however, the federal government had replaced the damaged one in the cemetery with 

the 5-foot-tall monument that now stands in the Confederate section (fig. 122). It is not 

known whether the present memorial is identical to the original.254

Figure 124 . The formal main gates 

at Fort Smith were replaced in 1942 

when the entrance was moved 

from South Sixth Street to Garland 

Street; they are inside the cemetery 

today. Undated photograph. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration. The 1904 army inspection, while much less detailed than earlier reports, provides 

meaningful information about the evolution of the cemetery. Among the cemetery 

structures at that time, was a much larger, two-story, seven-room lodge constructed of 

brick and containing a water closet (fig. 123). The original brick wall had been replaced 

by a brick and stone wall enclosing 9 acres. The number of interments had increased to 

2,335 (fig. 124).255
137

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Marking the Confederate Graves

In 1906, during Dillon’s second tenure as superintendent, federal legislation was enacted 

for the appropriate marking of the graves of the soldiers and sailors of the Confederate 

army and navy who had had died in Northern prisons and were buried near those 

prisons. As passed in 1906, this act did not affect Fort Smith National Cemetery. 

Arkansas was not a Northern state and Confederates buried there were not prisoners of 

war. Not until 1914 was the law was amended to allow the graves of Confederate soldiers 

interred in all national cemeteries to be marked.256

Figure 125 . Headstones at Fort 

Smith feature the Confederate 

Cross of Honor, an emblem 

authorized in the 1930s.

In late 1914 the office of the quartermaster general wrote Superintendent Dillon seeking 

clarification of the information he had provided earlier regarding the Confederate 

graves in Fort Smith National Cemetery. Dillon reported to the quartermaster’s office 

that 127 Confederate soldiers were interred in the national cemetery. Colonel John L. 

Clem, office of quartermaster general, responded, “According to your report of January 

14, 1919, the ten known have private headstones, 18 are marked with government slabs, 

grave 588 has 30 in trench, grave 598 has 20 in trench, grave 599 has 15 in trench and are 

unmarked, leaving thirty-four totally unknown.” Clem thought that the thirty-four graves 

should be marked with government headstones if they could be located (fig. 125).257

Figure 126 . Fort Smith site map showing proposed cemetery updates, 1940s, but not the circle drive and flagstaff added in 1942. National 

Cemetery Administration.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

138

Figure 127 . Photograph of the new 

entrance to the cemetery,1940s, with 

a wider driveway and substantial 

limestone gateposts. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

Dillon concurred. He replied, indicating that he and Henry C. Norton had perused the 

records and found the missing Confederate interments. Some of them had been marked 

with unknown Union blocks. He believed that the numbers he and Norton had arrived 

at were accurate, and wrote that he could mark the Confederate graves appropriately 

if the government would provide the headstones.258 What might have happened next 

to mark the thirty-four graves has not been determined. However, the Confederate 

headstones extant at Fort Smith are not a form that was available in 1914. All the 

Confederate headstones observed in 2009 feature the Confederate Cross of Honor, an 

emblem that was not authorized until the 1930s, which indicates that the commissionera headstones had been replaced. 

Figure 128 . A grave marker for 

multiple unknown Confederate 

dead next to a 2006 interment.
139

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

In the 1940s the main cemetery entrance, intersecting with Garland Avenue in 

downtown Fort Smith, was constructed and fitted with decorative wrought-iron gates; 

and a new a stone wall was built to enclose more than 21 acres (figs. 126–127). A history 

of the cemetery written at that time reported 474 unknown Confederate interments.259

Fort Smith National Cemetery, now slightly larger, contains more than a thousand 

dead. Interments made in the Confederate section during the twentieth and twenty-first 

centuries have significantly changed the visual character of the area where Confederates 

were buried in the nineteenth century. While large numbers of their pointed marble 

headstones are easily seen in Section 3—the largest concentration of Confederate graves 

in the cemetery—numerous contemporary interments have filled the spaces among the 

nineteenth-century graves. Confederate interments are also scattered in Sections 1, 2, 4, 

and 8. One recent burial is located adjacent to a Confederate grave that is identified as 

containing fifteen unknown remains (fig. 128).
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

140

Figure 129 . Greater St. Louis map showing the locations of hospitals and prisons, ca. 1870, and Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.
141

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

JEFFERSON BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY

St. Louis, Missouri 

The history of Jefferson Barracks begins on March 4, 1826, when Major General Jacob 

J. Brown, commanding General of the Army, ordered the commander of the Western 

Department of the Army “to select some position near the mouth of the Missouri . . . for 

the establishment of an infantry school of instruction.”260 A deed was signed on July 8, 

1826, for a parcel of land approximately 10 miles south of St. Louis, and troops occupied 

the site two days later (fig 129). On October 23, 1826, several months after the death of 

President Thomas Jefferson, the new post was named “The Jefferson Barracks,” a name 

deemed especially suitable because Jefferson had brought the Louisiana Territory into 

the Union. In the years immediately following its founding, Jefferson Barracks became a 

staging point from which troops could be quickly moved to trouble spots in the West, a 

position it played throughout the nineteenth century.261

With the onset of the Civil War, Jefferson Barracks became a recruitment center. 

Thousands of men flocked to the post to enlist in the Union army. By May 8, 1861, four 

regiments had been sworn into service. In August 1861, troops from Jefferson Barracks 

and the St. Louis Arsenal were among those that engaged Confederate forces at the 

Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, Missouri. In September 1864, Confederate 

forces attempted to take St. Louis. The campaign ended at Westport near Kansas City, 

Missouri, when troops deployed from Jefferson Barracks defeated the Confederates in a 

seven-hour battle, forcing their retreat.262

Civil War battles produced an enormous number of casualties. The U.S. Army was in 

dire need of medical facilities and Jefferson Barracks, in part because of its excellent rail 

and water access, became a major federal hospital center (fig 130). In 1862, the existing 

post hospital was totally renovated and new facilities were built. When complete, the 

huge complex would accommodate 3,000 patients. By the end of 1862, more than 5,000 

sick and wounded had been admitted to Jefferson Barracks General Hospital, which was 

staffed by the Western Sanitation Commission. During the second half of 1864, more 

than 5,000 were admitted. Those who died were interred in what had begun as a frontier 

post cemetery.263

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

The first recorded burial at Jefferson Barracks took place in 1827. Eliza Ann Lash, the 

infant daughter of a garrison officer, died on August 5 and was buried atop a hill near the 

fort. In time, a crude wooden fence was built to keep animals out of the roughly 1-acre 

post cemetery, which was maintained by men on fatigue duty. The soldiers cut weeds, 

dug graves, and erected headstones and markers.264
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

142

Figure 130 . View of Jefferson 

Barracks, ca. 1861. Library of 

Congress.

Congress passed the act authorizing President Lincoln to purchase cemetery grounds to 

be used as national cemeteries on July 17, 1862. Jefferson Barracks was an appropriate 

location for a national cemetery because it was not only a location where large numbers 

of troops were concentrated, but it was also boasted a major army hospital. Jefferson 

Barracks National Cemetery was inaugurated in 1863. The property encompassed an 

expansion of the old post cemetery, which contained military and civilian dead alike.265

Gratiot Street and Myrtle Street Prisons

Although St. Louis was a major Civil War staging area, no large prison compound 

existed in the city—certainly nothing comparable to the facility at Alton, just across the 

Mississippi River in Illinois. Throughout the war, prisoners were housed in two St. Louis 

buildings that the federal government confiscated from Confederate sympathizers.266

The first was McDowell Medical College at the corner of Eighth and Gratiot streets, 

which became Gratiot Street Prison (fig. 131). Dr. Joseph N. McDowell moved to St. 

Louis from Tennessee in 1840 to teach medicine. By the end of the decade, he had 

established the college that bore his name. McDowell was outspoken in his pro-slavery 

views. In May 1861, after the assault on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the college was 

searched for weapons. None were found, but the physician and his sons thereafter 

departed St. Louis to support the Confederacy. Federal authorities confiscated the 

college building to use as a barracks; in December 1861, it was converted into a prison.267

The army installed bunks and cook stoves in the former classrooms and turned the 

dissecting room into a mess hall. It took fifty men approximately two weeks to transform 
143

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

the building from a college to a prison. The local press praised the work 

and the new facility, boasting that it could hold 2,000 inmates—but that 

figure was much exaggerated. Gratiot Street Prison could comfortably hold 

500, though it often exceeded that number. The first prisoners arrived on 

Christmas Eve 1861.268

Figure 131 . McDowell Medical 

College in St. Louis; this building 

became Gratiot Street Prison. 

From Holland Thomason, editor, 

Photographic History of the 

Civil War: Volume 4, Prisons and 

Hospitals, 1910.

The second seized property was Myrtle Street Prison, known as “Lynch’s 

Slave Pen” prior to the Civil War. Bernard M. Lynch held slaves in the twoand-a-half-story brick building before he sold them. In early 1861, Lynch 

fled south and the army confiscated his building. Situated at the corner of 

Broadway and Clark Avenues (then Fifth and Myrtle streets), the building 

featured barred windows and doors fitted with strong locks. It needed little 

alteration to serve as a prison. In September 1861, twenty-seven prisoners 

were being held in there, including Dr. McDowell’s son, Max, who had 

returned to St. Louis to recruit for the Confederacy.269

After the prison at Alton opened in February 1862, Gratiot Street Prison 

and Myrtle Street Prison became holding facilities for Confederate 

prisoners on their way to Alton and other larger prisons. These facilities 

also held political prisoners, Union deserters, and Union soldiers awaiting trial for 

crimes. Women, and on occasion children, were also retained briefly at both prisons. 

Eventually a section of Gratiot Street Prison was designated as the female prison; women 

were held there throughout most of its existence. Female inmates were segregated from 

the men in prison and were treated in a separate hospital facility. Individuals at the two 

prisons generally did not spend much time there before being transferred to another 

facility, exiled from the state or executed.270

Toward the end of February 1862, boats carrying 1,300 Confederates captured at Fort 

Donelson, Tennessee, arrived in St. Louis. Most of the Confederates were distributed 

between the two prisons; 250 sick and wounded men were sent to city hospitals. The 

hospital where prisoners were treated was located near Gratiot Street Prison. They 

also went to City Hospital, House of Refuge, Sisters of Charity hospitals, and military 

hospitals on Fourth Street, Hickory Street, and Jefferson Barracks. Some prisoners with 

smallpox were treated at a facility on Quarantine Island; six of these men died and were 

buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.271

Myrtle Street Prison was closed in May 1862, and the inmates were moved to Gratiot. 

However, by fall 1862, overcrowding at Gratiot necessitated the reopening of the Myrtle 

Street facility. The death toll rose at these overcrowded prisons. Both reported a high 

number of ailing prisoners—more than 100 at Gratiot and thirty-five at Myrtle Street. 

Eventually a large number of prisoners were sent to Alton; this eased overcrowding in St. 

Louis, but essentially moved the problem across the river.272

Colonel William Hoffman recommended that the St. Louis prisons be used for “casual 

prisoners and for such as have their cases under investigation. All military prisoners 

should be sent to Alton.”273 His recommendation was never carried out. A year later, 

Gratiot Street reported a population of 382 Confederate prisoners and 114 civilians. 

Conditions at the prisons varied depending on the number of inmates and who was 

reported on the conditions. Confederate prisoners found the conditions appalling. 

Government inspectors often reported problems yet determined that the facilities were 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

144

suitable. Both prisons remained in operation throughout the war and finally closed in 

summer 1865.274

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 1865–1906

Confederate prisoners who died in St. Louis prisons or hospitals were initially buried 

in the city’s Christ Church and Wesleyan cemeteries. Interments at Wesleyan Cemetery 

were conducted by John A. Smithers & Brother. The Confederate and civilian prisoners 

initially buried in St. Louis were moved to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery 

in or around 1867. The remains relocated to Jefferson Barracks also included six 

burials removed from Quarantine Island and those of a prisoner removed from Cape 

Girardeau.275

John B. Howard, the quartermaster at Jefferson Barracks, in 1867 wrote to his superior 

in St. Louis requesting permission to remove the stone wall that had been erected 

around the old post cemetery many years before. “The old wall should unquestionably 

be removed, it disfigures the Cemetery, is of no possible good standing,” he wrote, 

“While if taken down, the stone can be used for macadamizing the walks.” His superiors 

in St. Louis and Washington agreed, so Howard demolished the wall and reused the 

stone. 

Today, the old post cemetery encompasses Sections OPS 1–3 in the east portion of the 

national cemetery, between Old Post West Drive and Old Post East Drive. But during 

the Civil War, the post cemetery had been enlarged through the addition of about 8 

acres. Union officers, black and white Union soldiers, and prisoners of war including 

Confederates originally buried in St. Louis were reinterred in the new section. Howard’s 

simple act of removing the old cemetery wall, however, would later complicate L. Frank 

Nye’s task of locating the Confederate dead at Jefferson Barracks.276

An 1868 army inspection reported that Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was a little 

larger than 8 acres. The grounds were enclosed with a whitewashed picket fence but a 

gate had not been constructed.277

It [the cemetery] is divided by avenues sixteen feet wide, and walks ten 

feet wide, into narrow parallelograms for burial purposes. In the center 

is a mound, thirty feet in diameter, for a flag-staff, which had not been 

erected, and which is unnecessary, as the flag at the engineer barracks is 

sufficient. The old graveyard remains as originally laid out, the graves 

not being interfered with. In the grounds are two natural ponds.

278

The report indicated that burial sections had stone curbing and stone gutters that 

successfully drained them. Many of the graves had been sodded and all were furnished 

with headboards. “The headboards of those who died during the war are not painted, 

but lettered black in stencil. All others are of the new pattern, painted white, and lettered 

in black.” There were more than 10,000 burials in the cemetery at the time; of this 

number, 1,010 Confederate prisoners of war included officers, enlisted men, and eightythree civilians.279

The subsequent inspection of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in 1871 

documented expansions and improvements. “The lot is a quadrangle about 1,200 feet 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

long and 734 feet wide, and contains a little over 

twenty acres.” The army had spent $142,287.46 on 

the cemetery up to that point, enclosing it with a 

whitewashed picket fence, installing a flagstaff in 

the center lot, erecting eight gun monuments, and 

building a three-room brick lodge (fig. 132). The 

inspector reported that headboards were in poor 

condition and the road between the cemetery and the 

post was “both circuitous and in bad condition.” His 

recommendations included a more direct road into the 

cemetery and a stone wall to replace the picket fence. 

The stone, he noted, could be obtained locally.280

Figure 132 . Superintendent’s 

lodge, 1872, at Jefferson Barracks 

with gatehouse (background), 

photograph 1933. National 

Cemetery Administration.

Three years later a stone wall with cut-sandstone 

coping was completed. The cemetery entrance 

centered on the north wall featured an ornate iron 

double gate hung on large limestone piers. The words “National Cemetery” spanned 

the gate on an arch. The inspector who visited the cemetery in August 1874 praised the 

work of the superintendent. He reported that graves were level, covered in turf with the 

grass cut, and they were marked “with headboards and stakes.” Describing it as “one of 

the finest national cemeteries in the country,” he was especially impressed by trees and 

plantings that were arranged “in an artistic manner.”

The foliage in this cemetery is rich and ample at this season. In early 

summer the bloom must be very rich and beautiful. Excellent taste has 

been displayed in selecting and massing the shrubbery here.281

Access was still a bad problem, the inspector indicated, which marred an otherwise 

exceptional cemetery; “in a special report” he recommended a new road. The army had 

already spent more than $160,000 on the cemetery but the inspector believed that it was 

money well spent. 

Among the growing number of interments, in 1874 those of “Rebel prisoners of war” 

grew to 1,106 from the 1,010 reported two years earlier.282 A “Classified Statement of 

Interments” completed by Superintendent Martin Burke in June 1875, also included 

1,106 “Rebel Soldiers and Sailors.” The form, which he “prepared with great care and 

accuracy,” broke down the total into 1,090 known and 16 unknown Confederates. The 

total number of dead in the cemetery was 10,984, with fewer than 2,500 unknown.283

Burke reported to the St. Louis quartermaster that the headboards marking civilian 

graves and the stakes marking the graves of Confederate prisoners were in need 

of repair. He listed what he needed to correct the problem in a letter: “386 new 

[headboards] are now required, to be of yellow pine, 3 ft. long 10 inch broad & 1 1⁄4 in. 

thick. For Prisoner graves, 125 cedar stakes 2 [feet] 6 inches long 4 inch broad & 1 1/8 

inch thick.”284 Burke’s request was approved but he was not to spend more than $148.63 

in doing so.285 Figure 133 . Jefferson Barracks brick 

rostrum, 1872, was renovated by 

the WPA in 1936, and later removed. 

Photograph 1939. National Archives 

and Records Administration. A map generated by the Office of the Quartermaster General in 1893 shows many of 

the improvements carried out at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in the preceding 

two decades. The road was rerouted and lined with trees, and trees planted along the 

enclosure wall. A rectangular brick rostrum was built outside of the wall, east of the 
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146

Figure 134 . U.S. Army 

Quartermaster Department map 

of Jefferson Barracks National 

Cemetery in 1893; this area 

encompasses burial Sections 

1–69 today. National Archives and 

Records Administration.
147

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

main gate (fig. 133); the superintendent’s lodge was inside the wall, west of the main 

gate. The main road passed the lodge on the way to the flagstaff; it divided the cemetery 

into two unequal parts, with the larger area situated west of the road. Secondary 

roads intersected the main road at right angles, providing access to other parts of the 

cemetery. The map shows numerous evergreen and deciduous trees, and two ponds (fig. 

134).286

Burke, who became superintendent in 1870, died on April 12, 1900. His replacement, 

Edward Best, was in charge of the cemetery when the Commission for Marking Graves 

of Confederate Dead began its work in 1906. He oversaw the replacement of wooden 

headboards with permanent headstones at Jefferson Barracks.287

The Commission 

In May 1907, L. Frank Nye, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, 

began checking the documentation for Confederate prisoners buried at Jefferson 

Barracks. He possessed three lists of names of Confederate prisoners interred in the 

national cemetery, but the numbers on the lists did not agree. A document provided 

by the quartermaster general counted 616 prisoners. The location of burial for some 

was given as Christ Church Cemetery, Wesleyan Cemetery, and Jefferson Barracks; for 

others it was missing. The second source, made in 1896 at Jefferson Barracks, listed 

1,149 unmarked burials, “many of which refer to others than Confederate soldiers.” 

The third, the report of the Commissary General of Prisoners, indicated a total of 681 

burials, some of which were buried at Jefferson Barracks.288

In November 1907, Nye traveled to St. Louis to visit the cemetery and conduct research. 

At Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery he found ledgers containing names, including 

the burial register, “which list is dated Feb. 17, 1896, and is a list of graves at the 

Jefferson Barracks, Mo., National Cemetery without permanent headstones, covering 

sections, 19, 20, 21, 221⁄2, 31, 32, 66 and 67.”289 The burial register did not indicate the 

“class”—soldier, civilian, or prisoner—associated with many names on the list. 

Two other untitled books provided burial information. The first, which listed 

individuals buried at Wesleyan Cemetery or Christ Church Cemetery, covered the 

period from “the latter part of 1861 to April 1, 1863.” The entries include the name 

of the deceased, death date, grave number, company, regiment, hospital, and cause of 

death. The second provided the same information for the period from April 1, 1863, to 

“the middle of 1865.” The names in both books were organized in alphabetical order, 

and all classes of burials were entered together.290

Nye pored over all the paperwork in the superintendent’s office and managed to piece 

together what had happened to the prisoners and how they came to be buried at 

Jefferson Barracks: 

There is also a bunch of old papers on file which show the rearranging of 

the cemetery and the assigning of the new numbering. They also show such 

as the following: On the Engineer blue print of the cemetery, dated 1868, 

reference is made to the removal of 300 bodies originally buried along 

the south wall, in Sections 19, etc. The “with out permanent headstones” 
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148

list starts with No. 25 as the first grave in Section 19. In this pile of old 

papers is an original list for Section 19 which starts with No. 1, but Nos. 

1 to 24, inclusive, are bracketed and shown to have been reinterred in 

Section 221⁄2 as being originally buried in Jefferson Barracks, while the 

balance in this section were originally buried in Wesleyan and Christ 

Church Cemeteries, with the exception of “H. W. Powers, No. 33, Grave 

No. 5234, whose body was removed from Cape Girardeau, Mo.” On Page 

145, Record Sheet of Disinterments, the following explanation is made 

for this removal. “H. W. Powers, Prisoner-of-war. Removed from Cape 

Girardeau, 1042. Date of Death, Unknown. Inscribed on headboard; ‘H. 

W. Powers, Prisoner-of-war.’

291

The large number of civilians interred in the same area of the cemetery as Confederate 

prisoners of war became an issue as the commission proceeded with its work. The 

Department of War wanted the commission to furnish headstones for the graves of 

civilians in the same design as that used for Confederate graves. Commissioner William 

Oates pointed out that the legislation under which he operated did not authorize 

marking civilian graves. He noted that there were similar graves at Elmira, Camp Chase, 

Camp Butler, and Rock Island, where his commission had already marked the graves of 

Confederate soldier prisoners.292

Eventually the issue was resolved, at least for Jefferson Barracks. The judge advocate 

general determined that since the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was originally 

a post cemetery, it was covered under Headstones for Graves of Soldiers, 1910 and 

1911, under the Sundry Civil Act, June 25, 1910, which included marking the graves of 

civilians buried at post cemeteries. The quartermaster general would provide a list of 

the civilian graves to be marked. The order would be submitted with the order for the 

Confederate headstones, and the commission would order the headstones and mark the 

graves. The civilian headstones would be identical in size and shape to the Confederate 

headstones. The stone would bear the name of the deceased and the word 

“CIVILIAN” (fig. 135). The Department of War would reimburse the 

commission for the headstones.293

Figure 135 . Civilian headstones 

are intermingled with those 

of prisoners, placed by the 

commission in 1909.

After the legal and financial hurdles were cleared, the Department of War 

sent the commission a list of thirty-nine civilian prisoner dead needing 

headstones. The number was far short of the 164 civilian prisoners that the 

quartermaster general originally cited in the letter sent to Oates on June 8, 

1909. Eventually, the graves of 162 civilian dead buried in the Confederate 

section at Jefferson Barracks were marked, including two women: Jane N. 

Foster (Section 20, Grave 4613) and Nancy J. Vaughn (Section 20, Grave 

4815).294

Between 1921 and 1959, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was expanded 

to 331 acres. During that period, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) 

made improvements there. In 1937 and 1938, the WPA removed the old, 

degraded stone wall and added nearly 3,000 feet of new stone wall. In 1941, 

the WPA completely rehabilitated the original 1872 rostrum.295 Today, 

the Confederate and most other Civil War burials are located in Sections 

1–69, in the northwest corner of Jefferson Barracks, in what was the old cemetery. 

In the late 1980s, the Jefferson Barracks Civil War Historical Association, Sons of 

Confederate Veterans, and the Missouri Society of the Military Order of the Stars & Bars 
149

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

commissioned a monument to the Confederate dead, which was placed in Section 66 

(fig. 136). Dedicated on May 1, 1988, the memorial reads: 

Figure 136 . The Confederate 

Dead Monument, erected 1988.

To The Confederate Dead 1861–1865 

Who Knows But It May Be Given To Us, 

After This Life, To Meet Again In The 

Old Quarters, To Play Chess And

Draughts, To Get Up Soon To Answer

The Morning Roll Call, To Fall In At

The Tap Of The Drum For Drill And

Dress Parade And Again To Hastily Don

Our War Gear While The Monotonous

Patter Of The Long Roll Summons To

Battle? Who Knows But Again The Old

Flags, Ragged And Torn, Snapping In

The Wind, May Face Each Other And

Flutter, Pursuing And Pursued, While

The Cries Of Victory Fill A Summer

Day? And After The Battle, Then The

Slain And Wounded Will Arise, And

All Will Meet Together Under The

Two Flags, All Sound And Well, And

There Will Be Talking And Laughter

And Cheers, And All Will Say: Did It

Not Seem Real? Was It Not As In

The Old Days.296

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery has grown significantly since 

the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead placed 

headstones on the graves of Confederate prisoners of war in the early 

twentieth century. The cemetery now contains more than 175,000 

interments, making it one of the country’s largest national cemeteries 

(fig. 137).

Figure 137 . At Jefferson Barracks 

National Cemetery, Section 66, 

modern headstones mark five 

graves on the perimeter of a 

Confederate section in what was 

open space.
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150

Figure 138 . Little Rock map showing Mount Holly Cemetery and Little Rock National Cemetery. Based on Little Rock Railway and Electric Company 

map, 1913.
151

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

LITTLE ROCK NATIONAL CEMETERY

Little Rock, Arkansas

Union General Frederick Steele occupied Little Rock on September 9, 1863, after a 

forty-day campaign. The U.S. Army remained in the Arkansas capital until the end of 

the Civil War. During the occupation, a military burial ground was created at the new 

Little Rock City Cemetery, now Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery. In 1868, Little Rock 

National Cemetery was established on 12 or so acres situated south of and adjacent to 

Little Rock City Cemetery. The Union dead buried at Duvall’s Bluff, Pine Bluff, and other 

places within 100 miles of Little Rock were exhumed and reinterred in the new national 

cemetery (fig. 138).297

Little Rock National Cemetery

Construction of the lodge was begun in 1868, and the cemetery was partially enclosed 

by a 5-foot-high stone wall. By the end of 1868, there were 5,409 Union dead in the 

cemetery. The 1871 army inspection lists 5,439 interments, including thirty officers 

buried in the small circular section near the flagpole in the northwest section of the 

cemetery. By 1871, the three-room brick lodge “with projecting roof and a piazza all 

around”—the first of three buildings with this function built there—and the wall were 

completed. The main entrance, on the east side, was secured with a double iron gate.298

From the entrance a drive extends around the lot just inside the wall. 

Another drive leading directly toward the center, branches into several, 

and winds around in various directions. These drives, with connecting 

paths, divide the grounds into twelve sections; eleven of which are used 

for burial purposes; and one, near the main entrance, contains the lodge, 

outbuildings and gardens. This section is separated from the rest of the 

cemetery by a light picket fence.299

The property suffered from some drainage problems, especially in Section 7 just west 

of the lodge where grounds were wet and graves shallow. The report highlighted that 

only a few inches of soil covered the coffins here. The section contained 568 graves, and 

the report recommended that the wooden drainage system should be replaced with a 

tiled system, and the graves mounded over with earth and sodded. Cemetery staff in 

1871 included a superintendent, and one full-time and one part-time groundskeeper.300

Little Rock’s Confederate dead were buried in Mount Holly Cemetery and OaklandFraternal Cemetery, immediately adjacent to Little Rock National Cemetery. A May 

11, 1869, newspaper article described the decoration of Confederate graves in Mount 

Holly. A group of young women placed wreaths and flowers on the individual graves of 

Arkansas’s Confederate soldiers and those from Southern states who were also buried 

there. Afterward, a smaller group of women traveled to Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery to 

decorate graves there, but the story does not mention where the graves were located in 

Oakland. The author called for the formation of a memorial society to care for the graves 
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152

of the Confederate dead. As far as can 

be determined from the article, in 1869 

no single location in the city of Little 

Rock was known as the “Confederate 

cemetery.”301

Figure 139 . Little Rock’s 

octagonal rostrum was built 

after 1875 and removed in 

1942, photograph ca. 1930. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

By 1875, Little Rock National Cemetery 

contained 5,843 burials. Improvements 

included a pyracantha hedge planted 

between the wall and the drive encircling 

the cemetery. The main drive leading 

from the entrance and circling the 

flagstaff had been graveled and partially 

flanked by brick-lined gutters. The 

cemetery drainage, while improved, 

still needed work. Four ornamental gun 

monuments had been installed, but the 

inspector noted that they were buried 

nearly to the trunnions (the mounting 

posts that extend horizontally from the 

sides of the cannon barrel), which he felt 

was unattractive.302

The federal government had spent more than $53,000 on the cemetery in Little Rock by 

the time of the 1875 U.S. Army inspection. Drainage problems remained, weeds were an 

issue, and a drought killed some evergreen trees, but the inspector reported favorably on 

the condition of the cemetery and work accomplished.303

Sometime after 1875, an octagonal brick-and-iron rostrum was erected in the southwest 

corner of the cemetery and the pyracantha hedge may have been removed (fig. 139). An 

1892 U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map simply notes a “grass buffer” between 

the wall and the grass walk. The only graveled surface was the lane connecting the 

entrance to and around the flagstaff circle; the balance of the paths were grass (fig. 140).304

Confederate Cemetery

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, members of the Grand Army of the 

Republic (GAR) took an interest in the Confederate burials next to Little Rock National 

Cemetery. The Confederate cemetery, though adjacent to the national cemetery, was not 

yet part of it (fig. 141). In 1883 or early 1884, the GAR cleared the grounds of unsightly 

undergrowth and placed small headstones on the Confederate graves.305

In 1884, as part of a major cemetery initiative, the trustees of Mount Holly Cemetery 

oversaw the removal of remains of 640 Confederate soldiers to the “Confederate Burying 

Ground” just south of Little Rock National Cemetery. The Mount Holly trustees planned 

a semicircular plot approximately 15 feet across in which to reinter these remains and 

erected a monument at the center. The inscriptions on the monument read: 
153

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 140 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Little Rock National Cemetery, 1892; the 

Confederate cemetery was located immediately west of the national cemetery. National Archives and 

Records Administration.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

154

Figure 141 . Confederate cemetery 

in Little Rock, ca. 1911, with 

monument and headstones 

(foreground); the headstones and 

640 remains came from Mount 

Holly Cemetery in 1884. From 

Program for UCV Reunion, Little 

Rock, Arkansas, May 1911.

Here lies the remains of / 640 / Confederate soldiers / from / Arkansas, 

Missouri, / Texas & Louisiana, / Who died in the years / 1861, 62 & 

1863. / They were buried in Mount Holly / Cemetery, and were removed 

/ To this spot / in the year / 1884.

Erected / by / P. O. Hooper, / John D. Adams, / James A. Henry, / R. 

W. Worthen, / Claibourne Watkins, / Trustees of Mt. Holly Cemetery. / 

1884.

The few headstones associated with these Mount Holly Cemetery burials were installed in 

a row in front of the monument. Although the remains were moved in 1884, newspapers 

did not report that the monument had been erected until March 1885 (fig. 142). 

On June 4, 1889, a ladies’ memorial association was formed in Little Rock. The 

organization’s mission was “preserving the graves of the Confederate soldiers now buried 

near Little Rock and of securing a suitable and permanent cemetery for the collection 

and interment of the remains of any Confederate soldiers and sailors who were killed or 

died from any cause during or since the close of the War between the States.”306

Figure 142 . The Confederate 

Monument encircled by headstones, 

2009; this configuration dates from 

ca. 1948.

Soon after the association’s incorporation, the City of Little Rock donated to the ladies’ 

memorial association 11 acres that included the Confederate remains moved from 

Mount Holly, thus beginning the group’s tenure as caretakers of the cemetery.307

The improvements undertaken by the Ladies’ Memorial Association included an 

entryway. “The entrance is spanned by an iron arch, the pillars of which are of granite. 

Over the center of the arch is a shield with stacked muskets; at each end are sheathed 

swords crossed and the word ‘Confederate’ the length in gilt letters.”308 In 1896, the 

Ladies’ Memorial Association merged with the United Daughters of the Confederacy 
155

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

(UDC) to form Memorial Chapter No. 48, UDC. The UDC worked closely with the 

Arkansas Confederate Home, a facility for aged Confederate army veterans. They 

raised money to support the home, paid for residents’ funerals and interment in the 

Confederate cemetery, which they also enclosed with a stone wall.309

While grading a street in Little Rock in 1904, a road crew discovered the remains of 

seventeen Confederate soldiers and six headstones. The men died while being treated in 

a hospital that once stood nearby. The remains were moved to the Confederate cemetery. 

However, while the ambiguous article implied that about fifty men were originally 

interred near this hospital, but it did not indicate where in Little Rock the road work 

occurred or which hospital was associated with the men.310

In 1907 the UDC erected a memorial rostrum at the Confederate cemetery at a cost 

of $608. The original plaque mounted on the rostrum reads: Stoop, Angels Hither From 

The Skies! / There Is No Holier Spot Of Ground / Than Where Defeated Valor Lies, / By 

Mourning Beauty Crowned! A second plaque indicates the rostrum was erected by the 

Memorial Chapter of the UDC (figs. 143–144).311

Figure 143 . Left: UDC rostrum at 

Little Rock, photograph ca. 1940. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Figure 144 . Right: UDC rostrum at 

Little Rock in 2009.

The 11-acre Confederate cemetery was maintained by the UDC until 1913 when it 

became part of Little Rock National Cemetery. A similar transfer had been made by 

the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) in Springfield, Missouri. There, a Confederate 

cemetery adjacent to Springfield National Cemetery was transferred to the federal 

government in 1911 in order to provide a more permanent solution to the perpetual care 

of the Confederate graves. On February 7, 1913, the Confederate cemetery property was 

deeded to the secretary of war by the City of Little Rock, which had retained ownership. 

The deed included a restriction stating that only Confederate veterans could be buried 

in this parcel of land. The act, enabling the federal government to accept the donation, 

incorporated the deed restriction. It also required that a “suitable gate or entryway” be 

cut through the wall that separated the two cemeteries to allow unrestricted access from 

one to the other. Eventually the wall separating the old Confederate and the national 

cemetery was removed completely. The law made it unequivocal that the Confederate 

cemetery was to be treated with the same care as the national cemetery.312 The legislation 

also included a clause allowing the UDC and the UCV to continue to use the cemetery: 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

156

That organized bodies of ex-Confederates or individuals shall have free 

and unrestricted entry to said cemetery for the purposes of burying 

worthy ex-Confederates, for decorating the graves, and for all other 

purposes which they have heretofore enjoyed, all under proper and 

reasonable regulations and restrictions made by the Secretary of War.313

The Commission

Little Rock National Cemetery did not fall under the provisions of the Commission 

for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead. Even the legislation that reactivated the 

commission from 1914 through 1916 addressed only Confederate prisoners of 

war interred in national cemeteries. However, a separate line item under the War 

Department authorization act provided funding for headstones on Confederate graves 

everywhere: 

For continuing the work of furnishing headstones of durable stone or 

other durable material for unmarked graves of Union and Confederate 

soldiers, sailors, and marines in national, post, city, town, and village 

cemeteries, naval cemeteries at navy yards and stations of the United 

States.

314

This legislation was not restricted to prisoners, so it is possible that after the act passed, 

that the simple square blocks the GAR placed in the Confederate cemetery by later 

were replaced with government headstones. Today, all Confederate graves in Little Rock 

National Cemetery are marked with pointed-top headstones—with and without the 

Southern Cross of Honor (fig. 145). 

Figure 145 . Most headstones in Little Rock National Cemetery reflect the commission’s design (right); the headstone with the Southern Cross of 

Honor (left) was added after 1930.
157

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Over the years, a great many changes have taken place at Little Rock National Cemetery. 

The original lodge was replaced in 1908. The second lodge was updated twice and 

replaced in 1949. The last lodge was razed in the mid-1990s and replaced by a brick 

administration building. The cannon or gun monuments were removed at some point, 

as well.315

The size of the property has increased. The first addition was the 11-acre Confederate 

cemetery (fig. 146). In 1949 the City of Little Rock deeded a 1.79-acre parcel to the 

U.S. government, and in 1989 the National Cemetery Expansion Corporation donated 

5.8 acres to establish Sections 19–24. The present-day Little Rock National Cemetery 

encompasses 31.7 acres containing 25,471 interments.316

The restrictions on the Confederate cemetery property, limiting it to burials of 

Confederate veterans, were lifted through congressional action in 1938. This act 

contained the same clause as the 1913 legislation, allowing access to the cemetery by 

“ex-Confederates or individuals,” using the exact wording. There was also a caveat to that 

legislation: requiring that sufficient space be set aside for the purpose of future burials 

of Confederate veterans and their descendants. This restriction was removed in the late 

1980s, in essence freeing unused burial areas within the Confederate section to be used 

as the National Cemetery Administration saw fit, in accordance with current laws.317

Late twentieth-century graves have been added along the edge of the Confederate 

section, and the space between this section and the cemetery wall has been filled with 

modern burials. The interior of the Confederate Section, however, retains its historic 

integrity as modern interments have not been introduced to the original area set aside 

for Confederate veterans and their descendants.

Figure 146 . Map of Little 

Rock National Cemetery: the 

Confederate section is shaded red, 

the original national cemetery 

acreage is shaded purple.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

158

Figure 147 . Historic map of Alton, Illinois, showing the military prison and North Alton Confederate Cemetery. Based on Map of Bond 

County, Union Atlas Co., 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. 
159

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

NORTH ALTON CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

Alton, Illinois

The Illinois State Penitentiary in Alton, Illinois, opened in 1833 and by 1857 it had 

grown from thirty-three cells to 256 cells. An 1846 expansion of the prison facilities 

included a hospital, warden’s house, and an upgraded sewage system. The improvements 

did not offset challenges inherent to the prison’s location, which was a hillside above 

the Mississippi River and extending down to the river (fig. 147). Conditions fluctuated 

between uncomfortable in normal circumstances, to unsanitary during the rainy season. 

In 1857 the penitentiary at Alton was purchased by the contractor who had constructed 

the new, larger state prison at Joliet, Illinois. By July 1860 the last of the prisoners had 

been transferred to Joliet.318

On Christmas Day 1861, General Henry Halleck wrote to Adjutant General Lorenzo 

Thomas, asking him if he thought Union General-in-Chief George B. McClellan would 

approve the use of the Alton state penitentiary as a military prison. Upon receiving 

McClellan’s permission, Halleck ordered Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Burbank to 

Alton. It was estimated that the facility could house up to 1,750 prisoners once certain 

improvements were made.319

On February 4, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Burbank assumed command of the military 

prison at Alton. He received specific instructions regarding the proper care of the 

prisoners, including their burials: “Those who may die will be decently interred and a 

proper mark affixed to their place of burial, which will be within the usual grounds set 

apart for that purpose in the city of Alton.” The first 1,640 prisoners arrived five days 

later.320

Alton Prisoner-of-War Facility

The U.S. Army transported the prisoners to Alton by boats on the Mississippi River. 

Local residents gathered to watch the Confederates—most had been captured at Fort 

Donelson—march through the gates of the old penitentiary. Within only a few months 

the specter of smallpox shrouded the prison and the city. Reportedly there were twenty 

cases of smallpox at the prison in May 1862.321

More soldiers died of disease than any other cause during the Civil War. It is not 

surprising that disease was the primary cause of death for prisoners. For about a year, 

medical staff tried to treat smallpox cases within the confines of the prison. Finally, 

in 1863, smallpox patients were moved to Tow Head Island in the Mississippi River, 

opposite Alton. A second hospital was constructed in 1864 on nearby and larger Ellis 

Island, immediately south of Tow Head Island. However, it appears that all men who 

died of smallpox after the move to the islands were buried on Tow Head Island. Before 
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160

the epidemic ended, some 240 Confederate prisoners were buried on Tow Head Island 

along with an unknown number of Union soldiers.322

Life at Alton Military Prison was no better or worse than at other Union prison facilities. 

The frigid winter of 1864–1865 proved deadly. The medical staff had to rent additional 

space in town in order to treat the volume of ailing prisoners.323

Over the course of the war, 11,760 Confederate prisoners passed through Alton. 

According to the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, 1,354 soldiers 

and civilians died there, or just more than 11 percent; this compared to the average 

mortality rate of 12 percent at all federal prisons (fig. 148).324

Confederate Cemetery

The Confederate dead were buried at the old state penitentiary burial ground 2 miles 

north of Alton. They were buried in coffins placed in trenches and each grave was 

marked with a numbered stake. The property where the prisoners were buried was 

transferred to the federal government in 1867.325

Figure 148 . A small section of wall 

(left) near the Mississippi River in 

downtown Alton is all that remains 

of the old Illinois State Penitentiary.

The Confederate cemetery was not inspected as 

part of the 1868–1869 report to the secretary of war. 

However, it was described. The cemetery, identified in 

the report as the “Prisoners’ Cemetery,” was enclosed 

with a picket fence. The only information found on 

the state prison cemetery indicates that about thirty 

convicts were buried there. The graves were reported 

to have headboards. According to the report, 1,304 

Confederate prisoners were buried in the cemetery, 670 

known and 634 unknown. Subsequent 1870–1871 and 

1874–1875 reports on the cemetery were even shorter, 

merely stating how far it was from town, and that 1,304 

Confederates were buried within. Very few changes 

occurred at the Alton cemetery for years.326

In 1876, Alton residents petitioned the government to improve the Confederate 

cemetery, which had fallen into disrepair. In response, the army sent an agent to 

accompany an officer from the St. Louis-based Quartermaster Department to Alton 

to assess the cemetery’s needs. The inspector found the cemetery in poor shape. The 

fence erected by the government after the war was dilapidated, and cattle and hogs were 

grazing and rooting on the property. Graves had sunk, in some cases as much as 2 feet. 

About half the headboards were missing and the other half were in serious need of 

repair. The sloping property was washing away in places and was overgrown with brush 

and weeds.327

The inspector reported that the picket fence could be repaired inexpensively. But, he 

said, unless someone was hired to make periodic repairs and improvements, it would 

fail again within a year. He suggested constructing a brick or stone wall and obtained 

estimates, which came to more than $4,000. This figure did not include the cost of 

cleaning the grounds, sodding graves, or planting grass—all of which was needed to get 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

the cemetery into “first class” condition. That, he reported, is what the citizens of Alton 

sought.

Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs strongly recommended against any 

repairs or improvements to the cemetery. He cited the laws that established national 

cemeteries, which he pointed out, were for cemeteries containing soldiers of the United 

States. He felt that the prisoners had received a proper burial and that the government, 

or at least the army, was not obligated to do more.

The other prisoners’ cemeteries at Camp Chase, Rock Island, etc., are 

left uncared for, and this seems the proper course for the department to 

pursue in the absence of any express legislation on the subject.328

If Congress were to make a special appropriation to fund the care of the prison 

cemeteries, the army would use the funding as ordered. Until such time, Meigs believed 

that benign neglect was the proper course of action.329

Ten years later, a former Confederate soldier who had been imprisoned at Alton, 

then living in Illinois, wrote to his congressman, James M. Burns. He asked if funds 

were available to enclose and repair the Confederate cemetery. Congressman Burns 

forwarded the request to Quartermaster General S. B. Holabird, who replied that no 

such funds were available.330

The Alton Evening Telegraph ran a brief article in 1893 reporting that the Confederate 

cemetery was fenced with barbed wire and was being used as a pasture. The editor 

doubted that there was a local government representative authorized to rent the 

property, and he felt that it was simply wrong to be using a cemetery as a pasture. The 

following spring, a group of Confederate veterans traveled to Alton to “take charge of 

the improvements to be made” at the cemetery. However, before they could act, they 

first had to obtain permission from the government; it is not known if permission was 

granted, but it seems unlikely, given later reports.331

The government did nothing to the Confederate cemetery until 1899, when the army 

sent Quartermaster Clerk Henry Nichols to Alton to report on the “present status” of the 

cemetery. Nichols reported that the cemetery was fenced and the fences were in good 

condition. He went on to say:

The burial ground is used as a pasture by the neighboring farmers; it is 

thickly grown up with Canadian thistles and weeds; it is a hilly piece of 

land and there are no indications of its ever having been used as a burial 

lot, except for slight depressions in the ground where rows of graves once 

stood.332

Nichols interviewed W. H. Hart, who had buried most of the Confederates and kept 

a record of the interments and their locations. Nichols determined that, even with 

Hart’s record book, it would be “utterly impossible to identify the graves of those 

buried there.” He also met with members of the Confederate Improvement Association, 

an organization seeking government funds to mark, memorialize, and improve the 

cemetery.333
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162

Figure 149 . Undated property 

sketch of North Alton Confederate 

Cemetery (outlined in dark purple). 

The federal government enclosed 

the triangular 0.44-acre parcel (left) 

with chain-link fence. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

William Armstrong of the Confederate Improvement 

Association wrote to the Department of War asking 

if the government did, in fact, own the Confederate 

cemetery. In September, the Department of War 

answered in the affirmative. Perhaps more important, 

Armstrong learned that Major Charles A. Booth of 

the St. Louis Army Depot had estimated the cost to 

improve the cemetery grounds, and that the secretary 

of war had authorized the funds and ordered the work 

be done (fig. 149).334

If members of the Confederate Improvement 

Association had hoped for a major change at 

the cemetery, they were likely disappointed. The 

government paid $134.80 to erect a barbed-wire 

fence around the property—the full extent of the 

improvement. However, the army did allocate $30 per 

year to pay someone to maintain the grounds. Paying 

a caretaker to maintain a Confederate cemetery 

may not have been an unprecedented action, but it 

was outside of the scope of the national cemetery 

legislation.335

The Confederate Improvement Association began to 

advance its cause within the community. In early 1890, it began planning a Decoration 

Day ceremony at Alton. A man from Granbury, Texas, contacted the association to offer 

two boxes of magnolia and jasmine flowers to spread on the Confederate graves. The 

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC), the ladies 

auxiliary of the GAR, were invited. The newspaper promoted the event and the public 

was urged to attend in order “to make the observance as elaborate as possible.”336

Three years after that first Decoration Day ceremony, a United Daughters of the 

Confederacy (UDC) chapter in St. Louis had raised $1,000 for cemetery improvements. 

They asked for and received endorsement letters for the project from the local GAR and 

WRC posts. H. J. Bowman of the Confederate Improvement Association and members 

of the UDC wrote to senators and congressmen seeking the necessary approval, without 

which they could not improve government property.337

The UDC eventually received permission to spend the money on the cemetery. This 

action, coupled with growing local interest in the cemetery, spurred the establishment 

of the UDC Sam Davis Chapter in Alton. Formed in 1904, the chapter had twenty 

members. The UDC in Alton hosted Decoration Day activities at the Confederate 

cemetery on June 3, 1905. The day corresponded with Jefferson Davis’s birthday. The 

elaborate ceremony included UDC and United Confederate Veterans camps from the 

area, speakers, music, and a military salute. Once again, flowers sent from southern 

states were used to decorate the grounds.338

In autumn 1905, the UDC formally obtained responsibility for maintenance of the Alton 

Confederate cemetery. The Quartermaster Department provided UDC with an annual 

appropriation that it could use to hire a custodian. The government was of the opinion 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

that the UDC would take better care of the cemetery than the man they had hired 

earlier. The UDC formed a cemetery committee that would be responsible for overseeing 

cemetery care using the funds allocated by the government.339

The Commission

Upon hearing of the March 1906 legislation that created the Commission for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, Mary H. Gregory, secretary of the Sam 

Davis Chapter, UDC, wrote directly to Commissioner William Elliott. She told 

Commissioner Elliott that the cemetery had been neglected for thirty-five years 

and that individual graves could not be identified. She stated that the UDC was 

hoping to put up a good wall and to mark the graves collectively. Then she asked, “Now 

will you write us and tell us what portion of this appropriation will be allotted to this 

cemetery, and how is it to be spent?”340

Commissioner Elliott replied, explaining that the commission was authorized to erect a 

marble headstone on each grave. He regretted to inform her that if circumstances were 

as she had stated regarding identification, the matter would have to be turned over to 

the secretary of war. Elliott expressed his regrets that he could not, at this time, say how 

much money would be spent at Alton. These letters marked the beginning of a lively 

communication between Elliott and his successors and the Sam Davis Chapter of the 

UDC.341

It was nearly a year before the commission began to make specific inquiries about Alton. 

In April 1907 Commissioner Elliott wrote to the “Superintendent National Cemetery, 

Alton, Illinois,” to inquire if there was “a plat, or other paper, in your office whereby the 

graves of the Confederate prisoners buried in your cemetery may be so identified.”342

The commissioner’s letter was forwarded to the UDC. This set off a mild firestorm that 

the commissioner weathered with grace. The UDC had not improved the cemetery; they 

wished the commissioner to see it as it was, in the condition for which they were being 

criticized. They also informed the commissioner that they did not have a list of the dead. 

Elliott explained that he had a list of the dead, and what he was looking for was a map. 

If he could find the first grave, then they should be able to follow the pattern of burials 

to identify each grave. Elliott, ever the gentleman, wrote, “The idea of criticizing ladies 

for not executing an act of Congress! Please put all the responsibility on my shoulders, 

which are still broad enough to bear it.”343

Commissioner Elliott and L. Frank Nye arrived at Alton in June 1907. The two men 

conducted a number of interviews in an attempt to determine where individual graves 

were and how best to find them. For nearly a week, Elliott and Nye sought to untangle 

the various stories regarding the burials. They visited the cemetery and compared their 

list with a partial list in possession of the UDC. They went so far as to read back issues of 

the Alton Event Telegraph. By July 9, 1907, they had determined to put 1,111 stakes in the 

ground to mark individual graves.344

At the end of July, Commissioner Elliott and L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, licensed architects 

and general superintendents in Alton, Illinois, began corresponding about the 

improvements needed at the cemetery before headstones could be set. Their discussion 

included fencing, grading, and working with the UDC. Nothing was ever resolved, nor 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

164

does it seem any work was accomplished. By the end of 

1907 Commissioner Elliott had died.345

Figure 150 . The UDC gave this 

postcard of the Confederate 

monument in Lynchburg, Virginia, to 

Commissioner Oates to illustrate its 

vision for North Alton Confederate 

Cemetery. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

One year later, the concept of individually marking 

graves at Alton had been abandoned and bids were 

sought ̧ instead, to erect one large monument. William 

C. Oates, the new commissioner, made the decision 

after he visited Alton in 1908. The commission had 

determined that 1,353 soldiers were buried in Alton, 

and on January 6, 1909, it released a circular soliciting 

for bids to construct the monument. On January 11, 

1909, the UDC wrote to Commissioner Oates with 

suggestions for the design. The ladies had read the call 

for bids in the newspaper and were “aggrieved.” They 

wanted a figure of Sam Davis, “the Nathan Hale of the 

Confederacy,” as part of the monument, and they felt 

that the word “Confederate” might also be included. The 

ladies enclosed a photograph of a Sam Davis statue that 

they thought was most becoming. “Is it possible for you 

to recall the bids advertised for by you and readvertise 

for new bids according to the foregoing?”346 It was, of 

course, not possible, but this did not deter the ladies of 

the Sam Davis Chapter. 

After one month, the Sam Davis Chapter sent a few 

more suggestions. They did not want a tall monument, 

they had broad and massive in mind. Also, the 

monument should not be made of white granite; it 

should be gray. They wanted “C. S. A.” on the face of the 

monument. The membership also thought that a bronze 

figure of a Confederate soldier was in order. Enclosed in 

the letter were several picture postcards of what they felt 

were acceptable memorials (fig. 150).347

In February 1909, Commissioner Oates selected a different design: A rough graniteblock obelisk with bronze tablets affixed to the broad base that would bear the names of 

deceased prisoners. It was the design submitted by the Van Amringe Granite Company 

of Boston, Massachusetts. Several issues arose from this choice. Commissioner Oates 

wanted a taller monument than the 20- to 30-foot-tall monument he had requested in 

the circular. Van Amringe agreed to build a taller monument for the same price if some 

modification in materials was accepted. Oates agreed; however, the secretary of war 

expressed concerns that accepting a modified design “would in effect be a purchase not 

based on competitive bids.”348

L. Frank Nye drafted a letter for the commission to release, explaining that the request 

for bids for a monument for Greenlawn Cemetery in Indianapolis went out about a week 

before the request for bids for Alton, and that the former was used as a template for the 

latter. When the bids arrived, Oates ignored the bid documents and simply chose the 

design he liked best. In fact, three bidders submitted designs that exceeded the 30-foot 

stipulation and another bid was for a monument less than 20 feet tall. Nye went on to 
165

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

say that Van Amringe dropped by the office to inquire about the monument and Nye 

mentioned the communication from the secretary of war. Van Amringe then visited, 

off the record, the judge advocate general and assistant secretary of war, whom he 

apparently knew. Both felt that the government was getting more than they asked for so 

it was not construed as illegal or inappropriate.349

An official response was issued by Judge Advocate General George B. Davis. Davis cited 

the bid documents that included the clause, “the height thereof to be from 20 to 30 

feet” and noted that bids were received from ten firms. He noted that several bidders 

exceeded the height requirement in the bid documents. Davis wrote: 

In the opinion of this office the clause above cited is advisory merely, and 

was not intended to operate as a restriction or limitation, and a bid to 

construct a monument over 30 feet in height may lawfully be accepted 

and made an appropriate contractual undertaking.

350

The commission awarded the contract to Van Amringe for its Design No. 1031 in 

February 1909. It would be late summer before construction would begin (fig. 151). 

Thereafter, in May 1909, the commission issued a solicitation to supply an iron fence to 

enclose the cemetery. In August, the Champion Iron Company of Kenton, Ohio, was 

awarded a contract to erect 1,460 linear feet of wrought-iron picket fence. The design 

featured large cast-iron gateposts and double gates.351

Van Amringe began building the North Alton Confederate Monument in August 1909. 

The construction materials were sent from Boston and it was anticipated that it would 

take approximately thirty days to complete the structure. The concrete foundation was 

some 13 square feet and the monument would be 57 feet tall. An internal iron pipe 

would connect top to bottom, the engineer explained, to add stability to the monument, 

thus allowing it to vibrate in windstorms and to compensate for expansion and 

contraction with temperature fluctuation (fig. 152).352

Monuments of similar design would later be erected at Finn’s Point, New Jersey, and 

Point Lookout, Maryland. Oates did offer to include a medallion of Sam Davis on the 

face of the monument. He also asked the UDC chapter to work with the engineer and 

the granite company to choose the location for the monument, which he thought should 

be on top of the hill. Oates felt that he had done well by all in the matter. “Feeling that I 

have done my duty to the Government, to the resting place of my dead Comrades, and 

last but not least, to the Ladies composing your Chapter.”353

Though not what they originally wanted, the UDC membership expressed pleasure at 

the commissioner’s design and were most happy about the medallion of Sam Davis. 

However, they expressed doubts about a Boston company executing the design. They 

also noted that the commissioner failed to mention using the letters “C. S. A.” on the 

monument, which, they said, they knew was just an oversight. They told Oates that the 

image of Sam Davis he had requested had been sent for and would be forwarded as soon 

as it arrived.354

The Sam Davis medallion proposed for the monument was apparently rejected by the 

Department of War, whose policy required an abstinence of praise or eulogy. In the end, 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

166

Figure 151 . Elevation drawing of North Alton monument, submitted 

by Van Amringe Granite Company in February 1909. National Archives 

and Records Administration.

Figure 152 . Sectional drawing of North Alton monument, showing 

concrete foundation and steel rods connecting the upper base 

and obelisk apex, submitted by Van Amringe Granite Company in 

February 1909. National Archives and Records Administration.
167

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

the secretary of war allowed only bronze plaques with the names 

of the deceased soldier prisoners and a dedication inscription. 

The names of civilian prisoners buried at the cemetery were 

not included on the bronze plaques. The final wording of the 

dedication plaque sent to the commissioner for approval was 

(fig. 153):

Figure 153 . The North Alton 

Confederate Monument 

dedication plaque reflects the 

War Department’s 1893 directive 

which limited inscriptions to “a brief 

historical legend, compiled without 

praise and censure.” 

Erected / by the / United States / to mark the 

burial place / of / 1354 Confederate soldiers who 

died here / and at the / smallpox hospital / on 

the adjacent island / while prisoners of war / and 

whose graves / cannot now be identified.

355

A. E. Amedon of Van Amringe supervised construction of the 

Alton monument. On the first day, the bodies of two Confederate 

soldiers were unearthed. The remains were taken by the UDC, 

who prepared them for reinterment. According to the Alton 

Evening Telegraph: “Today the Daughters of the Confederacy had 

the bones of the two soldiers put in a walnut case and interred in 

the foundation of the monument together with some material of 

historical interest and some relics.”356

The Alton Evening Telegraph reported on September 17, 1909, that 

the monument was completed except for some finishing touches. 

The bronze tablets were affixed that December, the last of the 

work. B. B. Stakemiller inspected the monument on behalf of the 

army, and recommended on January 24, 1910, that Van Amringe be paid in full. While 

the monument may have been finished, the overall cemetery project was not (fig. 154).357

Figure 154 . North Alton Confederate 

Monument was completed in 

1910; its original earthen base was 

covered in concrete, probably by 

WPA labor repairing the foundation 

in the 1930s.

Improvements dragged on for two more years, into 1911. The UDC wished to pay 

for memorial gates at the entrance to North Alton Confederate Cemetery. The 

commissioner approved the gate design and the work proceeded (figs. 33, 155). The 

UDC wanted to include an inscription on the gateposts, and submitted several lines of 

proposed verse and dedication text. The commissioner chose one stanza of the verse, 

from Sir Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake, and slightly revised the dedication text before 

sending it to the secretary of war.358 The approved inscription read: 

Soldier Rest! Thy warfare O’er

Sleep the rest that knows not breaking.

Dream of battled fields no more.

Days of danger, nights of waking.” 

Erected to the memory of the

Confederate soldiers who

Died in Alton prison 1862–1865

By the U. D. C. through the 

Effort of the Sam Davis

Chapter of Alton, Illinois, 

In the year 1910. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

168

Figure 155 . The Sam Davis Chapter, 

UDC, paid for North Alton’s memorial 

entrance gates.

Commissioner Oates died before even the fence 

and associated grading could be accomplished. 

Completing work at Alton fell to Commissioner 

James Berry, who received a letter from the Alton 

UDC in spring 1911. The UDC was eager to get grass 

planted and complete the work at the cemetery in 

time for the annual Decoration Day ceremony. They 

reported that no work had been done that year, and 

they were hoping he could tell them when they might 

expect to see it completed. Whether it was the ladies’ 

prompting or a desire to complete the project, but for 

whatever reason, Commissioner Berry sent L. Frank 

Nye back to Alton.359

Nye arrived on July 9, 1911. He inspected the cemetery and found the fence and the 

monument in good shape; however, installation of the underground drainage system, 

and leveling and filling the grounds were not finished. Nye met with several contactors 

to ascertain why none had bid on the second request. The two Nye seemed willing to 

contract were Mr. Stakemiller and Mr. Elfgin. Stakemiller’s first bid was too high; Elfgin 

was highly recommended locally but he had not submitted a second bid, because he 

had heard the government was “unduly rigid in its inspection of materials.” The firm 

ultimately awarded the contract is not known, but the work was eventually completed 

(fig. 156).360

Figure 156 . Army plat of the North 

Alton Confederate Cemetery, 1957.

National Cemetery Administration.
169

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 157 . Steps lead up a steep 

hill to the North Alton monument 

in 1936; the fading gatepost 

inscriptions are visible. National 

Cemetery Administration.

Years later, in 1936, men employed under the Works Progress Administration 

(WPA) repaired the foundation of the North Alton Confederate Monument, 

the fence and gate, as well as constructing new sidewalks and steps and 

graded the grounds (fig. 157). The WPA report does not mention a small 

poured-concrete structure located south of the monument; it is recorded 

as a storage shed on a 1957 plat, and the form appears to date from the late 

1930s or early 1940s (fig. 158).361

Figure 158 . The concrete storage 

shed at North Alton in 2009.

One of the last improvements the federal government made to North Alton 

Confederate Cemetery occurred in 1993, when new steps and a concrete 

switch-back handicap-accessible ramp was installed to link the entrance 

to the monument base.362 A contemporary black chain-link fence now 

abuts the original iron fence on the south and west sides of the cemetery 

property (fig. 159). It encloses an irregular parcel of U.S. property that was 

not enclosed by the original fence, which forms a rectangle around the 

monument. 

Figure 159 . The cemetery property 

includes decorative iron fence 

(foreground), and chain-link fence 

(left) around the 0.44-acre parcel.

In the rear portion of the cemetery tract, a single government-issued “In 

Memory of ” marker was installed for Sergeant Joseph P. Julian, who died 

in 1863 at the prison according to military-service records. His name is not 

among those inscribed on the monument, but records could not be found 

that justified installation of the lone marker in the cemetery circa 1988. 

Today the North Alton Confederate Cemetery monument, memorial gate, 

and fence are extant; however, notable changes to the historic character of 

the landscape were introduced by the base and walkway made of concrete, 

and chain-link fence.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

170

Figure 160 . City of Philadelphia map showing the locations of hospitals where Confederate prisoners were treated and died, and the 

many cemeteries where they were buried before being consolidated in Philadelphia National Cemetery.
171

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

PHILADELPHIA NATIONAL CEMETERY

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

All of the Confederate prisoners buried in Philadelphia National Cemetery died at one 

of the hospitals in or near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All were originally interred in 

a cemetery near the hospital where they died and later moved to the federal cemetery 

(figs. 160–161). Wounded Confederate soldiers received treatment at a number of 

military and private hospitals in Philadelphia including: Cuyler, Christian Street, South 

Street, Citizens Volunteer, McClellan, Turner’s Lane, Islington Lane, Officers Hospital, 

Summit House, Haddington, and Broad Street. Among the largest hospitals were Mower 

General Hospital, which could house 4,000 patients, and Satterlee General Hospital, 

which could accommodate 3,000.363

Crozer Theological Seminary, located just south of the city in Chester, was used by the 

army as a hospital and could hold nearly 1,000 patients. Generally referred to simply 

as “Chester,” it was one of three hospitals where Confederates wounded during the July 

1–3, 1863, Battle of Gettysburg were officially sent; others were Davids’ Island and Point 

Lookout.364

Confederate Interments In and Near Philadelphia

Confederate prisoners are known to have been buried at several cemeteries in and 

around Philadelphia. Glenwood City Cemetery had nine individual burials, all known. 

Odd Fellows Cemetery had fourteen burials, the names of which were known. Six 

Confederate prisoners originally buried at Free Friends and the Methodist Episcopal 

cemeteries were reinterred at Mount Moriah Cemetery. It is not clear how many were 

buried at each cemetery, if their identities were known, or when they were moved to 

Mount Moriah. The largest number of Confederate dead, 169 prisoners, were buried at 

Rural Cemetery in Chester. These remains were moved from Potter’s Field and Powell 

Cemetery. The number of individuals moved from each cemetery and the date of the 

removal was not stated. Altogether, there were 198 Confederate prisoners buried in the 

four cemeteries.365

Most of these Confederates were interspersed among the Union dead. The exception 

was Rural Cemetery in Chester where they were segregated into a separate Confederate 

section. An 1870s army report specifically mentions two lots in Chester, with the larger 

containing Confederate burials that were marked with headboards. At the time, the 

government soldiers’ lots in Philadelphia-area cemeteries were well marked and burials 

were in good condition.366
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

172

Figure 161 . Greater Philadelphia map showing the location of Rural Cemetery and Crozer Theological Institute in Chester, 

Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia National Cemetery

Philadelphia National Cemetery was established on March 4, 1885. The site was 2 miles 

west of Germantown in the 22nd Ward, at the corner of Haines Street and Lime Kiln 

Pike. Between 1885 and 1896, remains were removed from several area burial grounds 

to the new national cemetery, including those named above. By 1889, a 5-foot-high 

stone wall enclosed the 13-acre cemetery. An existing three-story stone dwelling, with 

twelve rooms and a bathroom, had been converted into a lodge. There were three 

outbuildings: a stable, wagon shed, and tool shed. A flagstaff stood approximately 100 

feet east of the lodge.367

None of the Confederate graves were marked; although they were listed as unknown 

on an 1889 “schedule of information,” most were, in fact, identified. A report sent by 

the Philadelphia Quartermaster Department to the U.S. Quartermaster General in 

Washington listed 165 unknown Confederates: 160 from Chester and the remainder 

from Glenwood. In addition, Joel Odore, Ed. J. Kelly, G. A. Wise, G. B. Grider, Michael 
173

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Evans, and Andrew Smoke—all of the 25th South Carolina—were interred in the Odd 

Fellows lot. William M. C. Thompson, 5th North Carolina; Thomas A. Royat, 1st North 

Carolina; and John Hann, described listed only as ‘Confederate,’ were interred at the 

Mount Moriah lot, for a total of 174 Confederates associated with four soldiers’ lots in or 

near Philadelphia in 1891.368

An 1892 U.S. Army Quartermaster plan of the cemetery shows the entrance in the 

southeast corner, where it is today. An internal perimeter road connected the entrance 

with cemetery burial sections and structures. Burials were arranged in three sections 

separated by lines of trees (present-day Sections D, E, and F). The graves in largest 

section are laid out east-west and are shown as marked with headstones. Nearby, small 

monuments were likely ornamental cannon, and the original octagonal rostrum was 

located near the perimeter.369

Across the road and west of Sections D-F, three sections contain Civil War graves. Two 

(present-day Sections A and B) contain Union remains, the third contains Confederate 

dead and is labeled on the plan as “REBELS.” The graves are arranged north-south, and 

are shown as marked with headstones (fig. 162).370

Figure 162 . U.S. Army 

Quartermaster Department 

map of Philadelphia National 

Cemetery, 1892. National 

Archives and Records 

Administration.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

174

In 1897, a Confederate memorial organization in Philadelphia approached the national 

cemetery superintendent about placing a monument on the graves of the Confederate 

dead. They were told they would have to obtain permission from the quartermaster 

general in Washington. By May 1900, the organization had raised $95.05 from thirty 

chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and United Confederate Veterans, 

with the intention of erecting an obelisk in Philadelphia National Cemetery. When 

members of Ellis Post No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, based in Germantown, 

Pennsylvania, heard of the proposal, they lodged a protest.371

Memorial Day is our day, and we do not want any desecration of it, by 

Confederates, nor do we think that a National Cemetery in a loyal City 

of the North, should be disgraced by a monument to would be destroyers 

of our Union.372

Figure 163 . UDC plaque installed in 

Philadelphia National Cemetery, ca. 

1900; the number ‘224’ has never 

been explained.

Perhaps in response to the complaint, the memorial was scaled back from an obelisk 

to a modest 2-foot by 6-foot slab set flush with the ground. It is not clear if permission 

was actually granted, but circa 1900 the General Dabney H. Maury Chapter, UDC, of 

Philadelphia placed the flush memorial in the Confederate Section (fig. 163). It reads: 

Two Hundred and Twenty Four / Unknown Confederate Dead / 1861–1865 / Erected by the 

General Dabney H. Maury Chapter U. D. C.373
175

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The Commission

L. Frank Nye, clerk for the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, 

arrived in Philadelphia toward the end of July 1906 to examine the cemetery in 

preparation for erecting headstones on the graves of Confederate prisoners of war 

interred there. Nye described the Confederate Section: 

The section is shown on the plat as being three and a fraction trenches, 

the uncompleted one being on the east, and starting on the south. Dots 

are shown on the blue-print in this section, but these number only 123.374

Nye spoke with Gertrude Agnes Byers of the General Dabney H. Maury Chapter about 

the monument, specifically the number of unknown burials inscribed on it. Byers did 

not know the source of the number, 224, and promised to have the chapter’s lawyer 

contact Nye. In the superintendent’s office in Philadelphia, Nye located facts regarding 

the burials brought to the cemetery from Glenwood, Odd Fellows, Mechanics, Lafayette, 

Lebanon, and Fort Mifflin cemeteries. However, the information concerning Rural 

Cemetery, the cemetery with the greatest number of Confederate burials, was still in 

Chester, Pennsylvania.375

In August Nye traveled to Chester to try to obtain information from the Rural Cemetery 

Association. He found that ten bodies were removed to Charleston, South Carolina, 

on April 27, 1871. Another individual was sent to Griffin, Georgia. Nye also located a 

permit authorizing fifty-five Union and 160 Confederate soldiers to be moved from the 

Rural Cemetery to Philadelphia National Cemetery on October 28, 1891. Among Nye’s 

notes was a copy of the December 1891 Monthly Report of the Philadelphia National 

Cemetery, which shed more light on these remains: “In removing the bodies of the 

Confederates at the Chester Rural [Cemetery,] only 128 bodies could be found it was 

supposed that 160 were buried there this will reduce the total number of unknown to 

184, instead of 216 as previously reported.”376 The report said that nineteen years earlier, 

remains were removed to South Carolina and Virginia; however, Nye found no record of 

that later.377

The commission made little headway toward compiling a list of the Philadelphia burials 

in 1906. The new commissioner, William Oates, reopened the investigation in 1910 

in an attempt to reconcile the number of national cemetery burials with the number 

of Confederate prisoners reported to have died in the Chester hospital, 200. The 

commissioner and Nye made inquiries but failed to get the information necessary to 

reconcile the different numbers.378

Over the course of the investigation, Nye learned that the memorial obelisk the UDC 

had originally proposed to install in Philadelphia National Cemetery had been paid for 

and received. Because they could not donate it to the national cemetery, the UDC placed 

it in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The 8-foot-tall obelisk was erected in 

1902 and the inscription cited 224 unknown Confederate soldiers buried in Philadelphia 

National Cemetery. Nearby the UDC placed a sign that read: 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

176

Figure 164 . Left: Confederate Monument, completed 1912, at 

Philadelphia National Cemetery.

Figure 165 . Above: The Confederate monument’s dedication 

plaque omits both praise and censure.

Died in captivity and denied a monument in Philadelphia where they lie 

buried, this stone to their everlasting honor in the heart of the Confederacy 

by the General Dabney H. Maury Chapter, United Daughters of the 

Confederacy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

379

Commissioner Oates died before the issue of the Confederate monument in 

Philadelphia was resolved. That task fell to his successor. In March 1911 Commissioner 

James Berry issued a circular requesting bids to design and build a single monument to 

be erected in Philadelphia National Cemetery. John Maxwell’s Sons of Philadelphia was 

awarded the contract. They began work in summer 1911 and completed the monument 

in the autumn.380

The finished granite die, base, and cap monument was 9 feet 6 inches tall. An engraving 

of crossed swords adorned the south face (fig. 164). The commission determined that 

184 Confederate prisoners were buried in the cemetery. The men’s names were listed 

on three plaques affixed to the monument. The commission added a fourth dedication 

plaque (fig. 165): 

Erected by the / United States / to mark the burial place of / 184 

Confederate soldiers / and sailors. / As shown by the records, who, while 

/ prisoners of war, died either at / Chester, Pa., and were there buried, / 

or at Philadelphia and were buried / in Glenwood Cemetery, and whose 

/ remains were subsequently re- / moved to this Cemetery, where the / 

individual graves cannot now be / identified.
177

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 166 . Left: Philadelphia 

National Cemetery has changed little 

from this 1961 photograph. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 167 . Above: One of four 

corner markers that delineate the 

Confederate Section, Philadelphia 

National Cemetery.

Figure 168 . Though modest in size, 

the Confederate monument is a 

prominent feature in Philadelphia 

National Cemetery.

The Philadelphia Chapter of the UDC voluntarily took charge of the dedication 

ceremony, held on October 12, 1912—the anniversary of the death of General Robert 

E. Lee. The impressive program featured music, hymns, prayers, poetry, and an oration 

by John Shepherd Beard. It ended with a thirty-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” 

According to the local press, approximately 1,000 people attended the unveiling.381 When 

the monument was installed, the Confederate Section was situated in an underutilized, 

rear area of the cemetery; it remains in an open area (fig. 166). The Confederate Section 

is designated by four small cornerstone markers inscribed with a “C” (fig. 167), and 

today it is surrounded by more recent burials (fig. 168).
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178

Figure 169 . Map showing the cemeteries at Point Lookout, ca. 1870. Based on sources in RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57, National 

Archives and Records Administration.
179

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

POINT LOOKOUT CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

St. Mary’s County, Maryland

Point Lookout is located in the extreme southern end of Maryland’s western shore where 

the Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Developer William C. Johnson saw 

potential in the beautiful location (fig 169). In 1857 he bought 400 acres and built a hotel 

and a number of cottages, which he leased to subscribers for twenty years with rights of 

renewal if desired. The resort was doing well until the Civil War began. Johnson fell into 

financial difficulties and mortgaged the property to William H. Allen of Baltimore, who 

offered the property to the government for use as a military hospital. The government 

inspection was favorable and, in July 1862, the government repurposed some of the 

resort buildings and began construction of an elaborate hospital complex. The medical 

complex, known as Hammond Hospital, opened in August (fig. 170).382

The Confederate prison at Point Lookout opened in 1863 on a 40-acre site about onehalf mile north of the hospital. General Gilman Marston was ordered to Maryland to 

take command, oversee construction, and organize the camp (fig. 171). The prison 

compound was surrounded by a 15-foot-tall plank fence. A gallery at the top of the 

fence accommodated sentries. The prison was divided into two areas: a larger area for 

enlisted men and a smaller area for officers.383

Confederates who were captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, were 

sent to Maryland in late July 1863 to help construct the prison facility. At the end of 

August there were 1,700 prisoners at Point Lookout, and by year’s end, the population 

had swollen to 9,000, housed in 980 tents, including the sick. The tents were a motley 

collection of every type of tent the army issued—bells, Sibleys, walls, wedges, even small 

shelter tents—all of them old.384

Camp Hoffman Prisoner-of-War Camp

The completed prison was officially called Camp Hoffman, in honor of Commissary 

General of Prisoners William H. Hoffman, though it was seldom referred to by that 

name. The prison was overcrowded and the men were poorly fed. Two reports issued in 

November and December 1863 severely criticized camp conditions. The report made 

by the U.S. Sanitary Commission in November noted that there were no stoves in the 

hospital tents and that the Confederate prisoners were filthy. Dr. A. M. Clark’s report 

in December criticized the prison conditions, citing lack of clothing and blankets for 

prisoners and noting diarrhea as the most common illness.385 Clark went so far as to 

give a statistical breakdown for November 1863: “Report for November shows aggregate 

number of prisoners sick and wounded in hospital, 1,037; aggregate of deaths, 145; 

percentage of deaths, 13.98; aggregate number of Federal sick and wounded in hospital, 

505; aggregate number of deaths, 1; percentage of deaths, .019.”386
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180

Figure 170 . Bird’s-eye view view 

of Point Lookout, Maryland, ca. 

1864. Library of Congress.

Hoffman and Camp Commandant Marston recommended that wooden barracks be 

built but Secretary of War Edwin Stanton refused to authorize their construction. 

Those confined at Point Lookout would have to make do with tents. By summer 1864, 

Point Lookout was the Union’s largest prisoner-of-war facility, holding some 15,550 

prisoners. The warm months did not lessen the mortality rate. More than 740 men died 

between June and October, most commonly of diarrhea, scurvy, typhoid fever, and 

smallpox (fig. 172).387

Figure 171 . General Gilman 

Marston, first commander of 

Point Lookout, ca. 1863. Library 

of Congress.

The Prison Cemeteries

Point Lookout was shut down at the end of the war and the remaining prisoners sent 

home. Captain H. E. Goodwin traveled to Point Lookout in December 1865 to survey 

the cemeteries located at the prison camp and found three cemeteries for Confederate 

prisoners. His letter is confusing but it seems that one cemetery was located on 

property owned by James Hall about a mile from the lighthouse on the east side of 

the Chesapeake Road. The other two were situated on the property of Logan Smith. 

Goodwin reported that the cemeteries on Smith’s property covered “several acres” and 

that Smith wanted $1,000 for the land. Goodwin recommended purchasing the land, 

but felt that $400 was a more realistic price.388
181

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 172 . The commander and 

officers of Point Lookout, ca. 1864. 

Excluding two men holding flags 

in background (left to right): Dr. A. 

Heger, Captain C. H. Drew, Captain J. 

W. Goodwin, Lieutenant H. C. Strong, 

General James Barnes, Major A. G. 

Brady, Dr. T. H. Thompson, Captain 

J. W. Welch, Lieutenant Wilson, 

and Lieutenant J. T. Cantwell. From 

Francis Trevelyan Miller, Photographic 

History of the Civil War, Volume 7.

Lost in the shuttle of correspondence between inspectors and the quartermaster 

general is the small Confederate cemetery located on Chesapeake Road about onehalf mile north of the lighthouse. In 1866 Colonel M. I. Ludington, chief of the 

Quartermaster Department of Washington, included a crude map of Point Lookout in 

his correspondence that indicated three Confederate cemeteries: the two on the Smith 

property with 1,500 graves each and a smaller one with 100 graves on the Hall property. 

Ludington reported the existence of all three cemeteries to Quartermaster General 

Montgomery C. Meigs in a June 12, 1866, letter (fig. 173).389 Also noted on the map was a 

Union cemetery containing 250 bodies. 

The Quartermaster Department in Washington, D.C., dispatched E. Edward Gilbert to 

Point Lookout sometime in 1866 in preparation for establishing a national cemetery. He 

reported several cemeteries at Point Lookout, including two Union burial grounds (one 

for white soldiers, one for black soldiers) that together contained 726 interments, 175 

of which were unknown. He reported three Confederate cemeteries containing 2,767 

burials, 70 of which were unknown. Although Gilbert did not state explicitly, it seems 
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182

that the graves counted as ‘known’ had headboards. 

Gilbert mentioned that the higher number of unknowns 

among the Union dead was due to the proximity of the 

cemetery to the beach, specifically stating that drifting 

sand had covered many headboards in that area. This was 

the first of several counts made of prisoners’ graves and 

their Union keepers who had died at Point Lookout. The 

only map found showing all of the cemeteries mentioned 

above is the crude one drawn by Ludington in September 

1866.390

Figure 173 . Map of Point Lookout, 

1866, by Colonel M. I. Ludington, 

Quartermaster Department of 

Washington, D.C. National Archives 

and Records Administration.

That same year, the Department of War issued a ruling 

that no bodies could be removed from the Confederate 

cemeteries without a Department of War permit. 

Supposedly people were removing bodies, either with 

permits from other departments or with no permits at 

all. They left grave shafts open and trespassed on Smith’s 

property, which he found objectionable. In fact, a group 

of entrepreneurs had established a business building 

coffins and removing remains. They claimed to have 

“exclusive rights” to remove bodies and that anyone 

wishing a body removed must use their services at a cost 

of $30, an outrageous fee in 1866. The government shut 

down the grave-removal business but in the attached 

correspondence there was no mention of how many 

bodies had been removed from the Point Lookout 

Confederate cemeteries. The order regulating grave 

removal from national cemeteries and battlefields applied 

nationwide.391

In February 1867, the U.S. government purchased seven 

acres containing the Union cemetery and the three Confederate cemeteries on the 

Smith property for $1,100. The Quartermaster Department spent most of 1867 trying to 

decide what to do with the men buried at Point Lookout. Eventually the Union soldiers 

were removed to Arlington National Cemetery. The Confederates, however, would 

remain at Point Lookout until another assessment of the cemeteries was made. The 

two Confederate cemeteries on Smith’s property, designated Cemeteries No. 1 and No. 

2 by the quartermaster, were 2.21 and 3.82 acres, respectively. A July 27, 1867, report 

suggested that the graves in Cemetery No. 1 be exhumed and moved to Cemetery No. 

2, which was on higher ground. The final recommendation of the quartermaster general 

was to leave the Confederates where they were and to erect new headboards.392

State-Established Cemetery 

An 1870–1871 U.S. Army report to Congress on the conditions of national cemeteries 

and other burial grounds listed 2,159 Confederates buried at Point Lookout. In the 

spring of 1871, W. L. Thomas of the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees requested permission 

from the secretary of war to remove and rebury the Confederate dead at Point Lookout. 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

The secretary of war granted permission and put 

the seven acres of the land purchased in 1867 up for 

sale.393

Figure 174 . Maryland Confederate 

Monument, photograph ca. 1908, 

showing wood-plank fence (right). 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

The General Assembly of Maryland passed a law 

in 1870 appropriating funds to purchase a plot of 

ground at or near the prisoner-of-war camp at Point 

Lookout. The act also provided for the Confederate 

dead to be moved from the cemeteries owned 

by the U.S. government to the parcel purchased 

by Maryland. The new burial plot was then to be 

enclosed with an iron fence. The 1870–1871 report 

purportedly found 2,159 Confederates buried at 

Point Lookout, but when the St. Mary’s County Board of Trustees completed the work 

of exhuming the burials, they reported moving the remains of 3,404 individuals. The 

cost of moving and reinterring the bodies and building the fence used up most of the 

appropriated money, therefore in 1874, the Maryland General Assembly appropriated 

additional funds to erect a monument, thereby completing the cemetery (fig. 174).394

By 1876 the Maryland Confederate Monument was finished. Even though the St. 

Mary’s County Board of Trustees reported moving the remains of 3,404 individuals, the 

inscription on the monument states that 3,004 men are buried at the site. The reason 

for the discrepancy is unknown. According to 1907 correspondence written by Millard 

F. Minnick, a local minister, the cemetery had an iron fence in the front; the sides and 

rear were fenced with wood. In the same letter Minnick wrote: “I am quite sure it would 

be impossible to identify the individual graves as I am informed ten or more were 

placed in the same box.” He also said that many bodies had been removed to the South 

in 1866–1867. Therefore, in 1906, in order to carry out its mission to set headstones as 

per the legislation, the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead began to 

investigate the various burial places at Point Lookout.395

The Commission

On May 26, 1906, Commissioner William Elliott contacted John T. Callaghan, president 

of the United Confederate Veterans camp in Washington, D.C. Two days later Callaghan 

replied to Elliott that he and his wife had visited Point Lookout in 1870 in an attempt to 

find his wife’s brother’s remains. They found the cemetery overgrown with blackberry 

and other underbrush. While on site, Callaghan spoke with Logan Smith, who told 

him that some years earlier a fire had swept across the area, burning the cemetery 

headboards. Callaghan recommended that Elliott contact other local residents who, he 

thought, might have more information.396

Commissioner Elliott died in 1907, with research on Point Lookout incomplete. New 

commissioner William Oates immediately set out to visit cemeteries and assess their 

condition. After visiting Greenlawn Cemetery in Indianapolis, he wrote to Secretary of 

War Luke E. Wright, suggesting that a single memorial be erected at cemeteries where 

individual graves could not be identified. In December 1909, after a ruling by the judge 

advocate general, Oates was given permission to employ the single-memorial alternative 

wherever it was deemed necessary.397
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184

Figure 175 . Left: Elevation drawing 

of Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument by Van Amringe Granite 

Company, September 1910. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 176 . Center: Section 

elevation drawing of Point Lookout 

Confederate Monument by 

Van Amringe Granite Company, 

September 1910. National Archives 

and Records Administration.

Figure 177 . Right: Course plans 

for Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument by Van Amringe Granite 

Company, September 1910. National 

Archives and Records Administration.

While Oates was busy exploring the use of a single monument for sites where individual 

graves could not be identified, a three-man committee, James Hall, Francis King, and 

W. A. Fenwick, representing the Board of Trustees of the Point Lookout Confederate 

Cemetery, met with representatives of Van Amringe Granite Company in Leonardtown, 

Maryland. The committee saw and approved the design of the monument proposed by 

Van Amringe, which was similar to the design the commission had chosen earlier that 

year for the North Alton Confederate Cemetery in Alton, Illinois.

A month later, in January 1910, the General Assembly of Maryland passed an act 

transferring ownership of the Confederate cemetery to the United States. The governor 

signed the bill in April. A second parcel was purchased from James and Natalie Hall, 

which “will vest in the United States a good title to the cemetery lot.”398
185

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

In June, the commission issued a circular and poster 

requesting bids to erect a memorial at Point Lookout.399

Figure 178 . Point Lookout 

Confederate Monument, ca. 1911. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Nothing was ever straightforward or easy for the 

commissioners. On July 18, 1910, the monument 

committee from the Board of Trustees of the Point 

Lookout Confederate Cemetery visited the acting 

secretary of war and L. Frank Nye in Washington, where 

they were allowed to see the other designs submitted 

for the monument. The committee were steadfast 

about the Van Amringe design, even after reviewing 

the other designs, and thereafter sent a letter urging 

Commissioner Oates to award Van Amringe the contract 

(figs.175–177).400

One of the committee members, W. A. Fenwick, followed 

up the letter to Oates with a second five-page letter 

explaining the actions of the committee and circumstances that led to their endorsing 

the Van Amringe design. The Maryland United Confederate Veterans and Point Lookout 

survivors were divided. The minority were against handing over the cemetery to the 

federal government. However, they were appeased by the Van Amringe monument 

design, which the Board of Trustees promised that the government would fund. W. 

A. Fenwick’s fear was that if another design were to be chosen, the trustees would be 

discredited, not only in St. Mary’s County, but statewide. Fenwick implored Oates to 

choose the Van Amringe design, which he did.401

The day after he chose the design, Commissioner Oates died, leaving the work 

of completing the monument to the new commissioner, James H. Berry. Like his 

predecessors, Berry found the Point Lookout project difficult. The trustees tried to 

micro-manage the project. There was dissent over the material for the monument: 

the trustees wanted North Carolina granite, whereas Oates had recommended 

“white granite,” which is marble, and more costly. Ultimately, granite was used as the 

construction material, with the base of the monument surrounded by an earthen mound 

covered with grass. When the Point Lookout Confederate Monument was completed in 

1911, eight bronze plaques listing the names of the dead were placed on the mound (fig. 

178).402

The contract with Van Amringe obligated the company to move the old state monument 

to a place specified by the trustees, but misinformation created a controversy that raged 

for five months, resulting in a mountain of paperwork involving lawyers and the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers. The trustees wanted the Maryland Confederate Monument 

to be moved to the old Confederate burying ground on the former Hall property. Hall 

claimed that he still owned the property and did not want the monument moved there, 

chiefly because he believed that the trustees would not take care of it after it was moved. 

He said that the monument had not been cared for in the past, and he was convinced 

that nothing would change.403

Hall finally conceded that the government did in fact own the land. A surveyor hired 

by the trustees went to the property and put a stake in the ground, to mark for the 

Van Amringe Company exactly where the monument should be placed. Finally, the 
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186

Maryland Confederate Monument was transferred. The iron fence that had been 

installed at the site where the new monument was being constructed was salvaged and 

placed at the site where the old monument was moved.404

Figure 180 . Former utility shed 

behind the Point Lookout 

monument.

Less than a year after the Maryland Confederate Monument was moved, Commissioner 

Berry fired off a letter to Francis King, secretary of the board of trustees of the Point 

Lookout Confederate Monument: 

I regret to state . . . that an inspection was made of this monument, as 

well as the new monument erected under this office, and it was found 

that no attention seems to have been paid to this old monument since its 

re-erection.

405

The final cost of the work at Point Lookout carried out by the commission was 

$22,104.06. This sum included building the 85-foot-tall Point Lookout Confederate 

Monument, erecting the ornamental iron fence around the new monument, grading, 

planting grass, and correcting drainage on the site; also included was the relocation 

of the 1876 Maryland Confederate Monument and the original iron fence to the new 

location. There is no record of a dedication ceremony for the new Point Lookout 

Confederate Monument. The Confederate Veteran ran an article announcing it would 

be built, but there was no follow-up article regarding a dedication ceremony, nor was 

anything found in the records at the National Archives (fig. 179).406

Figure 181 . Southeast corner of 

the cemetery and replacement 

fence post.

For several decades the 1876 Maryland Confederate Monument remained on a separate 

site about a mile away from the cemetery. In 1932, the Department of War declared the 

site, and one other where Confederate prisoners were originally buried, to be surplus 

property. The two pieces of property were sold in 1938 and the Maryland Confederate 

Monument was returned to its original location.407

At some point in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, two buildings were 

constructed on the west edge of the government property. A frame shed with an endgable roof in the northwest corner still remains. It was constructed on a concrete 

pad and is sided with asbestos shingles (fig. 180). Only a concrete pad remains in the 

southwest corner where the other building stood. The ornamental iron fence still stands, 

though a fence post in the southeast corner has been replaced and some of the fence is 

damaged (fig. 181). When the site was visited in 2009, an Army of Northern Virginiapattern Confederate battle flag was flying from a metal post erected on private property 

immediately behind the rear fence, almost directly behind the large obelisk (fig. 182). 

There is no single history of Point Lookout. Edwin Beitzell’s 1972 Point Lookout Prison 

Camp for Confederates offers some analytical history but is mostly contemporary 

accounts from men who were inmates of the prison, documents from the National 

Archives, and excerpts from The War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union 

and Confederate Armies, which present the Union side of the story. By his own admission 

his book “details the pro-South sentiments of the people of St. Mary’s County during the 

War Between the States and describes the cruel sufferings of the Confederate prisoners 

of war who were imprisoned at Point Lookout.”408 The book is hardly unbiased but 

Beitzell did examine the records in an attempt to determine how many men died at 

Point Lookout and he attempted to compare the names on the monument to other lists. 

Beitzell believed the count of the dead would exceed 4,000. He blamed the omission of 
187

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 179 . Map showing locations of the two monuments before the Maryland Confederate Monument was moved in 

1938. Based on Point Lookout, MD, USGS topographic quad, 1942.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

188

names from the monument on two factors: “(1) incomplete records during the early 

days of the camp and (2) a poor research job at the time the names of the dead were 

compiled to be placed on the monument.”409

The exact number of men who died at Point Lookout and the number of men buried 

there remains a question. There have been many counts but few complete answers. The 

first count, made by E. Edward Gilbert of the quartermaster general’s office in 1866, 

listed three Confederate cemeteries with 2,767 burials, 70 of which were unknown. 

Colonel Ludington’s 1866 map shows three cemeteries, two with 1,500 burials each and 

one with 100, which would total 3,100 interments. Unfortunately, Ludington does not 

explain how he arrived at those numbers. A national cemetery report by the U.S. Army 

Quartermaster Department for 1870–1871 lists 2,159 Confederate burials, which differs 

from both prior federal government counts. The report does not distinguish between 

known and unknown. An official report by the St. Mary’s County commissioners 

when the bodies were exhumed in the 1870s listed 3,404 bodies moved, yet the 

monument erected by the State of Maryland gives the number buried at the site as 3,004. 

Commissioner Oates never reconciled the numbers. The list compiled by Commissioner 

Berry—3,385 known soldiers, 1 unknown soldier, and 44 civilians—for a total of 3,430, 

are the numbers in the final report issued by the commission in October 1912 (fig. 

183).410

Figure 182 . The Army of Northern 

Virginia-pattern Confederate battle 

flag, flown on private property 

immediately behind the cemetery 

fence, 2009.

Figure 183 . Point Lookout 

Confederate Monument in 2009.
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

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190

Figure 184 . Map of Rock Island, 1819, with Fort Armstrong on the west (left) end of the island. Library of Congress.

Figure 185 . Bird’s-eye view of Rock Island Prison Barracks, ca. 1864. Library of Congress.
191

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

ROCK ISLAND CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

Rock Island, Illinois

Rock Island Arsenal

Rock Island is in the Mississippi River between Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and 

Davenport, Iowa. In 1804, the federal government acquired the island, which is less 

than a mile wide and three miles long. Twelve years later, the U.S. Army constructed 

Fort Armstrong (fig. 184), which served as a rendezvous point for soldiers serving in the 

Black Hawk War. The army garrisoned Fort Armstrong until 1836. They abandoned the 

fort but the army maintained a presence on Rock Island.411

By the mid-1830s, Fort Armstrong had become a depot for arms and in 1839 an 

initiative was undertaken to establish an arsenal on Rock Island. The Department 

of War surveyed the island and determined the location acceptable. However, a lack 

of congressional funding left the island minimally staffed, and its role as a “Western 

Arsenal” unfulfilled. Finally, on July 11, 1862, well into the second year of the Civil War, 

Congress appropriated $100,000 for the arsenal and armory on Rock Island. That same 

month, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department authorized the construction of a new 

prisoner-of-war camp on Rock Island.412

Major Charles P. Kingsbury, the first commandant of Rock Island Arsenal, arrived in 

August 1863. Work had commenced on a prison facility and a bridge from Rock Island, 

Illinois, to the island, but Kingsbury would not break ground on the arsenal until 

September. The arsenal and the military prison co-existed on the island, though not 

always happily, as the prison was under the command of the Quartermaster Department 

and the arsenal under the Ordnance Bureau.413

The government authorized the build of Rock Island prison barracks in July 1863 and 

construction began soon afterward. The choice of Rock Island for a prison proved to be 

an easy one. The government owned most of the 946-acre island, which was accessible 

by river, rail, and road. There was plenty of timber and coal available locally, which 

would make fuel and building costs inexpensive. By October the prison buildings were 

mostly complete. The guards arrived in November and the first prisoners in December. 

A ditch and a 12-foot-tall plank fence surrounded the 12-acre compound. Guard 

towers punctuated the fence every 100 feet and more guards walked the fence’s elevated 

walkway. The compound contained fourteen rows of buildings with six buildings in 

each row. The barracks were one-story frame structures, 100 feet long and 20 feet wide. 

Each was designed to house 120 people; and the entire compound could hold 10,080 

prisoners.414
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192

Rock Island Prisoner-of-War Camp

Summer 1863 brought disaster for the Confederacy and an influx of prisoners to 

Union facilities in the North. The steady stream of prisoners, in conjunction with the 

breakdown of the prisoner-exchange system known as the cartel between the Union and 

Confederate military, landed Federal Commissary General of Prisons William Hoffman 

in a huge quandary. Rock Island Prison Barracks therefore helped to alleviate the 

increased burden on the overtaxed prison system (fig. 185).415

The first 466 prisoners arrived by train, reaching the Rock Island prison on December 

3, 1863. Upon arrival, the weather was unseasonably warm but it soon turned cold and 

stayed that way. Ninety-four men died that month, another 232 succumbed in January 

1864 and 346 in February. The barracks were built with green wood that shrank as it 

aged and the wind literally howled through the walls. Smallpox broke out shortly after 

the prison opened and there was no hospital on the site.416

Nearly one-third of all the prisoners who died at Rock Island did so in the first three 

months of the prison’s operation. The facility was ill-prepared and several barracks 

were hastily converted to hospitals. Work began on a new hospital complex and on 

improvements to the prison sanitation system, particularly drainage. The March death 

toll, 283, proved that the smallpox epidemic was not yet under control. By April many 

of the new buildings were complete—six buildings to segregate contagious prisoners, a 

laundry, guardhouse, dispensary, dead house, and store room. The improvements seem 

to have been effective; 141 men died in April, which was a significant decrease from the 

preceding three months.417

A number of regiments were assigned to guard the prisoners, including the 108th U.S. 

Colored Infantry. Tension between prisoners and guards escalated while the 108th 

was in charge. Some of the men in the prison had once owned some of the men now 

guarding them. Violence and abuse resulted.418

Figure 186 . Map of Rock Island 

by W. Otto Gronen, 1870, which 

depicts the island about 1867, 

before arsenal manufacturing 

buildings were constructed along 

the high ground in the middle of 

the island. The prison, cemetery, 

roads, and railroad are highlighted 

in red and blue. Library of Congress.
193

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Civil War prison camps were miserable places. Rock Island, while one of the newer 

facilities, was no better than the rest, in part because of the prison system. Union 

authorities retaliated against their charges when something real or perceived happened 

to Union prisoners in the South. The prison commandant was pressured to stay within 

budget. Corruption and graft were rampant. The men in charge were not the best types 

of officers. The conditions in both Confederate and Union prison systems were barbaric 

by modern standards.419

Over the course of Rock Island prison’s existence, from December 1863 to July 1865, 

more than 12,000 prisoners passed through the main gate. Many of those men never left 

the island: 539 died of smallpox; 456 of diarrhea and dysentery; and 439 of tuberculosis, 

pneumonia, and bronchitis. Approximately 2,000 men died in total, 16 percent of those 

held in the compound, a much higher percentage than the average of 12 percent of 

deaths in Union prisons (fig. 186).420

The Prison Cemetery

The Confederate dead were buried by contract, although according to one postwar 

account, prisoners were detailed to load bodies from the pest house into wagons each 

morning. Charles Knox, a Massachusetts cabinet maker who migrated to Rock Island 

in 1841, made the coffins and his son, Frank Knox, prepared the bodies for burial. J. 

de Harpart hauled the coffins and dug the graves. The bodies were placed in individual 

coffins, the coffins were placed in trenches, and the graves were marked with wooden 

stakes. The first ninety-four prisoners to die were buried in a plot of ground 400 yards 

south of the prison. However, prison surgeon A. M. Clark thought the cemetery was 

too close to the prison. A second location on the south side of the island was examined, 

but the soil was too shallow. Eventually a site 1,000 yards southeast of the prison was 

selected: this is the site of the current Rock Island Confederate Cemetery. The remains 

of 671 individuals who had been buried elsewhere were moved to this cemetery by the 

end of March 1864. The remaining 1,300 or so were buried there at the time of their 

deaths.421

By the end of July 1865 the prisoners were gone and the facility was shut down. The 

old prison buildings became the property of the Ordnance Department and after the 

war they housed captured Confederate weapons and supplies. The last of the prison 

buildings was razed in 1907. The area where the prison once stood is now a golf course. 

Nothing remains of the prison camp except the Confederate cemetery.422

Following the Civil War, under the command of General Thomas J. Rodman, Rock 

Island Arsenal became an important part of the U.S. Army’s military complex. By 1886, 

ten stone shop buildings—three stories high, 60 feet wide, and 200 feet long—formed 

the core of the arsenal. These shops, along with storehouses, boilers, officers’ quarters, 

and barracks covered some 30 acres. By the twentieth century the government assumed 

maintenance of the three pedestrian bridges and the railroad bridge connecting the 

island to the adjacent cities (fig. 187).423

When the cemeteries on Rock Island were inspected in 1868, the agent recommended 

that the Union dead be moved to another part of the island. He described the 
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194

Confederate cemetery as “one and seven-eighths of an acre, enclosed with a four-bar 

fence.” His report gave the number buried there as 1,928.424

Figure 187 . Map of Rock Island 

Arsenal, 1919. Library of Congress.

In spring 1871 Lieutenant M. L. Poland wrote to his commanding officer at Rock Island 

requesting permission to improve the “Rebel Grave-Yard.” Poland reported that the 

cemetery was in bad shape. Part of the fence had been damaged in a storm and what 

remained was not worth repairing. In addition, the graves had sunk, many of the stakes 

were rotten, and some had fallen down.425

Poland proposed the placement of four Confederate artillery pieces at four points in the 

cemetery. Using the guns as a datum, he would map the cemetery and devise a plan that 

could be used in the future to identify the graves. He would entrust the plan to the post 

quartermaster for safe keeping.426 Poland’s request was forwarded to the secretary of war, 

who approved the action. The work was carried out later that spring. 

I had the ground nicely graded, seeded and sodded by my enlisted men. 

I then planted a Confederate cannon at each of the four corners of the 

plot of ground and by ordinates measured each grave, made a plat of 

the same, numbered each grave on the plat, and prepared five lists of the 

dead, giving the same numbers on these lists that are given on the plat, 

so that by obtaining the names of any of the dead, by corresponding 

number, the exact location of each man’s grave can be determined upon 

the plot. I then laid out a walk around the plot and made the fence 

running an iron chain on each side between the guns and supporting 

it by iron posts placed twelve feet apart, leaving the chain drooping 

between the posts. I also planted two rows of trees around the plot, one 

on each side of the walk, and laid out a drive, by which visitors could 

reach it and pass along one side of the cemetery.427
195

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Fourteen years later in 1895, General D. W. Flagler wrote a letter to John Underwood 

of the United Confederate Veterans stating that he had been in command when the 

upgrades were made to the Confederate cemetery in 1871 (fig. 188). He added that once 

the improvements were completed, he saw to it that the cemetery was maintained, and 

that he understood the maintenance was continued after he left. Flagler also wrote that 

1,960 men were buried in the Confederate cemetery.428

Figure 188 . Rock Island 

Confederate Cemetery, 

photograph after 1890, with 

few headstones and an inverted 

cannon (buried from mouth to 

trunnions) used as a fence post. 

Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

The Commission

The Rock Island Confederate Cemetery clearly fell under the guidelines of the legislation 

creating the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead. Commissioner 

William Elliott and his assistant L. Frank Nye visited Rock Island in November 1907 (fig. 

189). After inspecting the cemetery, which they found to be in “fairly good shape” except 

for poor drainage due in part to the sunken graves, the commissioner determined that 

the best course of action was to turn the soil and to bring in more dirt to build up the 

ground before the headstones were set. When the ground was turned, “the trenches were 

clearly outlined.”429

While they were at Rock Island, Nye compared the Register of Deaths of Prisoners of 

War at Rock Island Barracks, 1863 and 1864, and Record Book of Rebel Cemetery at Rock 

Island, Illinois against a list of dead provided by the quartermaster general. Nye’s notes 

reveal that six privately provided headstones were the only ones in place at the cemetery 

and all had grave numbers. Below are Nye’s notes. The italics are notes made when the 

cemetery was visited in July 2009: 
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196

395—Dick, Son of Moses & M. L. Bennett Died (date buried in 

the ground). This headstone is still present; the date is still buried in 

the ground (fig. 190). 

846—Milton Lowe, Died Mar. 16, 1864. Aged 34 yrs. Dearest 

husband. This headstone has been replaced with a government 

headstone.

1148—W. W. Jackson, Co. A, 38th Ala. Died May 15 A. D. 1 

rough native stone. This headstone has been replaced with a 

government headstone (fig. 191). 

1707—Abram T., Son of Fielding and Lucinda McDaniel. Died 

Dec. 26, 1864 Aged 22 yrs., 1 Mo. 6 Ds. This headstone is still in 

place but the inscription is barely legible. 

1930—James H., Son of Fielding and Lucinda McDaniel. Died 

Mar. 21, 1865 Aged 23 yrs., 9 Mos. 2 Ds. This headstone has been 

replaced with a government headstone. 

1955—John W., Son of Fielding and Lucinda McDaniel. Died 

May 7, 1865 Aged 19 yrs., 11 Mos. 29 Ds. This stone has been 

replaced with a government stone.

Nye also noted that ten graves (Nos. 564, 869, 1061, 1086, 1092, 1157, 1330, 1423, 1480, 

and 1956) had been removed. Subsequent research yielded a notation saying that the 

remains of one other individual were removed in 1955, most likely from grave No. 647. 

The commission set 1,945 headstones at the cemetery. The count in 2009 was 1,950, 

which includes private headstones.430

Figure 189 . Rock Island Confederate 

Cemetery on May 4, 1904; it must 

have looked very much like this when 

Nye and Elliott visited in 1907. Rock 

Island Arsenal Museum.

Figure 190 . Headstone on grave 395 

(left) in 2009, one of six placed in 

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery 

prior to the work of the commission.
197

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Included in the documentation found for Rock 

Island was a brief note dated May 31, 1907. This note, 

probably written by Nye, mentions the discrepancies 

between the list of dead from the quartermaster 

general dated 1866 and the list of the commanding 

general of prisoners. There was some variation 

between the grave numbers on the two lists. A 

handwritten notation on the document, dated July 

5, 1907, reads, “Comg. Genl. Of Pris. shall prevail.” 

This document and Nye’s notes indicate that the 

commission was careful in trying to determine who 

was buried where.431

Figure 191 . Rock Island Confederate 

Cemetery, pre-1908 photograph. 

The headstone of W. W. Jackson, Co. 

A, 38th Alabama (foreground), was 

replaced by a government-issue 

Confederate headstone. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum.

The headstones set at Rock Island were produced by 

the Blue Ridge Marble Company of Nelson, Georgia, 

and set by the Schricker Marble & Granite Company 

of Davenport, Iowa. The 1908 contract was for setting 

1,935 “more or less” headstones; in 1910, ten more headstones were set in the cemetery. 

The document did not indicate if the headstones were replacements or additions, did not

specify if they were for known or unknown graves, and did not specify a row or section 

where the headstones were set; it only stated that they were set. If they were additions, 

it would have brought the total number of stones to 1,945. The six private stones would 

bring the total to 1,951.432

In 1912 Commissioner James Berry received a letter 

from a J. H. Schenck, a blacksmith living in Moline, 

Illinois, which suggested the headstones were probably 

not placed over the graves, as they were marked using 

“a chart preserved in Washington.” Schenck proposed 

that a single monument with the deceased’s names 

on it would be more appropriate. Berry received two 

copies of the letter, one from the Department of War 

and a second from the local congressman. Berry 

replied that Commissioner Elliott had marked the 

graves with individual headstones, “the location of 

each being readily ascertainable by the means of a 

plat on file in the office of the Commanding Officer of 

the Rock Island Arsenal.”433 He went on to emphasize 

that the plat was made in 1871, before the headboards 

were destroyed. Berry was quite confident that the 

headstones and their relative positions were accurate. 

Schenck had also written that the cemetery was marked with a sign labeled: “Rebel 

Cemetery.” Berry responded that if this were the case, which the post commander 

vehemently denied, that the sign should be changed to: “Confederate Cemetery.”434

Figure 192 . Rock Island Confederate 

Cemetery with commission 

headstones, ca. 1908. The gap in 

the front row is an empty gravesite; 

friends or family had the body 

removed after the Civil War. Rock 

Island Arsenal Museum.

A circa 1908 photograph shows that the headstones were indeed set, and that earth was 

mounded on the sunken graves and grass planted on them. It clearly shows the inverted 

cannon and the chain fence (fig. 192). This image may well have been taken shortly 

after the commission completed its work, and may be the photograph referred to by 

Commissioner Berry in his September 1912 letter to the Department of War.435
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198

Figure 193 . Entrance to the Confederate cemetery, 1919. Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

A photograph taken by Rock Island Arsenal staff in 1919 shows a much improved 

cemetery (fig. 193). It documents the formal entrance into the cemetery off of Rodman 

Avenue, formerly Main Avenue. The entryway is flanked by two pillars with brass 

plaques reading: Confederate Cemetery / Let us cross the river and rest in the shade of the 

trees—Gen. T. J. Jackson, CSA. A cannon sits in front of each pillar, each flanked by a 

pyramid of cannonballs. The hedge around the perimeter of the cemetery can be clearly 

seen. A 1953 photograph also shows the hedge, as well as the U.S. flag (fig. 194).436

Sometime in the 1960s, perhaps as a part of the Civil War Centennial commemoration, 

the cemetery entrance was changed to its current appearance (fig. 195). The post-andchain fence is extant, as is the hedge. A flagpole has been erected at the back of the 

cemetery, directly in line with the cemetery entrance. By 1963, there were two flagstaffs, 

one 55 feet tall and the other 26 feet tall. 

A monument was erected in 2003 at Rock Island Confederate Cemetery by the Seven 

Confederate Knights Chapter 2625 United Daughters of the Confederacy (fig. 196). The

granite memorial is just less than 9 feet tall and was placed at the end of the entryway, 

with the inscription facing the road: 

In memory of the Confederate / veterans who died at the / Rock Island 

Confederate / Prison Camp. May they never / be forgotten. Let no man / 

asperse the memory of / our sacred dead. They were / men who died for 

a cause / they believed was worth / fighting for and made the / ultimate 

sacrifice.
199

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 194 . Rock Island Confederate Cemetery on May 30, 1953, with small Confederate battle flags placed in front of headstones. Rock Island 

Arsenal Museum.

Figure 195 . Entrance to Confederate cemetery on November 8, 1963. Rock Island Arsenal Museum.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

200

Figure 196 . The UDC monument 

erected in 2003, photograph 

2009.

The monument was dedicated in November 2003 in a brief ceremony that featured 

Confederate reenactors firing a salute.437

Commemorating the Confederate Dead

The earliest indication of any ceremony or commemoration at Rock Island Confederate 

Cemetery is an 1895 article in the Confederate Veteran. The magazine reported that a 

Miss Belle Richardson of Davenport, Iowa decorated the graves of the Confederate dead. 

The brief item stated that on Decoration Day, when graves at the national cemetery on 

Rock Island were being decorated, Miss Richardson placed flowers on the graves in the 

Confederate cemetery.438

Photographs taken about 1895 (fig. 188) and 1904 (fig. 189) show the cemetery with 

a scattering of headstones and what appear to be small U.S. flags, which may have 

been left over from a Decoration Day ceremony. Both photographs depict the chain 

fence, and one clearly shows one of the cannon corner posts mentioned in the 1871 

correspondence. Another photograph taken about the same time clearly shows grave No. 

1148, W. W. Jackson. The photographs demonstrate that the cemetery was taken care of 

and was even decorated prior to any work done by the commission. 

Three newspaper articles describe later Memorial Day ceremonies at the Confederate 

cemetery. In each, the Confederate battle flag was raised on the 26-foot-tall pole and the 

U.S. flag on the 55-foot-tall pole. Both flags were raised to half-staff at sunrise, full staff 

at noon, and were lowered at sunset. The ceremonies featured a twenty-one-gun salute 

and “Taps.” Two stories mention that for the first time small flags would be placed on 

each grave and that these, too, would be removed at sunset. 

Two undated clippings from the Moline Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus, and a third 

from the Sunday Democrat-Times of Moline, Illinois, dated May 26, 1957, state that tiny 

flags will be placed at each grave. It should also be noted that in the undated clippings, 

the reporter comments that “As in past years, the Stars and Bars will be raised in the 

Confederate cemetery along with the Stars and Stripes.” These stories indicate that while 

1953 may have been the first year that small flags were placed on the graves, it was not 

the first year that the Confederate battle flag was flown.439

The Confederate flags placed on the graves for the Memorial Day ceremony in 1975 

were replaced with small U.S. flags because the Confederate flags had become “soiled 

and torn and were no longer suitable for use.” Apparently, the national office of the 

United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) was asked to supply new flags, but had 

told Arsenal staff that they could not afford to replace them. According to a newspaper 

article, the Confederate flag was flown on the main flagstaff and a few smaller flags were 

placed around the flagpole.440

In 2000 the Memorial Day service at the Confederate cemetery was conducted by Navy 

Chaplain Ron Pettigrew, an African American. Chaplain Pettigrew was hesitant to 

conduct the ceremony but on reflection he agreed: “I, as an American have to accept, 

love and hate fully what America has been. We need to take a more complete perspective 

of history, including the good, the bad and the ugly.” On the day of the ceremony, small 
201

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Confederate flags were placed in front of each headstone. There was no mention of a 

larger Confederate flag being flown.441

A 1963 photograph shows the new entrance to the Confederate cemetery, which remains 

unchanged to the present day. There have, however, been some minor alterations to the 

cemetery since that time. The hedges have been removed, as has the post-and-chain 

fence, a portion of which is now along the road frontage. Daylilies planted on either 

side of the entrance to the cemetery mimic the old hedge. And last, the 2003 memorial 

stands at the end of the sidewalk leading into the cemetery from the road (fig. 197).

Figure 197 . Entrance to Confederate cemetery in 2009.
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202

Figure 198 . Map of Springfield showing the location of Springfield National Cemetery and the Confederate cemetery.
203

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

SPRINGFIELD NATIONAL CEMETERY

Springfield, Missouri

The federal government established Springfield National Cemetery in 1867 to 

consolidate the remains of Union soldiers buried at Wilson’s Creek, Lebanon, 

Springfield, Newtonia, and other scattered locations in Missouri. The cemetery was 

designated on 5 acres of a much larger tract 3 miles west of Springfield that was acquired 

by the city for use as a cemetery (fig. 198).442

A U.S. Army report of August 1868 listed 1,514 burials in the new cemetery of which 

approximately half were unknown. Wooden headboards marked graves per regulations. 

A carriageway encircled the cemetery, connecting several avenues that ran through the 

grounds. A superintendent, Alexander McAlpine, had been appointed, but no lodge had 

been built and the cemetery had not been fenced.443

The May 1871 inspection report described a number of improvements. A three-room 

frame lodge had been built near the entrance. A picket fence with a two-wing wooden 

entrance gate in the center of the north side now enclosed the cemetery. An Osage 

orange hedge grew just inside of the fence. A flagstaff stood on a mound in the center 

of the cemetery and walks radiated from the flagstaff to all areas of the cemetery. The 

cemetery was divided into four quadrants, each with a circular mound in its center 

echoing the central mound. Walks radiating from the mounds further divided each 

quadrant into eight sections. The old section of the cemetery retains this general layout 

to the present day.444

Dr. Thomas Jefferson Bailey, a resident of Springfield, former slave owner, and staunch 

Unionist, died in 1869. Among his bequests were funds to be used to erect a monument 

to honor the Union soldiers killed at the 1863 Battle of Springfield. The 25-foot-tall 

Union monument, also known as the Bailey Monument, was erected in the Springfield 

National Cemetery and dedicated on May 30, 1873 (fig. 199). The dedication ceremony 

featured a parade originating in the City of Springfield that wended its way along a 

3-mile-long route to the cemetery, where a large crowd gathered to hear speeches and 

witness the unveiling.445

Figure 199 . The Bailey/Union 

Monument, erected 1873 in burial 

Section 23, Springfield National 

Cemetery.

By 1874, the cemetery had a new Second Empire–style brick lodge, a story-and-a-half 

building with three rooms on the main floor, three chambers upstairs, and two cellars 

(fig. 200). Both a cistern and a well supplied the lodge with water. There was also a frame

tool shed, a wood shed, and a privy under a single roof.446 The Osage orange hedge 

had been removed to allow for construction of a stone wall with limestone coping that 

now enclosed the cemetery. An iron entrance gate in the wall bore the words “National 

Cemetery.” Reconfigured carriage drives now extended only from the entrance to 

and around the flagstaff and grass paths for strictly pedestrian access replaced the old 

drives. Six gun monuments were erected, two on either side of the carriage drive near 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

204

the entrance and four around the flagstaff. One of the monuments near the entrance 

featured a bronze plaque (fig. 201). 

Figure 200 . The French SecondEmpire–style lodge, ca. 1930. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

The City of Springfield donated approximately 2 acres of land separating the national 

cemetery from the adjacent Confederate cemetery to the government in the late 1880s 

(fig. 202). Sometime after the donation, it was suggested that a gateway be constructed 

in the south wall to allow direct access to the Confederate cemetery from the national 

cemetery. However, the local posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union 

veterans’ organization, strongly opposed such a decision and the matter was dropped. It 

was also during this period that the cenotaph honoring Union General Nathaniel Lyon, 

who was killed at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, was moved from the square in Springfield 

to the national cemetery. Lyon is buried in Connecticut.447

An 1892 U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map shows a nearly square cemetery 

surrounded by a rock wall (fig. 203). The lodge and associated outbuildings are located 

in the northwest corner of the cemetery, the rear of the lodge and outbuildings obscured 

by a hedge. The focal point of the cemetery is the flagstaff on a three-tiered circular 

mound in the center of the property at the end of the graveled drive. Eight evenly 

spaced grass paths radiate from the flagstaff mound. A gun monument is shown on 

the paths running northwest, northeast, west, and east of the flagstaff mound. An 

octagonal rostrum sits east of the flagstaff mound near the stone wall. The Bailey/Union 

Monument stands in the northeast quadrant of the cemetery.448

Confederate Cemetery 

After the Civil War, women across the South formed memorial associations with the 

mission to recover the remains of Confederate soldiers buried in scattered locations 

and to reinter them in cemeteries where they could be cared for in perpetuity. In 1866 

a group of Springfield women formed the Confederate Cemetery Association (CCA); 

in 1869 the organization appealed for aid, and within months raised $3,000 to purchase 

3 acres near Springfield National Cemetery, which they enclosed with a picket fence. 

Confederate remains from Wilson’s Creek, Hartsville, and Springfield were reinterred in 

the new cemetery and marked with cedar headboards. The identities of only a few of the 

504 burials were known at that time.449

Figure 201 . Original bronze 

identification plaque on a gun 

monument. All Civil War-era 

national cemeteries contained one 

of these plaques, inscribed with the 

number of known and unknown 

dead buried there, and typically 

affixed to gun monuments.

In 1872 the CCA changed its name and its mission. The renamed Springfield Monument 

Association was dedicated to raising funds for a monument to the memory of the 

Confederate dead. Its first Decoration Day event was in 1872, but thereafter, in its own 

words, the association “rested a while” for want of funds.450

Ten years later, the Springfield Monument Association deeded the Confederate cemetery 

to the Confederate Veterans Association of Missouri, the statewide United Confederate 

Veterans (UCV) organization. The UCV officially accepted the cemetery at a meeting 

held in September 1882 in Sedalia. In a resolution passed at that meeting, the UCV 

renamed the cemetery the Missouri State Cemetery for Ex-Confederates.451

The first project undertaken by the new owners was a stone wall to surround the 

Confederate cemetery. The UCV began collecting donations and asked and received 

permission from the federal government to abut their wall to the south wall of the 
205

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

national cemetery (fig. 204). The UCV spent $6,000 to enclose 

the Confederate cemetery. After the wall was completed, 

the local chapters of the UCV and the United Daughters of 

the Confederacy (UDC) started to raise funds to erect the 

large memorial they had envisioned as the centerpiece of the 

Confederate cemetery.452

Figure 202 . Sketch map showing 

the location of Springfield National 

Cemetery and the Confederate 

cemetery in Springfield, 1880s. 

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

The Springfield Monument Association, which was again 

actively seeking funds to erect a monument, approached the 

Missouri UDC for help: the UDC pledged $5,000 toward the 

monument’s construction. Furthermore, the UCV Campbell 

Camp No. 488 in Springfield, assisted by the statewide UCV 

organization, began to solicit funds with a target of $10,000. 

By February 1900, the various organizations had raised $6,000 

and the UCV declared the monument a certainty.453

Construction began in June 1901. The monument’s granite 

base proved to be too heavy for the railroad’s traction 

engine to haul from the freight depot to the cemetery. W. F. 

Knueppel, who was in charge of constructing the pedestal, 

borrowed the city’s willipus-wallipus machine, a steampowered tractor used for road building. The willipus-wallipus, 

Figure 203 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map 

of Springfield National Cemetery, 1892, before the 

Confederate burial ground was incorporated. National 

Archives and Records Administration.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

206

along with its coal wagon, easily hauled the 35,000-pound piece of granite to the 

Confederate cemetery.454

Figure 204 . The intersection of 

the original Springfield National 

Cemetery wall with its simple coping 

(right), and more ornate Confederate 

cemetery wall (left); utilizing the 

national cemetery wall saved the 

UCV several thousand dollars.

Figure 205 . Hand-tinted photograph 

of the Confederate monument 

and cemetery wall (background) 

that appeared on the cover of the 

monument dedication booklet. 

Photograph from Missouri UCV, United 

Confederate Veterans’ Reunion souvenir 

booklet, 1901, Springfield, Missouri.

The completed monument stood on an 8-foot-deep, 14-foot-square concrete foundation. 

Its base was some 16 feet tall. A bronze Confederate soldier, 12 feet 7 inches tall, topped 

the pedestal (fig. 205). The statue, which was cast in Florence, Italy, was the work of 

Gaetano Trentanove, a popular Italian-born sculptor who produced a number of large 

public works in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including a piece in 

Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol; and works in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Michigan, and 

Paris, France.455 The inscription on the monument reads: 

[North face:] To the Memory of the Missouri Soldier In the Army / of the 

Confederate States of America

[East face:] Those Who Die for a Right Principle Do Not Die in Vain

[South face:] Erected A.D. 1901 by / the United Confederate Veterans 

of Missouri / and / the Daughters of the Confederacy of Missouri / They 

Fought for the / Right of Self Government 

The Confederate monument was dedicated on the fortieth anniversary of the Battle of 

Wilson’s Creek, August 10, 1901. The event, which coincided with the Missouri UCV 

annual reunion, was a three-day affair that featured a parade and unveiling ceremony. 

Special excursion trains brought hundreds of people to Springfield for the event. An 

estimated 1,000 people thronged to the cemetery to watch. The carefully scripted event 

began with a bugle call followed by 135 young women marching into the cemetery 

and halting at the base of the memorial. The women carried eleven Confederate flags 

representing the UDC chapters of Missouri. A minister led a prayer and then Miss 

Laura Virginia Edwards unveiled the monument. Three speeches and an artillery salute 

concluded the ceremony.456

By 1901 small rectangular headstones replaced the headboards on the graves since the 

1870s (fig. 206). The cemetery caretaker resided in a nearby cottage rented by the UCV. 

The Missouri UCV deeded the cemetery to the Confederate Cemetery Association 
207

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

of Missouri in 1902, which was given authority to deed the cemetery to the City of 

Springfield, Greene County, or to the United States of America.457

In the hope of ensuring long-term care for the cemetery, the Confederate Cemetery 

Association of Missouri initiated measures to cede responsibility for the cemetery 

to the federal government, citing President McKinley’s 1898 speech in Atlanta. A 

congressional bill introduced in 1909 failed when a rider was attached allowing Union 

veterans to be buried in the Confederate cemetery once the national cemetery was 

full. Finally, in March 1911, the cemetery was deeded to the federal government with 

several restrictions: the cemetery was to be reserved for individuals who had served in 

Confederate armed forces, and access for burials and other ceremonial activities was to 

be unrestricted, save for “proper and reasonable regulations and restrictions made by the 

Secretary of War.”458

Merging the National and Confederate Cemeteries

Bids were taken in August 1911 for improvements that would integrate the newly 

acquired Confederate cemetery into the national cemetery. Projects included 

construction of a graveled road through the Confederate section, a new gateway between 

the two cemeteries, and cleaning and grading of both cemeteries.459

Late in 1914, Samuel E. Lewis, commissioner of the newly reauthorized Commission 

for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, wrote the quartermaster general seeking 

information about the Confederate soldiers who were buried at Springfield, Missouri. 

The information Lewis sought did not exist. James Burns, superintendent of Springfield 

National Cemetery, sent Lewis the list of names of Confederates buried in the 

cemetery.460 In a caveat, Burns noted, “I have no doubt but that many of the soldiers 

whose bodies were exhumed from different places in and around Springfield, died in the 

hospitals here while in the custody of the United States, as prisoners of war, still I have 

no way of being certain of the fact.”461 Consequently, the commission had no authority to 

mark those graves. 

In 1940 a limestone rostrum in a Neoclassical design was built between the two 

cemeteries so that it could be used for services from either cemetery. Two limestone 

Figure 206 . Confederate 

cemetery in 1901, showing the 

small rectangular markers on 

graves. Photograph from Missouri 

UCV, United Confederate Veterans’ 

Reunion souvenir booklet, 1901.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

208

lecterns were set on projections in the perimeter walls at the center of the rostrum’s 

north and south sides, each decorated on the front by a carved, blind memorial tablet. 

The iron fences and limestone fence posts flanking the rostrum to east and west were 

built at the same time as the rostrum so as to provide proper terminations where the 

original wall of the Confederate cemetery had been removed. 

Ninety-year-old Thomas Henry Hadden of Springfield was the last veteran to be 

interred in the Confederate section of Springfield National Cemetery. At his request, 

he wore a Confederate uniform and was buried with a Confederate flag on June 12, 

1939. The local UDC chapter supplied the uniform. Hadden’s grave, Section 1S, is by the 

Confederate monument; his wife was buried next to him in 1964.462

The current two-story brick lodge replaced the older lodge in 1940. Sometime in the 

1930s, the service building behind the lodge was constructed and since then has been 

updated several times.463 Also in 1940 the U.S. Army Fifth District quartermaster 

approached the Springfield Chapter of the UDC about acquiring 3 acres of land 

for the national cemetery. Apparently 6 acres was purchased when the Confederate 

cemetery was organized and the 3 acres in question was never used nor fenced because 

it contained no burials. The Confederate Cemetery Association of Missouri held legal 

title to the property and the organization had to be reformed before the land could be 

deeded to the U.S. government. The new deed removed the restrictions in the 1911 deed 

from the 3-acre parcel, thereby allowing the burial of all eligible veterans and spouses. 

Congress amended the 1911 legislation in May 1957.464

One year later the UDC placed a new memorial near the south wall of the old 

Confederate section. The small stone flush to the ground reads: 

In Memory of the Gallant Confederate / Dead Who Fell at Wilson’s Creek 

on / August 10, 1861, and Whose Place of / Burial is Not Known This 

Marker was / Erected by the United Daughters of / the Confederacy on 

Sept. 27, 1958. 

In 1979 a bronze plaque honoring Vietnam veterans was put on the north face of the 

rostrum by the Southeast Missouri State University Veterans Club. Two bronze plaques 

on the south face of the rostrum refer to the Confederate cemetery. It is not known when 

they were added; they read: 

Confederates / of the 501 Originally Buried Here 238 / Were Killed in the 

Battle of Wilson’s Creek / August 10th 1861, Most of the Remaining / 263 

Died from Wounds Received in Battle / or From Sickness. Some Were 

Killed in the / Battle of Springfield January 8th 1863.

Confederate / Cemetery / Established 1870 / By Private Contributions 

/ Sui Regendi Causa Dimicaverunt [Fought for the cause of his ruling] 

In 1984 the UDC lifted the deed restrictions on the old Confederate section, which 

opened up an additional 485 burial plots. However, in this case, the UDC imposed 

stipulations to protect the historic integrity of the old Confederate cemetery. Perhaps 

the most significant limitation required that new graves in the Confederate section be 

marked with flat markers set flush with the ground surface. The stones marking the 

new graves are not discernible from a distance. The feeling and look of the old cemetery 
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

therefore stays intact, even though more than 400 more recent burials have been placed 

in the former Confederate cemetery (fig. 207).465 To recognize the generosity of the UDC 

in lifting the deed restrictions, the Veterans Administration, now the U.S. Department of 

Veterans Affairs, added a bronze plaque to the Confederate memorial in a ceremony in 

1984, which reads: 

August 10, 1984 / This Tablet is Dedicated by the / Veterans Administration 

in Grateful / Appreciation to the United / Daughters of the Confederacy, 

/ Missouri Division, for Actions Taken / to Remove Deed Restrictions 

on 485 / Unoccupied Confederate Gravesites / in Springfield National 

Cemetery. / This Relinquishment of these / Gravesites for Use by All 

Veterans / and Their Dependents Serves as a / Symbol of Reunification 

of Purpose / for Memorializing All Who Have / Honorably Served this 

Great Nation / Without Regard to Past Differences / — Confederate and 

Union Alike. / Dedicated on this Anniversary of / the Battle of Wilson’s 

Creek / August 10, 1861

The original small rectangular headstones marking the graves in the Confederate 

cemetery were replaced in 1948 with government-issue headstones but it is not known 

who initiated the change or exactly when. A photograph in a 1948 Springfield NewsLeader article clearly shows the government headstones.466

Figure 207 . Confederate graves and monument (designated Sections 1-2 N, 1-2 S) visible beyond a post-1984 burial section of flat grave markers 

(foreground), photograph 2009.
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210

Figure 208 . Map of Kansas City and Westport, Missouri, showing the cemeteries and hospitals associated with the 1911 

Confederate monument.
211

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

UNION CEMETERY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

Kansas City, Missouri

In August 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price commanded an expedition from 

Arkansas into Missouri. The raid had several objectives: to capture the City of St. Louis, 

divert Union manpower from the east, recruit Missourians for the Confederate army, 

and obtain horses, mules, and other needed military supplies. The raid went badly 

almost from the beginning. St. Louis and Jefferson City were too well-defended so Price 

did not attack there. Instead, he decided to capture Kansas City. At Westport, south of 

Kansas City, Price’s Confederates confronted a strong Union defensive position held by 

General Samuel Curtis. After a four-hour battle, the Confederates failed to break the 

Union line and retreated. At the Battle of Westport approximately 1,500 Confederate 

soldiers were killed and wounded, many of whom were left on the field.467

After the battle, several buildings and houses in the area were forced into service as 

hospitals. The Harris House, a hotel in Westport, which was also the location of General 

Curtis’s headquarters, became a hospital, as did the Wornall Homestead. The Methodist 

Church and Lockridge Hall in Kansas City also served as hospitals.468

Lockridge Hall was placed under the care of Dr. J. Thorne. Several days later, the local 

newspaper reported that Dr. D. Y. Chalfant would be in charge of the place. Moreover 

the same newspaper praised the women of Kansas City for their tireless efforts in caring 

for the wounded. A few miles away in Westport, a hospital reported caring for thirtythree wounded. Eighteen were Confederates; four had already died and it was feared that 

one or two more would die of their wounds. Another newspaper article reported that 

between forty and sixty wounded Confederates were still on the field near Big Blue River 

and were under the care of a single surgeon.469

It is not clear how many Confederate soldiers eventually died in the Battle of Westport. 

It is clear, however, that fifteen or more wounded Confederates were captured, treated, 

and died in different hospitals in and around Kansas City. Some were later buried in the 

Kansas City Cemetery (fig. 208). 

The Commission

Armed with a list of fifteen names obtained from the Department of War, William Oates 

of the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead began his investigations 

at Kansas City in 1908. Oates knew that the men were buried in the Kansas City 

Cemetery but he needed to know if their individual graves could be identified. Oates 

wrote to several people in Kansas City with mixed results. The first thing he discovered 

was that the Kansas City Cemetery no longer existed. All of the remains had been 

moved to Union Cemetery in the 1870s. However, Oates could not confirm that the 

Confederate soldiers were there because Union Cemetery records were destroyed in a 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

212

fire in September 1889. On the last page of his handwritten report, Oates 

scribbled the following note, “In the present state of information, I am not 

prepared to say what shall be done as to the graves of these men.”470

Figure 209 . Congressman William P. Borland, a 

Democrat from Kansas City, took a personal interest 

in the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead and facilitated its work to mark the unknown 

Confederate dead in Union Cemetery. From William P. 

Borland (a late representative from Missouri) Memorial 

addresses delivered in the House of Representatives 

of the United States, Sixty-fifth Congress, 3rd session, 

March 2, 1919.

Commissioner Oates died before he could decide how to proceed in 

Kansas City. James Berry, the commissioner who succeeded Oates, 

worked with William Borland, a local congressman in Kansas City, to 

reach a resolution (fig. 209). It was ultimately decided to erect a single 

monument in lieu of individual headstones because there was no way to 

identify individual graves. 

After it was decided to erect a single monument, the United Daughters 

of the Confederacy (UDC) chapter in Kansas City stepped in with a 

request. In August 1863, a building holding several female prisoners in 

Kansas City had collapsed, killing four women. The women, according to 

Congressman Borland, were prisoners of war and relatives of Confederate 

soldiers and guerrillas. One of those killed was the sister of W. T. or 

“Bloody Bill” Anderson, a notorious guerrilla. The UDC wanted the 

commission to portray the four women’s names on the monument with 

the Confederate soldiers’ names. Berry denied their request.471

Technically, the cost of a single monument was not supposed to exceed 

the total cost of individual headstones for the same cemetery. Fifteen 

headstones would cost about $50. Commissioner Berry sought and 

received a special ruling from the judge advocate general to allow him 

to spend more on the single monument than the aggregate cost of 

the individual headstones. The judge advocate general went as far as 

suggesting a price of $300 for the monument. With the army’s approval in hand, 

Berry again sought the aid of Congressman Borland, who thereafter obtained a list of 

local monument dealers and sent it along to Berry.472

Figure 210 . The original drawing of the Union Cemetery 

Confederate Monument, by M. H. Rice of Kansas City, 1911. 

National Archives and Records Administration.

The next step was to get permission from Union Cemetery to erect the monument. 

Congressman Borland, who had taken a personal interest in the project, worked 

tirelessly in Kansas City to keep everything running smoothly. Borland received 

written permission to allow the monument to be placed in the cemetery and also 

secured the deed to the lot on which the monument would stand. The Union 

Cemetery Association sold to the U.S. government a 2-foot, 8-inch square lot in the 

northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 17, Township 49 north, Range 

33 west. The final task remaining was to select a monument contractor.473

M. H. Rice, the same company that would create the 1912 Confederate monument 

for Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Indiana, was awarded the contract for the 

Kansas City memorial. The 8-foot-tall granite obelisk features two bronze plaques: 

one is inscribed with the names of the Confederate dead, the other credits the federal 

government for erecting the monument. The dedication was a lavish ceremony held 

on October 23, 1911, the forty-seventh anniversary of the Battle of Westport (fig. 

210).474
213

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

A crowd of 200 gathered on that sun-drenched fall day. The 

ceremony, presided over by Kansas City Mayor Darius A. 

Brown, began in the late afternoon, and in keeping with the 

solemn proceedings, began with an invocation by the Reverend 

Burris A. Jenkins. A brief address by Dr. William Campbell of 

the Kansas City Historical Society was followed by speeches 

from former Confederate and Union soldiers. Judge John B. 

Stone, a former Confederate and member of the local United 

Confederate Veterans, spoke on behalf of the South. Stone 

praised the service of his former comrades for whom the 

monument honored. He also praised the federal government, 

“We are proud to honor a government broad enough and 

generous enough to erect a monument as this to their defeated 

enemies.”475 Stone was followed by H. B. Kelley, a former Union 

soldier and Kansas state senator. Kelly spoke of reconciliation 

and brotherhood. “Time has healed the old wounds,” he said. 

“The passing years have mellowed the old feelings of sectional 

strife and today we can meet as brothers.”476

Figure 211 . The Confederate 

Monument is stop No. 15 on the 

Union Cemetery walking tour, 

photograph 2009.

Congressman Borland then gave a brief history of the life of 

Confederate General Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby and finished with 

more thoughts of national reconciliation: “The men we honor 

today were not leaders in the Southern cause. They were only 

privates who gave up their lives in the performance of their 

duties. The government has erected this monument and it is a 

stronger guarantee of permanent peace than standing armies 

and frowning forts.”477 At the conclusion of Borland’s remarks, 

the monument was unveiled by Mrs. John W. Black, event 

chairwoman and member of the Robert E. Lee Chapter of the 

UDC, and Gladys Shelby, granddaughter 

of General Shelby. Black made some 

brief remarks and together the ladies 

uncovered the monument. Then Battery 

B of the Missouri National Guard fired 

a twenty-one-gun salute to conclude the 

ceremony.478

Figure 212 . The south face of the 

Union Cemetery Confederate 

Monument, erected 1911.

Union Cemetery was abandoned in 1937. 

Today it is owned by the Kansas City Parks 

and Recreation Board, which keeps it well 

tended. The Confederate monument still 

occupies a prime location on a hill, and a 

small interpretive marker indicates that 

the site is a featured point of interest on 

the Union Cemetery Historical Society 

walking tour (figs. 211–212).479
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214

Figure 213 . Map of Terre Haute, Indiana, showing the locations of Woodlawn Cemetery, the railroad depot, and building where 

Confederate prisoners were held, 1876. Based on the “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana,” 1876. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
215

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

WOODLAWN CEMETERY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

Terre Haute, Indiana

After the fall of Fort Donelson in Tennessee in February 1862, the Union army suddenly 

had 15,000 Confederate prisoners on its hands. General Henry Halleck wired several 

Midwestern governors asking if there were facilities to house them. Governor Oliver P. 

Morton of Indiana told Halleck that he could take 3,000 prisoners. The prisoners were 

next transported by boat to St. Louis where they were put aboard several trains. They 

arrived in Indianapolis in groups of 200 to 400. On or about February 22, 1862, a group 

of 279 prisoners arrived by train to Terre Haute, Indiana.480

On February 24, 1862, Governor Morton ordered Colonel Bernard F. Mullen to move 

his regiment, the 61st Indiana Infantry, to Terre Haute in order to take charge of the 

prisoners. Mullen arrived in Terre Haute that afternoon where he found the prisoners 

under the command of a 24th Ohio Infantry lieutenant. The lieutenant told Mullen 

that his orders were to transport the prisoners to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, and he 

refused to turn them over to Mullen. After trying to contact Indianapolis via telegraph, 

Mullen, the higher-ranking officer, relieved the lieutenant of the prisoners.481

Mullen marched the prisoners to a brick building, an old pork-packing establishment 

owned by Farrington & Williams, which was situated at the end of Park Street between 

the river and First Street. According to Colonel Mullen’s report, he had 279 prisoners 

on February 27, 1862. By March 18 most of the prisoners had been transferred to Camp 

Morton. As of that date, seven had died and forty-one remained in the hospital in Terre 

Haute (fig. 213).482

Woodlawn Cemetery

Several more prisoners died before the group was well enough to be moved on to 

Indianapolis. Over the course of the prisoners’ stay in Terre Haute, at least eleven men 

died and were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. According to the undertaker who buried 

them: 

[The] Colonel commanding the regiment that were guarding them came 

to me and told me to bury them in a plain coffin with an outside box and 

use a hearse (not wagon) for transporting to the cemetery and to use a 

guard of U.S. soldiers (6) as an escort.483

Colonel Mullen’s insistence on using a hearse demonstrated that he felt that the 

prisoners deserved a certain amount of respect and that a certain protocol should be 

observed in death. Unfortunately for undertaker Isaac Ball, he was never paid for his 

services because the quartermaster in Indianapolis determined that his costs were too 

high compared to the fees paid to undertakers burying prisoners in Indianapolis.484
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

216

The remains of eleven Confederate prisoners remained in the Terre Haute cemetery, 

largely forgotten until 1901. That year a letter from Mrs. William J. Behan, president of 

the Confederated Southern Memorial Association, found its way to the mayor of Terre 

Haute. Behan had heard that a cemetery containing Confederate burials was about to be 

abandoned and the property sold off for town lots; she was determined to pursue this 

matter.485

The Confederated Southern Memorial Association had been instrumental in erecting 

monuments to the Confederate dead throughout the South, as well as moving the 

remains of Southern dead from Gettysburg and other places in the Eastern Theater. In 

1901 the association began focusing its efforts on prisoners of war, including those said 

to be interred at Terre Haute.486

Behan was under the impression that the cemetery contained the graves of more than 

100 Confederate soldiers. She received numerous replies to her queries, including a 

letter from the mayor and undertaker, an attorney, the local Grand Army of the Republic 

(GAR) post, and the cemetery superintendent. Mayor Henry O. Sterg assured Behan 

that no cemetery in the city was to be abandoned and that there were no Confederate 

soldiers buried in Terre Haute. Ball, however, assured her that the mayor was wrong; 

there were indeed Confederates buried in Terre Haute. Ball gave the number buried in 

the cemetery as thirteen, not 100. All letters to Behan attempted to reassure her, telling 

her that the Confederate graves in Terre Haute, while unmarked, were well cared for 

and would continue to be taken care of “as long as time may last.” She appeared to be 

satisfied that the graves were being properly maintained and made note of it in a letter 

she wrote to the Confederate Veteran later that year.487

The Commission

Six years passed between the flurry of correspondence between Mrs. Behan and the 

citizens of Terre Haute, and L. Frank Nye’s first visit to the city in summer 1907. Nye, 

employed by the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, was in Terre 

Haute to locate the graves of the Confederate prisoners and to determine if they could be 

individually marked. 

Nye went first to the post office. There he was directed by the assistant postmaster 

to Woodlawn Cemetery, called the “old cemetery.” The assistant superintendent at 

Woodlawn explained that all records before 1866 had been destroyed in a fire. He told 

Nye that he thought the Confederate prisoners were “buried in a small section near 

the entrance, two paths west, and about three sections south from the entrance street.” 

Nye called the cemetery superintendent who, though not familiar with the situation, 

believed that the prisoners and the Union dead were buried together. He told Nye that 

the area thought to be the resting place of the Confederate prisoners was marked with a 

monument to the unknown dead, placed there by the Ladies of Morton Relief Corps No. 

11 in 1904.488

Nye consulted Lawrence Burgett, a member of the local GAR, who suggested that 

he speak with Frank Ball, son of Isaac Ball, the undertaker who had buried the dead 

prisoners in 1862. Ball arranged a visit with his father, who at that time was in poor 

health. Nye interviewed Isaac Ball at his house on Swan Street. The elder Ball was 
217

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

confused regarding the number of men he buried, but he gave Nye a number of details 

that convinced him that Ball knew what he was talking about. In the interview, Ball told 

Nye that he did not bury the Confederate prisoners with the Union soldiers. Ball said 

he buried the Confederates in Section 37, east of 12th Street, and south of Grand Entry 

Avenue (fig. 214). Ball also mentioned a particular headstone, which he said would lead 

Nye to the grave site. Nye found the headstone and marked the passage in his report. 

Ball did not mention that he had marked the graves in any way and it seems unlikely 

there were ever headboards on the prisoners’ graves.489

Figure 214 . This grassy strip along 

the west edge of Woodlawn 

Cemetery, which was reserved for 

paupers during the Civil War era, 

is the most likely the location of 

Confederate prisoner burials.

Though now somewhat more comfortable with the location of the Confederate graves 

in Terre Haute, the commission still did not know the names of the men buried in 

Woodlawn Cemetery. Hoping to get more information, Commissioner Oates wrote 

to the secretary of war, requesting all paperwork on an 1862 claim made by Isaac 

Ball to Indianapolis for payment for his services. Oates’s request bounced around the 

Department of War for two months. The quartermaster general found nothing and, 

initially, the adjutant general also came up empty handed. Finally, three months after 

Oates requested the information, the adjutant general sent him a list of eleven names. 

It turned out that Isaac Ball did indeed bury these men and had presented a bill for 

payment.490

Commissioner Oates, following up on the information from the adjutant general, wrote 

to John T. Sudbrink, an attorney in Terre Haute, who had been in communication with 

the Confederated Southern Memorial Association back in 1901. Sudbrink replied that 

he could locate the individual graves and put up stakes, but “there would be some little 

expense attached.” A second letter was then sent to John E. Lamb, a former congressman 

who served with Oates. Lamb fired back a response, “Mr. John T. Sudbrink, of this 

city is absolutely unreliable, and in the opinion of a great many people is non compos 

mentis. I have known him all his life. He has no more knowledge about the graves of the 

Confederate soldiers than he has about the [Halley’s] comet.”491
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

218

Figure 215 . Undated sketch by M. H. 

Rice of Kansas City, Missouri, of the 

proposed monument to Confederate 

prisoners buried at Woodlawn 

Cemetery. National Archives and 

Records Administration.

After exhausting every avenue in the search for the 

location of the graves and the matching of graves with 

names, the commission determined to erect a single 

monument in the cemetery. L. Frank Nye traveled 

to Terre Haute in 1911 to meet with the cemetery 

superintendent, with whom he reached agreement on a 

single monument; the city would donate the property.492

In late 1911 a circular asking for bids on the work in 

Terre Haute was sent out, and in December 1911, the 

contract was awarded to M. H. Rice of Kansas City, 

Missouri. The cost of the modest, 10 foot 5-inch-tall 

obelisk of gray Vermont granite with bronze plaques 

listing the names of the eleven dead was $300. The city 

officially deeded the cemetery lot to the U.S. government 

in spring 1912 and the monument was erected sometime 

afterward (fig. 215).493

In his 1901 letter to Behan, Isaac Ball said that after 

the war the remains of one prisoner were claimed by a 

man named Zollicoffer, and a 1925 newspaper clipping 

found in the Vigo County Public Library recounts his 

story. In the article, Ball remembers that a man named 

Zollicoffer came to Terre Haute and recovered a body 

that was buried there. Ball does not specifically state that 

Zollicoffer came to recover the body of a family member 

but it seems to be a logical reason. The bronze plaque on 

the Confederate monument also lists a George N. Zollicoffer, who could be the soldier 

whose remains were claimed after the war (fig. 216).494

Moving the Monument

In 1951, the monument was moved from its original location in Section 35.5 to the 

circle where it still stands. In October 1951, the monument was rededicated during 

a ceremony held by members of the American Legion, Morton Relief Corps, and the 

mayor, among others. The U.S. Army enclosed the new plot with curbing and continued 

to care for the monument. Sometime before the monument was relocated, the original 

bronze plaques had been stolen; these were probably replaced as part of the move (fig. 

216).495

Figure 216 . Plaques added to the 

monument when it was moved in 

1951: recognition (leftmost), and 

two on the east and west faces 

inscribed with names of the dead.
219

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 217 . Map of Woodlawn 

Cemetery showing the area reserved 

for paupers and the original and 

current locations of the Confederate 

monument.

Accounts published in Terre Haute newspapers and in some local histories contain 

confusing information about the monument. Several publications insist that the 

monument in the circle is a newer, larger version replacement of a more modest original.

However, the drawing located at the National Archives and Records Administration, 

Washington, D.C., the 1951 newspaper article, the 2009 inspection of the monument, 

and a conversation with Mr. Lennie Snyder, current cemetery superintendent as of this 

writing, confirm that the monument in Woodlawn Cemetery is the one erected by the 

commission in 1912.496

According to Snyder, the monument was never placed over the graves of the 

Confederate dead, which are interred in the last two sections south of Grand Entry 

Avenue in a strip of land adjacent to the west fence (fig. 217); this section was 

historically reserved for paupers. According to Snyder, the commission-funded 

monument was originally in Section 35, one section west of Central Avenue, and 

about 10 feet from Grand Entry Avenue. Snyder explained that the city asked the 

army’s permission to move the monument so that they might sell the lots on the 

property it occupied. In exchange, the monument would be put in a more prominent 

location. Everyone agreed and the monument was moved in 1951 (fig. 218).497

Figure 218 . East face of the Woodlawn 

Cemetery Confederate Monument, set in a 

circle at the intersection of Central Avenue 

and Walsh Avenue in 2009.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

220

Figure 219 . Map of Elmira, New York, showing locations of the prison and Woodlawn Cemetery. Based on the Atlas of the City of 

Elmira, New York, 1896. Chemung County Historical Society.
221

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

WOODLAWN NATIONAL CEMETERY

Elmira, New York

Overcrowding at the Point Lookout prison in Maryland led the federal government to 

establish Elmira Military Prison in western New York during May 1864. Commissary 

General of Prisoners William Hoffman planned to secure Barracks No. 3 at the Elmira 

Depot with a 12-foot-tall stockade fence. The depot had been a rendezvous for Union 

soldiers entering service from New York State. In addition to the barracks, it had 

hospitals, storehouses, corrals, and stables.498 Hoffman optimistically wrote to Secretary 

of War Edwin Stanton: 

I respectfully suggest that one set of the barracks at Elmira may be 

appropriated to this purpose. I am informed there are barracks there 

available which have, by crowding, received 12,000 volunteers. By fencing 

them [the barracks] in at a cost of about $2,000 they may be relied 

on to receive 8,000 or possibly 10,000 prisoners. They can be shipped 

directly from Belle Plain, on steamers already ordered for the purpose, 

to New York, and thence by railroad to Elmira, which will not make the 

transportation very expensive.

499

Lieutenant Colonel Seth Eastman, the commander of Elmira Depot, was not nearly as 

optimistic as Hoffman. In his reply to the commissary general of prisoners he wrote: 

These barracks were built to comfortably accommodate 3,000 troops 

without crowding. The bunks are double. The buildings are in excellent 

condition and well ventilated. Four thousand prisoners of war could be 

quartered in them, and there is plenty of ground room in which tents 

could be pitched to accommodate 1,000 more.

500

Hoffman, ever on the lookout for an inexpensive solution to the escalating prisoner 

problem, chose Elmira as the option to relieve overcrowding elsewhere. Its location 

made escape difficult, it would be relatively cheap to set up, and transportation was 

readily available. 

The prison facility at Elmira sat on uneven ground located near the Chemung River (fig. 

219). Roughly two-thirds of the 40-acre camp, including the thirty barracks buildings, 

headquarters, and other support structures, stood on the high ground between Foster’s 

Pond and Water Street. Foster’s Pond, 580 yards long by 12 yards wide, sat south of the 

main compound. From the pond, the land fell 20 feet. The smallpox hospital stood in 

this low area, between the pond and the south wall. 

The first Confederate prisoners arrived in Elmira on July 6, 1864. By the end of the 

first week, the prison population exceeded 1,100 men. This was only the beginning. As 

planned, nearly 1,000 more prisoners were transferred from Point Lookout and by the 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

222

end of July, Elmira prison housed nearly 5,000 men. It was around this time that tragedy 

struck.501

On July 14 over 800 Confederate prisoners, 125 Union guards, and 3 Union officers 

arrived by train in New York City from Point Lookout. They left the city at 6 a.m. the 

following day, bound for Elmira Military Prison. On July 15, the telegraph operator 

at Lackawaxen Junction failed to stop a coal train, which was inadvertently sent onto 

the same track traveled by the prison train. Around 3 p.m., the two trains collided 

on a curvy section of track known as King and Fuller’s Cut in the vicinity of Shohola, 

Pennsylvania.502

Figure 220 . Barracks at Elmira 

Military Prison, ca. 1865. Library of 

Congress.

Local farmers heard the collision and rushed to the scene 

to render aid. One engineer had leaped from the train 

right before the wreck and survived but the other two 

crew members were not as fortunate. Most of the prison 

train was a total loss; forty-nine prisoners and seventeen 

guards were killed outright or died soon after as a result 

of injuries sustained in the crash. The dead were placed 

in coffins built with the debris of the box cars and buried 

in a mass grave at the site of the accident, between the 

railroad and the river. Many of the bodies were so badly 

mutilated they could not be identified. On the next 

day, the 780 surviving prisoners, many of them injured, 

arrived at Elmira.503

By fall 1864 more than 9,000 prisoners were contained 

at Elmira. The original thirty barracks housed 3,873 

men; more than 5,000 prisoners lived in “A” frame tents. With winter approaching, camp 

commandant Major Henry V. Colt was granted permission to construct enough barracks 

to house the prison population. Although short on both labor and supplies, Colt pushed 

ahead. Prisoners with carpentry skills supplemented the workforce. Even though many 

of the crews worked seven days a week, it would not be until New Year’s Day 1865 before 

all of the prisoners were protected from the elements in barracks (fig. 220). The new 

accommodations nevertheless came too late for many: hundreds of men died at Elmira 

during the harsh winter of 1864–1865.504

The Prison Burial Ground

Elmira opened in July 1864 and closed in July 1865. During its brief operation, 2,961 

of the 12,147 prisoners who passed through its gates had died. The Elmira mortality 

rate was the highest of any of the Union’s military prisons. Almost all of the dead were 

interred at what is today the Woodlawn National Cemetery (fig. 221).505

A cemetery for the prison was established immediately. One-half acre of land, 

approximately 2 miles north of the prison, was leased from Woodlawn Cemetery and 

the prison commandant authorized the hiring of a laborer and a hearse. Woodlawn 

Cemetery’s sexton (caretaker) was John W. Jones, an escaped slave who had found his 

way to Elmira from Leesburg, Virginia. The federal government paid Jones $2.50 per 

body to bury the deceased Confederate prisoners. Jones stayed busy; by January 1865, 
223

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

the original government plot was full. The government leased another half-acre in 

Woodlawn Cemetery from the City of Elmira for the prison cemetery. It is in these two 

plots in the Civil War Section that the Confederate dead rest today.506

Figure 221 . Plan of the Elmira 

Military Prison compound, ca. 1865. 

Library of Congress.

When a prisoner died, the body was taken to the dead house at the prison and placed in 

a coffin. The prisoner’s name, rank, company, regiment, grave number, and date of death

were written on the lid of the coffin. The coffins were then transported to Woodlawn 

Cemetery by a wagon converted into a hearse, and upon arrival at the cemetery, were 

placed in a trench. A headboard bearing the information written on the coffin lid was 

placed at the head of each grave. The headboards were made and painted by William F. 

Naefe.507

The cemetery consisted of thirty-six trenches running north-south and two running 

east-west. Jones buried men every month, and probably every day, that Elmira Military 

Prison was in operation. The fewest burials in a given month were 208; the most was 

495. One day Jones buried forty-eight men; on average he buried eight men a day. As the

sexton, Jones kept records of the men he buried.508
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

224

Sometime before his death in 1900, Jones was interviewed by the local paper. 

“Have you the name of every one of the rebel prisoners that you buried?” 

he was asked. “Every one of the 2,988.” was the reply. “The name, company, 

regiment and state where from just as it is painted on the head-board.” 

“Were they the right names?” “I have every reason to suppose so, as also 

will an officer in command of the camp. The prisoner may have given a 

fictitious name when he first came and never been obliged to reveal his 

true name, but if he chanced to get into the hospital he was pretty sure 

to tell it.”509

The last Confederate prisoner left Elmira prison in July 1865. The small government plot 

at Woodlawn Cemetery, which included 119 Union dead, remained under the care of 

Sexton Jones. An army inspection of September 11, 1868, stated: 

The interments number one hundred and nineteen (119) all known. The 

burials are mostly from the general hospital in the city. There are thirtyseven bodies yet to be removed. There are also buried in the cemetery two 

thousand nine hundred and eighty-two (2,982) rebel prisoners of war, in 

forty rows of graves. All graves are sodded, and all have headboards. The 

graves are well taken care of.510

An army inspection on September 13, 1870, reported that there were now only 2,968 

Confederate prisoner burials in the cemetery, friends or relatives having removed twenty 

to the South. The inspector noted that the cemetery had not been taken care of since 

June 1, as pay that was promised to the caretaker had not been forthcoming. There was 

a note in the printed inspection report that a special report had been made for this 

cemetery.511

The government burial lot in Woodlawn Cemetery was not a national cemetery in 1870 

but rather was a leased lot in a private cemetery. It was routinely inspected because 

government funds were used for its maintenance. A number of people in Elmira, one 

of the chief proponents being Congressman H. Boardman Smith, an Elmira native, 

petitioned for the soldiers’ lot to be declared a national cemetery. Finally on June 

23, 1874, a sundry civil service appropriation bill, which carried a clause inserted by 

Congressman Smith, was passed, thereby making the government lots in Woodlawn 

Cemetery a national cemetery.512

Woodlawn National Cemetery

Major Oscar Mack inspected the new Woodlawn National Cemetery on September 23, 

1874. He reported that the cemetery had recently been expanded and improved. The 

cemetery was neat and the grass recently cut. The graves of 128 Union soldiers were 

located on the extreme north edge of the grounds, in a narrow strip of land between the 

north boundary fence and the avenue on the north side of the lot. The Union soldiers’ 

graves were marked with headboards the inspector described as “old and weather 

beaten.” The graves of 2,988 Confederate prisoners of war were “a short distance” 

southeast of the Union soldiers’ graves. Mack reported, “The graves were originally 
225

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

mounded up and sodded and marked by head-boards painted and lettered. Many of the 

latter have fallen down.”513

In his special report, Major Mack described the Confederate section in more detail: 

The greater part of these graves are arranged in parallel double rows, feet 

to feet, with wide walks between the rows of head boards—these rows 

run north and south. There are also two long single rows of graves of 

confederate soldiers, running east and west, between the north side of 

the cemetery (close to the fence) and the Avenue which runs along this 

side and passes by the east end of the double rows above mentioned. This 

Avenue has been laid out and lined on each side with trees—but is not 

otherwise improved. A little stream, whose bed has been made parallel 

with the north fence, bounds the confederate graves on the south, and 

isolates this part of the grounds from the rest of the cemetery.514

Mack indicated that about one-quarter of the headboards in the Confederate section 

were rotted at the base and lay on the ground but that the lettering and numbering 

on the headboards is clear. He also wrote that the “remains of some twenty odd 

confederates have been removed by friends.”515

While in Elmira, Mack met with Congressman Smith. He learned that Smith expected 

the Union and Confederate graves in Woodlawn to be treated alike. Smith wanted 

headstones placed on all of the graves “to blend the blue and gray,” as he expressed it. 

Mack told him that the law authorizing headstones applied only to Union graves. Mack 

recommended in his report that an accurate list of the names of the Confederate soldiers 

be taken down from the headboards and placed on a chart showing the position of each 

grave, and the headboards then be removed. The first and last grave in the row, he wrote, 

should be marked by a plain stone post rising 6 inches above the ground.516

Congressman Smith was not happy with Mack’s suggestion. On February 22, 1875, he 

submitted a resolution for inclusion into a piece of legislation being drafted by the U.S. 

House of Representatives. The resolution was read, considered, agreed to, and included 

in the bill, which was later passed. Smith’s resolution read, “Resolved, That the rules 

be so suspended as that it shall be in order in Committee of the Whole to consider an 

amendment to the sundry civil appropriation bill providing for head-stones at the graves 

of Union and confederate soldiers in Woodlawn cemetery, New York, and for the proper 

care of such graves.”517

After the bill was passed, no action was taken regarding the Confederate graves at 

Woodlawn National Cemetery. An irate Smith wrote to the Quartermaster Department 

complaining that the legislation was not being enacted by the department. He was 

passionate in his pleas, “If we have further punishment to visit upon the rebels we ought 

to visit it upon the living, the country can afford, at least, to provide its dead enemies, 

certainly those who died in a Northern prison, with ‘hospitable graves.”518 Smith was 

sure that national cemetery policies did not discriminate and headstones could and 

should be placed on all of the graves in Woodlawn Cemetery. At the very least, he 

wanted a man appointed to care for the cemetery and he did not want the graves of the 

Confederates disturbed. “The removal of the remaining headboards would seem to our 

people here as an unpardonable act of vandalism.”519
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

226

Major Mack replied by citing the acts and orders that established national cemeteries 

in relation to the headboards, once again pointing out that they only applied to soldiers 

of the United States. He did, however, agree that the headboards could remain. The 

secretary of war supported Mack and proposed hiring the man mentioned in Smith’s 

letter, Edward Riggs, as well as keeping existing headboards and resetting those that had 

fallen.520

Congressman Smith would not take no for an answer. In summer 1875, he fired 

off another letter to the quartermaster general. He wanted to make it clear that the 

congressional act passed in 1875 was created with the understanding of the other 

committee members to include the Confederates. He seemed to have come to the 

realization that headstones could not be erected for all 2,900 Confederate graves. 

However, he thought those graves could and should be afforded the same care as those 

of the Union soldiers; after all, the whole of the lot was a national cemetery.521 In an 

endorsement to Smith’s letter, District Quartermaster Major C. S. Sawtelle wrote: 

I presume we are under no obligation to take care of the graves of the 

Confederates, except to prevent them being desecrated, although I am of 

the opinion that it would be proper for our agent to be instructed to look 

after and keep in as good order as possible the lot set apart for those in 

the cemetery—After the work immediately required on the graves of the 

Union dead is done.522

The graves of the Union soldiers were marked and the section where the Confederate 

prisoners were buried was also cared for, though permanent headstones were not 

Figure 222 . Wood headboards on 

Confederate graves at Woodlawn 

National Cemetery, Decoration Day 

1875. Chemung County Historical 

Society.
227

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 223 . U.S. Army Quartermaster Department map of Woodlawn National Cemetery showing the location of Confederate and Union burials, 

1893. National Archives and Records Administration.

Figure 224 . Woodlawn National Cemetery in 1906 when the commission began its work; Union 

graves are visible on the left side. Chemung County Historical Society.

Figure 225 . Private grave marker 

for Confederate soldier “John 

Smith T.” in the Civil War Section, 

erected by his son in 1905.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

228

erected. The citizens of Elmira decorated both the Confederate and Union graves on 

Decoration Day (fig. 222).523

Figure 226 . Private headstone on 

the grave of Confederate Private 

William E. D. Crawford, photograph 

1906. Chemung County Historical 

Society.

The federal government leased the lots in Woodlawn Cemetery from the City of Elmira 

for a period of some years. Finally, in December 1877, the government purchased the 

2 acres holding the graves of the Union and Confederate dead from the city for $1,500, 

making Woodlawn National Cemetery a legal entity separate from the municipal 

cemetery.524

Sixteen years later in September 1893, the office of the quartermaster general drew 

a map of the cemetery at Elmira. This map shows the Confederate and Union burial 

sections that correspond to those described by Major Mack in his 1874 special report. 

The larger section consists of thirty-six parallel rows with graves oriented north-south: 

all of these graves are Confederate. The second section, located north of the first, 

consists of two parallel rows with the graves oriented east-west. The Confederate and 

Union sections were separated by a tree-lined allée running east-west and parallel to the 

Union graves (fig. 223).525

Figure 227 . A standard 1930s 

government-issue headstone on 

the grave of sailor E. K. Lindsay, who 

died in 1865.

The Commission

The Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead began its work in Elmira 

when Commissioner William Elliott and his assistant L. Frank Nye visited the cemetery 

in June 1906 (fig. 224). Elliott and Nye were trying to rectify the discrepancies in 

the numbers of dead as reported in the various documents they had gathered. Some 

printed documentation from 1873 listed 2,988 burials, while a list obtained from the 

quartermaster general put the number at 2,948.526

There were seven individual headstones in the Confederate section in 1906: William 

B. Egerton, W. B. Le Quenx, Anthony Rankin, John Smith T. (fig. 225), William E. D.

Crawford, E. K. Lindsay, and John Covert Plowden.527 Relatives of the deceased had 

requested and obtained permission from the Quartermaster Department to place these 

individual stones. Four of them remain today. Crawford, Rankin, and Lindsay’s old 

stones have been replaced. Lindsay’s new stone bears the Confederate Cross of Honor, 

which was not used until the 1930s and so was not placed by the commission (figs.226-

227).528

Elliott and Nye questioned Superintendent Charles Abbott about the cemetery maps 

drawn in 1874 and in 1893. According to Abbott, the 1874 map was drawn while the 

headboards were still in place. Abbott explained that an engineer from Washington, 

D.C., surveyed the grounds in 1874 and drew the map based on the position of the

headboards. At the same time, the engineer also put together a list of the names on the

headboards. When the engineer completed his mapping, the headboards were removed

and burned. The engineer sent Abbott a copy of the map, along with an indexed list of

the prisoners buried in the cemetery.529

Elliott and Nye spent a month in Elmira and eventually reached the conclusion that 

there were 2,963 Confederate prisoners of war buried in the cemetery: 
229

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Taking the total of the Q. M. G.’s [quartermaster general] list, 2,948, less 

1 duplicated, 2,947, and adding the 16 “Unknown” would make a total of 

2,963, the number shown in the Burial Register and also on the Map, and 

accepting Mr. Tower’s statement that 25 were removed by friends, would 

make the total as given in Senate Ex. Doc.

530

When Elliott and Nye arrived in Elmira, they carried with them a list from the 

quartermaster general’s office containing 2,948 names. They compared this list with the 

burial register in the superintendent’s office. The Quartermaster Department list was in 

alphabetical order; the burial register was arranged by grave number. A list of names and 

their corresponding grave numbers, grouped by first letter of the last name, was given 

in the back of the burial register. A third set of names was printed on the 1874 map but 

that list showed a different set of grave numbers. To further complicate matters, two 

volumes entitled Record of Deaths of Prisoners of War, Confederate were found while Nye 

and Elliott were in Elmira, but they did not receive the volumes in time to compare them 

against the other lists.531

Elliott wrote to twelve former Confederate states to request information on names 

for which he had questions. Four states did not respond. Four responded but sent 

no information. Only four states provided information that proved helpful. With the 

information in hand and using the Quartermaster Department list as the control, a list 

of names was drawn up and forwarded to the Department of War for verification.532

In spring 1907 the commission requested bids for headstones. The bid was not just 

for graves at Elmira, but for 20,000 headstones to mark all of the Confederate graves 

documented by the commission. The headstones were to be American white marble 

slabs 39 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 4 inches thick. Each would have the distinctive 

pointed top first used on headstones to mark the graves of Confederate soldiers buried 

at Arlington National Cemetery. Each inscription was to include name, rank (above 

private), regiment, and the letters “CSA.” The contract was awarded to Blue Ridge 

Marble Company of Nelson, Georgia.533

The appropriate number of headstones were delivered to Elmira in summer 1907. A 

second contract was awarded for transporting the headstones to the cemetery. A third 

contract was let to set the headstones on graves. Since there was a labor shortage in 

Elmira in 1907, it took the commission some time to find a man to set them for an 

acceptable price.534

The contractor began setting headstones at Woodlawn National Cemetery in September 

1907 and did not complete the work until early spring 1908 (fig. 228). Poor weather, 

headstone alignment and breakage, and other concerns slowed the process. All issues 

were, however, eventually resolved to the satisfaction of the commission. The contractor 

who set the headstones leveled the lowest areas of ground and he suggested bringing in 

more dirt to increase the overall depth of the soil in the cemetery before it was seeded.535

During an East Coast cemetery inspection tour in 1906, which included the visit to 

Elmira, Commissioner Elliott and L. Frank Nye began investigating the 1864 train 

wreck near Shohola, Pennsylvania, in which a number of Confederate prisoners had 

perished. Elliot wrote to the president of the Erie Railroad, F. D. Underwood requesting 

information on the accident. Underwood could tell him little except the name of the 

landowner on whose land the mass grave was located.536
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

230

Figure 228 . Newly marked 

Confederate graves at Woodlawn 

National Cemetery prior to seeding 

in 1908. Chemung County Historical 

Society.

Elliott died before the final resting place of the prisoners and guards killed in the 

accident could be determined. Commissioner William Oates visited the Shohola site 

in 1909. The unmarked mass grave was located on inaccessible swampy ground that 

was prone to flooding. Oates was reluctant to mark the graves in place and finally 

put the question to the secretary of war, “I most respectfully request that you instruct 

me in this case as to my duty, and I will endeavor to do it to the best of my ability.”537

The Department of War determined that it was appropriate to move the remains to a 

national cemetery and that it would obtain funding the next year to do so.538

Given the location of the Shohola burial site, the remains could have been taken to either 

the national cemetery at Elmira or to Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn. 

Commissioner Oates felt that since the prisoners were on their way to Elmira, that they 

should be moved there. Oates’s wishes were honored, though he did not live to see it.539

During the week of June 5, 1911, the remains of the Confederate prisoners and Union 

guards were exhumed from the mass grave near Shohola and placed in four cases. They 

were shipped to Elmira and buried in four graves in Woodlawn National Cemetery. The 

commission agreed to place a monument over the graves that would include the names 

of the deceased and the “circumstances under which, and the place at which, they were 

killed.”540
231

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Charles G. Blake & Company of Chicago was chosen to create the Shohola Monument. 

The 8-foot 8-inch-tall die-and-base monument was completed in June 1912. A bronze 

plaque on the north face listed the names of the eleven Union guards and the following 

text: 

Figure 229 . One of the 

photographs Charles G. Blake & 

Company sent to Commissioner 

James Berry to document the 

finished Shohola Monument.

National Archives and Records 

Administration.

Erected by the / United States / To the memory of the following / soldiers, 

privates in the Eleventh / Veteran Reserve Corps, comprising / the Union 

guard who were killed / with their Confederate prisoners / of war in the 

railroad accident / near Shohola, PA, July 15, 1864, whose / unidentified 

remains, together / with those of the Confederate / prisoners, have been 

removed to / this cemetery. 

The bronze plaque on the south face listed the names of the forty-nine Confederate 

prisoners after the text below: 

Erected by the / United States / To mark the burial place of / forty-nine 

Confederate soldiers / who, while prisoners of war, were / killed in a 

railroad accident near / Shohola, Pennsylvania, and whose / remains 

were there buried, but / subsequently removed to this / cemetery, where 

the individual / graves cannot now be / identified.541

After the inspection, Charles G. Blake & Company 

was paid $600. The monument company sent 

Commissioner James Berry photographs of the 

completed work, as he had let the bids and was 

responsible for the project (figs. 229–230).542

Figure 230 . Two rows of Confederate 

graves and Shohola Monument 

in Woodlawn National Cemetery, 

between a tree-lined interior road 

and a picket perimeter fence, ca. 

1912. Chemung County Historical 

Society.

In 1937 the United Daughters of the Confederacy 

(UDC) donated a monument to Woodlawn National 

Cemetery. It was funded through a bequest made 

to the organization specifically for that purpose, 

by William S. Haven, a Confederate veteran who 

had escaped from Elmira prison. The granite and 

bas-relief bronze monument stands approximately 

10 feet tall. The 6 feet 2 inch-tall bronze figure was 

produced by F. William Sievers, who also created 

the Virginia Monument at Gettysburg National 

Battlefield and other Confederate monuments in the 

early twentieth century. The dedication plaque reads: 

In memory of / the Confederate soldiers / in the War Between the States / 

who died in Elmira prison / and lie buried here / Erected by the / United 

Daughters of the Confederacy / November 6, 1937 

The monument, erected at a cost of $4,312.20, was unveiled during a ceremony that 

included addresses given by UDC members and the mayor of Elmira (fig. 231).543

In the late 1930s, a land purchase increased the size of the national cemetery to about 

8 acres. Because the federal government and the city worked together to care for the 

cemetery, a lodge was not constructed until 1949. By that time, the Civil War-era 

cemetery was being encroached upon by graves associated with the Spanish-American 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

232

War and both World Wars. Some line the perimeter of the original Confederate lot: 

Spanish-American War and World War I interments on the east and west ends; Union 

troops who died at Elmira, Spanish-American War, and World War I dead on the 

south edge (fig. 232). The cemetery exhausted its burial space and closed in 1970, but it 

reopened in the 1980s after land was acquired to accommodate 1,800 new graves.544

Figure 231 . United Daughters of the Confederacy 

monument by F. William Sievers, erected in 

Woodlawn National Cemetery in 1937.

In 1997, a group of students from Elmira’s Southside High School raised $1,500 to 

erect a small memorial to John W. Jones, the sexton of Woodlawn Cemetery and the 

individual solely responsible for burying the Confederate soldiers who died in Elmira 

Military Prison. The nine high-school students, locally known as “The Jones Nine,” were 

members of the Southside High School Diversity Group. The small granite and bronze 

monument was unveiled on June 22, 1997, in a ceremony that included a twenty-onegun salute by Union and Confederate reenactors (fig. 233).545 The bronze plaque reads: 

Between July 1864 and August 1865, 2973 / Confederate soldiers were 

buried here / with kindness and respect, by John W. Jones, / a runaway 

slave. They have remained in / these hallowed grounds of Woodlawn / 

National Cemetery by family choice / because of the honorable way in 

which / they were laid to rest by a caring man. 
233

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Figure 232 . Map showing the 

Woodlawn National Cemetery 

layout after Spanish-American War 

and World War I burials were added 

to the Civil War Section, 1934. 

National Cemetery Administration.

Over the decades, citizens of Elmira have cared for and honored the graves of the 

Confederate prisoners buried in their city. On Decoration Day, Union soldiers’ and 

Confederate graves were marked, as may be clearly observed in an 1875 photograph, as 

well as the 1912 image of the Shohola Monument. The flags that mark the Confederate 

graves are U.S. flags. In 1946, a memorial ceremony held at the cemetery included the 

past president of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Elmira Kiwanis Club. Two 

visiting southerners placed a wreath on the UDC Confederate monument; portions of 

the ceremony were broadcast on the radio. Since the late 1980s, Civil War reenactors 

have conducted memorial ceremonies in the cemetery and organized living-history 

encampments on surrounding property.546

Figure 233 . A group of nine 

students from Elmira’s Southside 

High School donated the John W. 

Jones Monument to Woodlawn 

National Cemetery in 1997.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

234

Notes

Camp Butler National Cemetery

1 William S. Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” Illinois Historical 

Journal, Volume 82, Number 2, Summer 1989, p. 75. 

2 Helen Edith Sheppley, “Camp Butler in the Civil War Days,” Journal of the Illinois 

State Historical Society, Volume 25, April, 1932–January, 1933, p. 287; and Peterson, 

“A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” p. 78. 

3 Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” p. 79. 

4 Hattie Lou Winslow and Joseph H. Moore, Camp Morton 1861–1865: Indianapolis 

Prison Camp, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1995, p. 17; The War 

of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate 

Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–

1901, Series II, Vol. III, p. 281. Hereafter cited as O. R.; and Sheppley, “Camp Butler 

in the Civil War Days,” p. 297. 

5 Jack D. Coome, Thunder Along the Mississippi: The River Battles that Split the 

Confederacy, Castle Books, Edison, New Jersey, 1996, pp. 92–94; Sheppley, “Camp 

Butler in the Civil War Days,” p. 297; and Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 

1861–1866,” pp. 79–80. 

6 Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, 

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, pp. 73–74 and 136–137; and Sheppley, “Camp 

Butler in the Civil War Days,” p. 299.

7 Sheppley, “Camp Butler in the Civil War Days,” pp. 298–299.

8 O. R., Series II, Volume III, p. 647; and Sheppley, “Camp Butler in the Civil War 

Days,” pp. 299–300.

9 O. R., Series II, Volume IV, p. 112. 

10 O. R., Series II, Volume IV, pp. 130–131. 

11 Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” p. 81; and Emma Eliza Parrotte, 

History of Camp Butler, MA. thesis, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1938, p. 

40.

12 Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” p. 82.

13 O. R., Series II, Volume V, pp. 379–382. 

14 O. R., Series II, Volume V, p. 379. 

15 O. R., Series II, Volume V, p. 380.

16 O. R., Series II, Volume V, p. 382.

17 Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, pp. 39–47; O. R., Series II, Volume V, pp. 380–382; 

Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler, 1861–1866,” p. 83; and O. R., Series II, Volume 

VIII, p. 999.
235

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

18 U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, pp. 86–87; and Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, p. 41. 

19 U.S. Congress, Report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 

1869, p. 87. 

20 Ibid. 

21 U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 87. 

22 Ibid. 

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, p. 115. 

26 “No. 13, Camp Butler National Cemetery (Springfield, Illinois) Inspected October 9, 

1881,” RG 92, Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: Springfield, Missouri 1. Note: This report 

was filed in the Springfield, Missouri folder; it is a report on Camp Butler that was 

misfiled.

27 Ibid.

28 William Elliott to Fred C. Ainsworth, August 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 2.

29 Between William C. Oates, Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead 

and The Springfield Monument Co., of Springfield, Illinois; and Between William C. 

Oates, Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and T. B. Richardson, 

of Riverton, Illinois, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 3. 

30 William C. Oates to George Ford, June 16, 1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 2.

31 Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, p. 50. 

32 Parrotte, History of Camp Butler, pp. 52–54; and Therese T. Sammartino, Camp 

Butler National Cemetery National Register Nomination, on file at Illinois Historic 

Preservation Agency, 1997, p. 3.; Parrotte does not state if the small markers 

designated the resting place of unknown soldiers. However, photographs taken in 

2009 show all unknown burials marked with standard headstones rather than the 

small numbered blocks. 

33 Post Plan No. 182-149- A B C, Camp Butler National Cemetery, Illinois, RG 15, 

Entry 25, Box 6, Folder: Camp Butler 1. Department of Veterans Affairs, ; and Deed 

dated 25 June 1948, from Arthur E. Miller, conveying to U.S. Government, 33.23 

acres, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 6, Folder: Camp Butler 4.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

236

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery

34 Roger Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase and the Evolution of Union Prison Policy, University 

of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2007, pp. 7–13; and Alfred E. Lee, History 

of the City of Columbus, Capital of Ohio, Volume II, Munsell & Company, New York, 

1992, p. 97.

35 Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, pp. 20–24. 

36 Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, p. 24; and “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery near 

Columbus, O.,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

37 The War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. VII, p. 382. Hereafter cited as O. R.

38 Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, pp. 105–106.

39 Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, p. 66; William H. Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, 

Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Nashville, Tennessee, 1906, p. 

11; and RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

40 Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, near Columbus, O., transcribed notes of L. 

Frank Nye, October 31, 1906 to November 15, 1906,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, 

Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

41 Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, National Cemetery Administration History 

Program vertical file, Camp Chase, pp. 3–4; “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery,” 

RG 15, Entry 25 Box 31, Folder: Philadelphia 3; Senate Report 408, Mr. Spencer, from 

the Committee on Military Affairs, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1878, p. 2; and Pickenpaugh, Camp Chase, p. 146.

42 Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, p. 70.

43 H. A. Axline to Samuel B. Holabird, May 15, 1886, RG 92, E 576, Box 22; and Samuel 

B. Holabird to H. A. Axline, May 20, 1886, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 22. 

44 Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, pp. xii–xiii and 11. 

45 Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, xiv; and Confederate Veteran, “Camp Chase 

Memorial Association,” July 1899, p. 304. 

46 Knauss, The Story of Camp Chase, p. 62.

47 Confederate Veteran, “Camp Chase Confederate Dead,” July 1902, p. 296. 

48 “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, near Columbus, O., transcribed notes of L. 

Frank Nye, October 31, 1906 to November 15, 1906,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, 

Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

49 Ibid. 

50 Ibid.

51 “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, Columbus, O., transcribed notes of L. Frank 

Nye, May 1908,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3. 
237

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

52 “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, near Columbus, O., transcribed notes of L. 

Frank Nye October 31, 1906 to November 15, 1906,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: 

Camp Chase 3. 

53 Ibid. 

54 L. Frank Nye to William Elliott August 7, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: 

Camp Chase 3. 

55 L. Frank Nye to William Elliott August 7, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: 

Camp Chase 3; and L. Frank Nye to William Elliott September 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3.

56 William Elliott to W.H. Knauss, June 28, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: 

Camp Chase 2. 

57 William H. Knauss to William Elliott, August 29, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, 

Folder: Camp Chase 3; and The William Bayley Company to William C. Oates, 

December 8, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

58 L. Frank Nye to Mrs. LeRoy Rose, April 2, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: 

Camp Chase 3. 

59 Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, to Columbus, Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, 

Ohio, July 12, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3; and Camp 

Chase 100th Memorial Service, June 4, 1995, Ohio Historical Society, United 

Daughters of the Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, No. 1546 (Columbus, Ohio), 1864–

2000, MSS 1312 AV, Box 2, Folder 6. 

60 Mrs. W. B. Sells to James Berry, January 1, 1912 and James H. Berry to Elizabeth 

Thompson Sells, January 24, 1912, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp Chase 3. 

61 “Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio, General Layout, November 

12, 1934,” National Cemetery Administration History Program Collection, Vertical 

file: Camp Chase. 

62 “Camp Chase Cemetery,” The Hilltop Record-Historical Progress Issue, July 31, 1936; 

and “Confederate Memorial Day,” The Hilltop Record, May 22, 1936. 

63 “Scene of Rites,” The Hilltop Record, June 5, 1936. 

64 “Plan of Camp Chase Cemetery, 1948,” National Cemetery Administration History 

Program, Vertical file: Camp Chase; and “When Columbus Forgave the Rebel Dead,” 

The Columbus Dispatch Magazine, Ohio Historical Society, United Daughters of the 

Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, No. 1546 (Columbus, Ohio), 1864–2000, MSS 1312 AV, 

Box 2, Folder 12. 

65 “Monument has link with Vicksburg,” Ohio Historical Society, United Daughters of 

the Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, No. 1546 (Columbus, Ohio), 1864–2000, MSS 1312 

AV, Box 2, Folder 12. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

238

Confederate Mound

66 E. B. Long, “Camp Douglas: ‘A Hellish Den’?” Chicago History, Volume I, Number 2, 

New Series, Fall 1970, pp. 83–94. 

67 Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, 

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, pp. 71–72.

68 Joseph L. Eisendrath, “Chicago’s Camp Douglas, 1861–1865,” Journal of the Illinois 

State Historical Society, Vol. LIII, No. I, Spring, 1960, pp. 39–40. 

69 E. B. Long, “Camp Douglas,” p. 94.

70 George Levy, To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862–65, 

Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, Louisiana, 1999, pp. 351–355; and L. H. Peirce 

to Brigadier General M. Meigs, November 8, 1865, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 27.

71 Colonel J. J. Dana to Brevet Major General M. C. Meigs, October 26, 1865, RG 92, 

Entry 576, Box 27. 

72 L. H. Peirce to Brevet Major General M. C. Meigs, November 8, 1865, and Colonel J. 

J. Dana to Brevet Major General M. C. Meigs, November 17, 1865, RG 92, Entry 576, 

Box 27. 

73 Levy, To Die in Chicago, pp. 358–359. 

74 Confederate Dead at Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., October 18, 1907, RG 

92, Entry 698, Box 1; Ramsey Stewart to General William C. Oates, November 30, 

1909, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1; and James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and 

Janice L. Reiff, editors, The Encyclopedia of Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 

Chicago, Illinois, 2004, p. 122. 

75 Matt Hucke and Ursula Bielski, Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and 

Lore of Cook County Cemeteries, Lake Claremont Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, p. 

147; and Oak Woods Cemetery Association, Chicago as We Remember Her, Oak 

Woods Cemetery Association, Chicago, Illinois, 1955, pp. 3–4.

76 Confederate Dead, Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., October 18, 1909, RG 92, 

Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II. 

77 Levy, To Die in Chicago, pp. 354–355; L. H. Peirce to Brigadier General M. Meigs, 

November 8, 1865, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 27; and Confederate Dead at Oakwoods 

[sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., October 18, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1.

78 Confederate Veteran, “Confederate ‘Mound’ in Chicago,” July, 1902, p. 319; and John 

C. Underwood, Report of the Proceedings Incidental to the Erection and Dedication of 

the Confederate Monument, William Johnson Printing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 

1896, p. 232. The name Confederate Mound seems to have originated in about 

1902. At that time Chicago Congressman James R. Mann sought federal funds for 

upgrading Confederate Mound, as reported in the July 1902 issue of the Confederate 

Veteran. The site retained the name in subsequent notices when Congress provided 

the War Department with funds for its maintenance. 

79 Underwood, Confederate Monument, p. 254. 
239

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

80 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 2–4.

81 Ex-Confederate Association of Chicago, Register of Confederate Soldiers who Died 

in Camp Douglas 1862–65 and Lie Buried in Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Cohen & 

Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1892, pp. 3–7; Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 

87–91 and 268; and Levy, To Die in Chicago, p. 361.

82 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 255–256.

83 Confederate Veteran, “Dedication of the Monument in Chicago,” May 1895. 

84 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 8, 87–93, and 254. 

85 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 101–103. 

86 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 101 and 109–113.

87 Ibid.

88 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 135–137.

89 Underwood, Confederate Monument, p. 135.

90 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 135–137.

91 Underwood, Confederate Monument, pp. 103–149. 

92 U.S. Congress, “Confederate Mound in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., 57th 

Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Report No. 2155,” RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island.

93 James R. Mann to William H. Taft, December 26, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Camp Douglas II.

94 Proposed Work on Confederate Mound Monument, Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, 

Ill., RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II. This document is a packet of 

notes, letters, and other documentation of Elliott and Nye’s visit to Chicago in late 

October 1907. 

95 Ramsey Stewart to William Elliott, January 29, 1908 and William C. Oates to Ramsey 

Stewart, November 23, 1909, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II; and 

Proposed Work on Confederate Mound Monument, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas II.

96 Lewis, Report of the Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate Graves, p. 6; 

and James R. Mann to William H. Taft, December 26, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Camp Douglas II.

97 W. B. Van Amringe to William C. Oates, January 12, 1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Camp Douglas II.

98 Ramsey H. Stewart, George W. Levin, and E. W. Carter to James R. Mann, March 21, 

1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2; and “U.S. Congress, Confederate Mound, Oak Woods 

Cemetery, Chicago, April 22, 1910, Committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed, 61st Congress, 2nd sess., 

Report No. 1095,” RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

240

99 Jacob M. Dickinson to William C. Oates, May 12, 1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Camp Douglas 2; William C. Oates to Jacob M. Dickinson, May 21, 1910, RG 

92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II; Memorandum for the Secretary of 

War, May 24, 1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II; and Contract 

between Robert Shaw Oliver and The Van Amringe Granite Co. of Boston, Mass., 

October 5, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2. 

100Ramsey H. Stewart, George W. Levin, and E. W. Carter to James R. Mann, March 

21, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2; and T. R. Gallant to Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, July 28, 1911, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2. 

101William C. Oates to George W. LeVin, June 4, 1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas II; John Underwood, Register of Confederate Soldiers Who Died in 

Camp Douglas 1862–1865 and Lie Buried in Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., 

Cohen & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1892, p. 5; and James H. Berry to Luther H. 

Peirce, December 10, 1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II.

102Jacob M. Dickinson to James H. Berry, February 1, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Camp Douglas II; Jacob M. Dickinson to James H. Berry, February 18, 1911, 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II; Board of Trustee Confederate 

Monument to James H. Berry, February 25, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas II; and James H. Berry to George W. LeVin, March 27, 1911, RG 92, 

Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas II. 

103Meredith Taussig, Confederate Mound Monument, Commission on Chicago 

Landmarks, Chicago, Illinois, 1991; Faye Sparks Robertson, “Oak Woods Cemetery, 

Chicago, Illinois,” United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine, Vol. 58, No. 9, 

October 1995, p. 26.

104Personal communication, Matt Crawford, Chicago Landmarks Commission, 

February 10, 2010. 

105Proposed Work on Confederate Mound Monument, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas II.

Confederate Stockade

106Charles E. Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, The Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, 

Ohio, 1995, pp. 1–2.

107Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, pp. 1–2; and William B. Hesseltine, editor, Civil War 

Prisons, Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 1962, p. 98. 

108Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, p. 4; Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons 

of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, p. 78; and 

Hesseltine, Civil War Prisons, p. 99. 

109War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, 

Series II, Vol. IV, p. 24, hereafter cited as O. R.; and Speer, Portals to Hell, p. 79.

110David R. Bush, Guide Map to the Confederate Cemetery on Johnson’s Island, Friends 

and Descendants of Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison, Johnson’s Island, Ohio, 2008. 
241

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

111Frohman, Rebels on Lake Erie, p. 26 and Bush, Guide Map to the Confederate 

Cemetery on Johnson’s Island.

112U.S. Senate, Report of Quartermaster General relating to cemetery of prison camp 

of Johnson’s Island, near Sandusky, Ohio, 46th Congress Executive Document No. 

53, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 36, Folder: Johnson’s Island. Secretary of War Alexander 

Ramsey does not state what conditions the landowner specified, only that he himself 

believed they were inadmissible under the June 20, 1878 statute.

113“Decoration Day,” Sandusky Register, May 31, 1883. 

114Ibid. 

115“Decoration Day,” Sandusky Register, May 31, 1883; and Lydia J. Ryall, Sketches and 

Stories of the Lake Erie Islands, American Publishers, Norwalk, Ohio, 1913, p. 374.

116W. H. Owen to Colonel J. G. Chandler, September 16, 1887, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 

36, Folder: Johnson’s Island; “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” Sandusky Daily 

Register, October 19, 1889; “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” Sandusky Daily 

Register, February 22, 1890; and “Confederate Dead at Johnson’s Island,” Macon Daily 

Telegraph, May 16, 1890. 

117W. H. H. Blackman, “A Visit to the Confederate Cemetery of the Prison,” Southern 

Historical Society Papers, Vol. 27, January–December, 1899, pp. 103–104. 

118“Memorandum of Agreement between James H. Emrich and Charles Dick and 

the Robert Patton Chapter UDC, March 1, 1905,” Sandusky (Ohio) Public Library 

Vertical File: Johnson’s Island-Cemetery. 

119Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson to William Elliott, March 24, 1906, RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island II. “Marse Robert” is slang for Confederate General 

Robert E. Lee. 

120Ibid.

121Typescript of notes taken by L. Frank Nye on visit to Johnson’s Island October 27–

November 7, 1906, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island II; and Bush, 

Guide Map to the Confederate Cemetery on Johnson’s Island. Border states are loyal 

slave states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri) that did not secede from 

the Union and join the Confederacy.

122Ibid. 

123William Elliott to John T. Mack, March 16, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island II.

124Ibid.

125William Elliott to George Davis, April 6, 1907—see 1st Endorsement (19834) April 

10, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

126William Elliott to Assistant Secretary of War, June 10, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island I; and William Elliott to John Scofield, August 10, 1907, RG 

92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

242

127William Elliott to Secretary of War, June 10, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island I.

128Ibid. 

129Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson to Theodore Roosevelt, July 24, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

130William Elliott to Scofield, August 10, 1907 and William Elliott to Secretary of War, 

August 10, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

131Re: Fence around Cemetery on Johnson’s Island, O., October 3, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island II.

132Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson to William Oates, December 17, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, 

Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island II.

133Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson to Marcus J. Wright, November 11, 1908, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island II; and Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson to William 

Oates, November 22, 1908, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

134William C. Oates to Mary Patton Hudson, April 30, 1909, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island I; and “William Oates to Robert Shaw Oliver, April 29, 1909,” 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

135Mary Patton Hudson to J.M. Dickinson, July 13, 1909, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 

1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I; Marcus J. Wright to Mary Patton Hudson, July 19, 

1909, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I; and “To Select Site for 

Confederate Memorial on Johnson’s Island,” Sandusky Register, December 1, 1909. 

136“To Unveil Monument,” Sandusky Star Journal, April 21, 1910; “Elaborate 

Arrangements are Being Made of the Dedication of Statue,” Sandusky Register, April 

25, 1910; “Memory of Dead,” Sandusky Star Journal, May 19, 1910; “Base Upon 

Monument to Confederate Soldiers Buried on Johnson’s Island Will Stand,” Sandusky 

Register, April 21, 1910; and “Unveil Monument to Confederates,” Sandusky Register, 

June 7, 1910. 

137“Tears Dim Eyes of Blue and Gray as Monument is Unveiled,” Sandusky Register, June 

9, 1910. 

138Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, to Johnson’s Island, Ohio, July 12, 1912, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

139“Confederate Graves on Johnson’s Island,” Sandusky Register, September 2, 1912; 

and Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, to Johnson’s Island, Ohio, July 12, 1912, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

140A handwritten note on page three of a booklet produced by the Johnson’s Island 

Chapter, UDC, in 1940 states: “Mary Patton Hudson’s last surviving member 

transferred their interest in the cemetery to the Ohio Division United Daughters 

of the Confederacy who in turn transferred the property to the U.S. government.” 

Found in United Daughters of the Confederacy, Dixie Chapter, No. 1546 (Columbus, 

Ohio), PA Box 205 14, Ohio Historical Society. 
243

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

141Rufus H. Wilson to Delbert L. Latta, November 13, 1974, National Cemetery 

Administration, History Program Collection vertical files; “Island Cemetery Belongs 

to U.S.,” Sandusky Star Journal, May 13, 1932; “Island Burial Ground Service set for 

Today,” Sandusky Register, June 5, 1932; and “Johnson’s Island Rites Seen and Heard 

by Many,” Sandusky Register, June 7, 1932. 

142United Daughters of the Confederacy, Ohio Division, Robert Patton Chapter, 

Cincinnati, Dedication of bronze monument to Confederate soldiers in Johnson’s Island, 

Ohio, stockade cemetery . . . June, 8, 1910, Ebbert & Richardson, Co., Cincinnati, 

Ohio, 1910. 

143Warranty deed, Robert Patton Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, June 

6, 1932, RG 92, Entry 687, Folder Johnson’s Island; Confederate Stockade cemetery, 

Ohio—metes and bounds, March 16, 1939, RG 92, Entry 687, Folder Johnson’s 

Island; see also W. H. Owen to Colonel J.G. Chandler, September 16, 1887, RG 92, 

Entry 576, Box 36, Folder: Johnson’s Island; and William Elliott to Secretary of War, 

August 10, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island I.

144“Island Service Sunday, June 2,” Sandusky Register, May 15, 1935; and “Island Service 

this Afternoon,” Sandusky Register, June 2, 1935. 

145Bush, Guide Map to the Confederate Cemetery. Note: if a man was buried and the 

body was disinterred, there would still be a burial shaft that would be detected by 

GPR. The number of shafts found using GPR and the number of dead in historical 

records cannot be reconciled without excavation.

Crown Hill Confederate Cemetery

146Hattie Lou Winslow and Joseph H. Moore, Camp Morton 1861–1865: Indianapolis 

Prison Camp, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1995, pp. 1–14. 

147The War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. III, p. 269. Hereafter cited as O. R.

148Lonnie Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, 

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, p. 75.

149Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 75–77.

150Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 20–22 and 26.

151Sue Buckner, Confederate Burials in Crown Hill Cemetery, Marion County, Indiana, 

Genealogical Society of Marion County, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1990, pp. 3–4; and 

Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 30, 57–59.

152O. R., Series II, Volume IV, pp. 436–437 and 460–461. 

153Speer, Portals to Hell, p. 76–77; O. R. Series II, Vol. VIII, pp. 348–349; and Winslow 

and Moore, Camp Morton, p. 143.

154Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 141–142.

155O. R., Series II, Volume V, pp. 258–259.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

244

156Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 141–142.

157O. R., Series II, Volume VI, pp. 424–425. 

158O. R., Series II, Volume VI, p. 425. 

159Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 97 and 106.

160O. R., Series II, Volume VI, p. 504; Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 102–106; 

and Speer, Portals to Hell, p. 140.

161Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 117–118; William B. Hesseltine, editor, Civil 

War Prisons, Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 1962, pp. 216–218; and Speer, 

Portals to Hell, p. 199. 

162Winslow and Moore, Camp Morton, pp. 137–138; and “Prisoners Buried in 

Greenlawn,” Indianapolis News, February 24, 1894. 

163U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess. U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 82; and “Prisoners Buried in Greenlawn,” Indianapolis 

News, February 24, 1897. 

164George B. Davis to the Secretary of War, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

165Memorandum of visit to Greenlawn Cemetery by Colonel Elliott and James H. 

Hedges, November 22, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp Morton 1.

166George B. Davis to the Secretary of War, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, 

Box 2; and Transcribed notes of November 17–29, 1906, Indianapolis visit by 

Commissioner William Elliott and L. Frank Nye, James H. Hedges transcripts 

November 22–23, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp Morton 1.

167U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, p. 111.

168Transcribed notes of November 17–29, 1906, Indianapolis visit by Commissioner 

William Elliott and L. Frank Nye, P. J. Gorman transcripts November 21, 1906, and 

Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind., p. 2, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp 

Morton 1.

169Transcribed notes of November 17–29, 1906, Indianapolis visit by Commissioner 

William Elliott and L. Frank Nye, Greenlawn Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind., 

November 19, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp Morton 1.

170“Hunt for 1,400 ‘Missing’ Graves,” Indianapolis Star, November 20, 1906. 

171Transcribed notes of November 17–29, 1906, Indianapolis visit by Commissioner 

William Elliott and L. Frank Nye November 17–29, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, 

Folder: Camp Morton 1. 

172“Lost Grave Quest Arouses Pioneers,” Indianapolis Star, November 21, 1906. 
245

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

173“Hunt for 1,400 ‘Missing’ Graves,” Indianapolis Star, November 20, 1906. 

174William Elliott to Joseph Rugstaff, December 13, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 7, 

Folder: Camp Morton 1; and Memorandum: Relative to land in the Greenlawn 

Cemetery at Indianapolis, Indiana, in which Confederate prisoners of war were 

interred, November 3, 1908,” RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

175“Oates Finds Graves,” Indianapolis Star, June 27, 1908.

176William C. Oates to Luke E. Wright, October 29, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

177George B. Davis to Secretary of War, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

178George B. Davis to Secretary of War, November 4, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2.

179“Monument for the Confederate Dead,” Indianapolis News, October 9, 1909; Patricia 

Demore, “Forum: the Readers Corner,” Indianapolis Star Magazine, October 26, 

1975, pp. 52–53; and U.S. Congress, Statutes at large of the United States of America, 

December, 1927 to March, 1929, Vol. XLV, Part 1, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1939, p. 533. 

180“Confederate Rites For Burial Today,” Indianapolis Star, October 27, 1931; Sue 

Buckner, Confederate Burials in Crown Hill Cemetery, Marion County, Indiana,

Genealogical Society of Marion County, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1990, p. 9; and 

Demore, “Forum: the Readers Corner,” Indianapolis Star Magazine, October 26, 

1975, p. 52.

181“Confederate Memorial Lot to Be Rededicated in Public Ceremony,” The Crown 

Chronicle, Vol. 3, No. 3, Summer 1993, p. 3; and Wayne L. Sanford, Memories of the 

Past: A Tour of Historic Crown Hill Cemetery, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, 

Indiana, 1996, p. 42. 

Cypress Hills National Cemetery

182Francis Trevelyan Miller, editor, The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten 

Volumes, Volume 7: Prisons and Hospitals, Review of Reviews, New York, 1912, p. 34; 

Charles Sutton, The New York Tombs: Its Secrets and Its Mysteries, A. Roman & Co., 

San Francisco, California, 1874, p. 48; and Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military 

Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, pp. 

34–35. Some of the facilities in the list do not appear in the Official Records. They 

may have been hospitals that cared for Confederates or where prisoners were held 

prior to July 1862. 

183Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 35–39; and War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the 

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing 

Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Volume VII, pp. 987–1004. Hereafter 

cited as O. R. 

184Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 38–40; William B. Hesseltine, editor, Civil War Prisons, The 

Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 1962, p. 34; and James Grant Wilson, The 

Memorial History of the City of New York: from its First Settlement to the Year 1892, 

Vol. IV, New York History Company, New York, 1893, p. 41. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

246

185O. R., Series II, Vol. VIII, pp. 987–1004.

186Confederate Veteran, “Prison Life on Hart’s Island,” May 1911, p. 219. 

187Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 147 and 253; O. R., Series I, Vol. XLIII/1, p. 307 and 

Series II, Vol. VIII, pp. 1001–1003; and Confederate Veteran, “Confederate Artillery 

Regiments,” December 1907, p. 536.

188O. R., Series II, Vol. XXVII/1, p. 224; and John F. Walter, The Confederate Dead 

in Brooklyn: Biographical Sketches of 513 Confederate POWs, Heritage Books, 

Bowie, Maryland, 2003, pp.4–5. Based on the biographies in The Confederate 

Dead in Brooklyn; 167 men buried at Cypress Hills died at De Camp Hospital. The 

biographies in this book have been well researched using primary documents. 

189Confederate Veteran, “Prison Reminiscences,” November 1906, p. 504. 

190Kurt T. Kraska, The History of Cypress Hill Cemetery and its Permanent Residents, 

Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society, Woodhaven, New York, 1996, p. 4. 

191James L. Farley to N. P. Clubman, June 16, 1868, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 24.

192U.S., Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 4. 

193Ibid. 

194U.S., Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 7.

195Ibid. 

196George P. Sanger, editor, Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the United States 

of America from March 1871 to March 1873, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 

Massachusetts, 1873, p. 605; and U.S., Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War 

Communicating, In obedience to the law, the report of the inspector of the national 

cemeteries of the United States for the year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd 

sess., 1875, pp. 6–7. 

197Sanger, Statutes at Large from March 1871 to March 1873, p. 345

198Sanger, Statutes at Large from March 1871 to March 1873, p. 345; and New York Sun, 

“Fortunes in Headstones,” April 3, 1876, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 25. 

199New York Sun, “Fortunes in Headstones,” April 3, 1876, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 25. 

200Cypress Hills, NY, May 7, 1892, Plans of the National Cemeteries in the United 

States, 1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1. 

201William C. Oates to the Adjutant General, War Department, September 9, 1909, RG 

92, Entry 697, Box 4.
247

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

202Circular–Proposal issued by the War Department, Office of the Commissioner for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, June 25, 1909, to haul Confederate headstones 

to Cypress Hill National Cemetery and to set said headstones, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4.

203James H. Berry, Report of the Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, 62nd 

Cong., 3rd sess., House of Representatives, Document No. 1105, U.S Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1912, p. 4. 

204Ibid.

205Diary of Works Accomplished, Visitors, Conversations and Letter Written and 

Received Relating to Cemetery Records, January–August 1915, RG 92, Entry 703; and 

Berry, Report of the Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, p. 27.

Finn’s Point National Cemetery

206Brian Temple, The Union Prison at Fort Delaware: A Perfect Hell on Earth, McFarland 

& Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2002, pp. 5–10; and Emanuel Raymond 

Lewis, Seacoast Fortifications of the United States: An Introductory History, Presidio 

Press, New York, 1979, p. 37. 

207Temple, The Union Prison at Fort Delaware, pp. 13–15. 

208Dale Fetzer and Bruce Mowday, Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware’s Prison Community in 

the Civil War, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2000, pp. 62–63. 

209Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, 

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, pp. 145–146. 

210War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, 

Series II, Volume VI, p. 517. Hereafter cited as O. R. 

211W. Emerson Wilson, “First Prisoner’s Funeral,” Fort Delaware Notes, Vol. 30, April 

1980, p. 4. 

212Temple, The Union Prison at Fort Delaware, p. 37. 

213O. R. Series II, Volume VI, p. 216.

214Nancy Travis Keen, Confederate Prisoners of War at Fort Delaware, reprinted by the 

Fort Delaware Society from Delaware History, April 1968, p. 1; and Fort Delaware 

Society, “Last Prisoner to Die,” Fort Delaware Notes, Volume 21, No. 1, January 1971, p. 

3. 

215W. Emerson Wilson, “Prisoners Buried in Delaware City,” Fort Delaware Notes, Vol. 30, 

April 1980, p. 4; and R. Hugh Simmons, “Civil War Burials on Pea Patch Island,” Fort 

Delaware Notes, Vol. 54, February 2004, pp. 12–13. 

216Temple, The Union Prison at Fort Delaware, p. 66.

217Chris J. Conradt, “Writing from Baltimore,” Confederate Veteran, June 1899, p. 266. 

218W. H. Moon. “Prison Life at Fort Delaware,” Confederate Veteran, May 1907, p. 213. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

248

219James L. Kemper to Secretary of War, May 12, 1875, W. W. Belknap to governor of 

Virginia, May 19, 1875, RG 92 Entry 576, Box 28, Folder: Finn’s Point; and Simmons, 

“Civil War Burials on Pea Patch Island,” p. 13.

220G. D. Chenoweth to Col. A. F. Rockwell, October 25, 1875, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 28, 

Folder: Finn’s Point. 

221Ibid.

222Ibid.

223Ibid. 

224Ibid. 

225Joe Deluca, “Finn’s Point National Cemetery,” South Jersey Magazine, Spring 1996, 

pp. 13–14; and Mary F. Sanderlin, Stories of Lower Penn’s Neck, Pennsville Historical 

Society, Pennsville, New Jersey, 1994, p. 132, and Rich Thompson, “Bivouac of the 

Dead: A 19th Century Poem by Theodore O’Hara,” Fort Delaware Notes, Vol. 55, 

February, 2005, p. 18. 

226Sanderlin, Stories of Lower Penn’s Neck, p. 132.

227Sanderlin, Stories of Lower Penn’s Neck, p. 132 and Finn’s Point, NJ, May 13, 1892, 

Plans of the National Cemeteries in the United States, 1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, 

NM-81, Box1.

228Department of Veterans Affairs, Finn’s Point National Cemetery, Salem, New Jersey, N. 

P., N.D., pp. 4–5. 

229National Cemetery, Finn’s Point, NJ., August 7, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, 

Folder: Finn’s Point 1.

230Ibid. 

231Ibid. 

232Memorandum of visit to G. G. Gibbon, Pennsville, NJ, made by Colonel Wm. Elliott 

and L. Frank Nye, August 9, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1.

233Ibid.

234Memorandum of visit to G. G. Gibbon, Pennsville, NJ, made by Colonel William 

Elliott and L. Frank Nye, August 9, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: Finn’s 

Point 1; and Temple, The Union Prison at Fort Delaware, p. 66. 

235William Elliott to Quartermaster General, March 13, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, 

Folder: Finn’s Point 1. 

236William Elliott to Quartermaster General, March 13, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 

5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1. See also individual histories of North Alton, Crown Hill, 

Indianapolis, and Point Lookout. 

237John Tomlin to Depot Quartermaster, Philadelphia, April 1, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, 

Box 5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1. T. G. Hodgson to Quartermaster General, May 31, 

1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1.
249

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

238George B. Davis to Secretary of War, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2,

and U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Report of Commissioner for Marking 

Confederate Graves, 62nd Cong., 3rd sess., Document No. 1105, U.S. Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1912, pp. 25–26. 

239War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead, Washington, D.C., May 21, 1909, Circular and Poster; Between William 

C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, and The Van 

Amringe Granite Company, Boston, Mass, August 28, 1909, RG 92 Entry 701, Box 2; 

L. Frank Nye to William Oates, November 5, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: 

Finn’s Point 1; and E. A. Stockton, Jr. to William Oates, May 11, 1910, RG 92 Entry 

701, Box 2. 

240William C. Oates to J. M. Dickinson, December 10, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2. 

241S. A. Cunningham to James Berry, August 10, 1912; 1st Indorsement, Phila. Depot of 

the Q. M. Department of the Depot Quartermaster, Philadelphia, July 31, 1912; and 

2nd Indorsement, War Department, Office of Quartermaster General, Washington, 

August 1, 1912, RG 92 Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1. 

242Sanderlin, Stories of Lower Penns Neck, p. 133; and Buildings and Utilities in National 

Cemeteries, RG 15 Entry 25, Box 11 Folder: Finn’s Point 1.

243Sanderlin, Stories of Lower Penns Neck, p. 133. 

Fort Smith National Cemetery

244Edwin C. Bearss and Arrell M. Gibson, Fort Smith: Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas, 

University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1979, pp. 13–19; and The 

Fort Smith National Cemetery: History of the United States National Cemetery and 

Military Occupancy of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Prepared under the Direction of the 

Quartermaster General U.S. Army, N.P., 194-, pp. 1–4. 

245The Fort Smith National Cemetery, pp. 21–26.

246Bearss and Gibson, Fort Smith, pp. 242–243, 253, 261–268; and Confederate Veteran, 

“Monument at Fort Smith, Ark.” January 1904, p. 18. 

247Fort Smith National Cemetery, The Fort Smith National Cemetery, p. 31; and U.S. 

Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the 

law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 1869, 

Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., 1870, pp. 59–60. 

248U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 67. 

249The Fort Smith National Cemetery, p. 31; and War Department, Adjutant General’s 

Office, General Orders No. 19, March 6, 1871, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1871; and www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/ftsmith.asp#hi. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

250

250U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, pp. 84. 

251U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, pp. 84–85. 

252The Fort Smith National Cemetery, p. 33; and Dianna Kirk, Fort Smith National 

Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Arkansas Preservation Program, Little 

Rock, Arkansas, 1971. 

253“Monument at Fort Smith,” p. 18; and Photographic Views of the Great Cyclone at 

Fort Smith Tuesday Night, January 11, 1898, Published and printed by Thrash-Lick 

Printing Company, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Third Edition, 1898.

254Confederate Veteran, July 1898, p. 324; Amelia Martin, “Early History of the Varina 

Jefferson Davis Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy: The Monument,” The Journal 

of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1980, pp. 12–13; and “Monument at 

Fort Smith, Arkansas,” pp. 19–20. 

255U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, Outline description of military posts and reservations 

in the United States and Alaska and of national cemeteries, U.S. Government Printing 

Office, Washington, D.C., 1904, p. 593. 

256U.S. Congress, Congressional Record, 58th Cong., 2nd sess., January 25, 1906, 38, pt. 

II, pp. 1109–1110.

257“Memorandum for Superintendent William Dillon, Fort Smith National Cemetery, 

Fort Smith, Arkansas, November 10, 1914,” RG 92: Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Fort 

Smith. 

258“William Dillon to John C. Clem, November 13, 1914,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, 

Folder: Fort Smith. 

259The Fort Smith National Cemetery, p. 34; and Therese T. Sammartino, Fort Smith 

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, on file at Arkansas Historic 

Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1999, Section 8, p. 10. 

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

260Marc E. Kollbaum, Gateway to the West: The History of Jefferson Barracks from 

1826–1894, Volume I, Friends of Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, N.D., p. 9.

261Kollbaum, Gateway to the West, p. 14. 

262Kollbaum, Gateway to the West, pp. 184–187 and 193–194.

263Kollbaum, Gateway to the West, pp. 188–189.

264Tom Fusco, The Story of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, N.P., St. Louis, 

Missouri, 1967, pp. 4–5.

265Fusco, The Story of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, p. 7.
251

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

266Joanne Chiles Eakin, Missouri Prisoners of War, Print America, Independence, 

Missouri, 1995, p. VIII. 

267Lonnie R. Speer, “A Hell on Earth,” Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol. 34, No. 3, 

August–July, 1995, p. 58; and W. B. Hesseltine, “Military Prisons of St. Louis,” 

Missouri Historical Review, Vol. 23, No. 3, April 1929, p. 382. 

268Hesseltine, “Military Prisons of St. Louis,” pp. 381–382; and William C. Winter, The 

Civil War in St. Louis: A Guided Tour, Missouri Historical Society Press, St. Louis, 

Missouri, 1994, pp. 79–80.

269William Hyde and Howard L. Conrad, editors, Encyclopedia of the History of St. 

Louis, The Southern History Company, New York, 1899, Vol. III, p. 1333; and Winter, 

The Civil War in St. Louis, p. 84. 

270Hesseltine, “Military Prisons of St. Louis,” pp. 383–384; War of the Rebellion: The 

Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. 

Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Volume VII, 

pp. 661, 1019; and 1142. Hereafter cited as O. R. Note: during the Civil War civilians 

who supported the Confederacy could be exiled, that is, forced to leave their homes 

in the Union states to live in the Confederacy. 

271Speer, “A Hell on Earth,” p. 63; and O. R. Series II, Vol. IV, pp. 95–96. 

272Hesseltine, “Military Prisons of St. Louis,” pp. 387–388; Speer, “A Hell on Earth,” p. 

63; O. R. Series II, Vol. V, p. 48; and Kollbaum, Gateway to the West, pp. 188–189.

273O. R. Series II, Vol. IV, p. 619. 

274Speer, “A Hell on Earth,” pp. 63–64; O. R. Series II, Vol. VI, p. 662; O. R. Series II, Vol. 

VII, see “Weekly report of the condition of the military prisons, Post of St. Louis,” 

August–December, 1864, pp. 533, 591, 699, 772, 814, 845, 880, 962, 1005 and 1036; 

and O. R. Series II, Vol. VII, p. 455.

275Hesseltine, “Military Prisons of St. Louis,” p. 398; Kollbaum, Gateway to the West, pp. 

210–211; Transcribed notes on St. Louis and Jefferson Barracks, L. Frank Nye, May 

31, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Jefferson Barracks and C. W. Thomas to 

J. L. Donelson, November 13, 1867, typescript copy, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks. 

276John B. Howard to J. L. Donelson, May 24, 1867; J. L. Donelson to John B. Howard, 

June 1, 1867 and J. L. Donelson to D. H. Rucker, June 1, 1867, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 

35, Folder: Jefferson Barracks. 

277U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 90. 

278Ibid. 

279U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 

1869, pp. 90–91.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

252

280U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 

the years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1872, pp. 90–91.

281U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1875, p. 118.

282U.S. Congress, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the law, 

the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the year 

1874, pp. 118–119. 

283Classified Statement of Interments In the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, June 

30, 1875, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 36, Folder: Jefferson Barracks. 

284Martin Burke to G. B. Dandy, August 7, 1882, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks. 

285Martin Burke to G. B. Dandy, August 7, 1882, First Indorsement, August 10, 1882, 

RG 92, Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: Jefferson Barracks.

286Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, July 20, 1893, Plans of the National Cemeteries in the 

United States, 1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1. 

287Fusco, Story of the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, pp. 14–15. 

288Transcribed notes on St. Louis and Jefferson Barracks, Mo., L. Frank Nye, May 31, 

1907, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1.

289Transcribed notes on Jefferson Barracks, Mo., L. Frank Nye, November 20, 1907, p. 1, 

RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1.

290Ibid. 

291Transcribed notes on Jefferson Barracks, Mo., L. Frank Nye, November 20, 1907, 

p. 2, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1. There is no closing quotation mark on the 

typescript at the end of the reference to removal of H. W. Powers. The prisons in St. 

Louis held a number of men and women who were noncombatants. Missouri was 

a divided state and there were many Confederate sympathizers within its borders, 

some of whom were held at the prisons and died while in captivity. 

292Charles C. Walcutt, Jr. to Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, June 8, 

1909 and 1st Indorsement, June 25, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Jefferson 

Barracks. 

293J. B. Randolph to William C. Oates, July 23, 1909, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 

1; and U.S. Treasury Department, Digest of Appropriations for the Support of the 

Government of the United States for the Service of the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1911 

and on Account of Deficiencies for Prior Years, Made by the First and Second Sessions 

of the Sixty-First Congress, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1911, 

p. 312. 
253

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

294Special List No. 2, Jefferson Barracks, Mo., National Cemetery, Civilian Prisoners of 

War, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1; Charles C. Walcutt, Jr. to Commissioner for 

Marking Confederate Graves, June 8, 1909, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1; and 

Department of Memorial Affairs, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, N.P., N.D. 

This is a collection of documents which outline the development of the cemetery. 

295Q. M. C. Form 117, U.S. National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Enclosing 

Wall & Fences, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1; and Q. M. C. Form 117, U.S. 

National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, rostrum, RG 15, Entry 25, Box 22, 

Folder: Jefferson Barracks 1.

296The text was taken from the stone. There is a quotation mark at the end of the 

inscription, but there is not one at the beginning or anywhere else in the text. 

Little Rock National Cemetery

297Mark K. Christ, editor, Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas, University of 

Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1995, pp. 89–94; and U.S. Congress, Senate, 

Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the law, the report of the 

inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st 

Cong., 2nd sess., 1870, p. 59. 

298U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 66. 

299U.S. Congress, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the law, 

the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the years 

1870 and 1871, p. 66.

300Ibid. 

301“Memorial Day—The Decoration for the Graves,” Arkansas Daily Gazette, May 11, 

1869. 

302U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, pp. 85–86. Note: The cannon 

memorials extant in Springfield, Missouri are set with only the knob in concrete. The 

barrel is stabilized with steel brackets. Burying the gun to the trunnions would have 

put about one-third of it below the surface of the ground. 

303U.S. Congress, Report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 

the year 1874, pp. 85–86.

304Office of the Quartermaster General, Map of National Cemetery, Little Rock, Ark., 

Plans of the National Cemeteries in the United States, 1892–93, RG 92, Entry 691, 

Box 1. 

305“The Remains of Over Six-hundred Confederate Soldiers Removed to Oakland 

Cemetery and Their Resting Place Marked by a Monumental Shaft,” Arkansas 

Gazette, March 21, 1885. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

254

306“Ladies Memorial Association’s Work for the Monument,” Confederate Veteran, 

August, 1905, p. 352. 

307Hazel, Mrs. Isgrig, “The Memorial Chapter No. 48, The United Daughters of the 

Confederacy, 1889–1969,” The Pulaski County Historical Society Review, Vol. 18, No. 

1, 1970, p. 11. 

308“Confederate Matters in Arkansas,” Confederate Veteran, September 1894, p. 269. 

309Isgrig, “Memorial Chapter No. 48,” p. 11; “Arkansas, Mrs. L. C. Hall, President,” 

Confederate Veteran, December 1904, p. 566; and Zella Hargrove Gaither, Arkansas 

Confederate Home, Little Rock, New Era Press, Little Rock, 1920, pp. 4–5. 

310“Confederate Dead at Little Rock,” Confederate Veteran, October 1904, p. 470. 

311Isgrig, “Memorial Chapter No. 48,” p. 11. 

312U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1911 

to March 1913, Vol. XXXVII, Part I, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1913, pp. 663–664.

313U.S. Congress, “An Act providing for the taking over by the United States 

Government of the Confederate cemetery at Little Rock, Arkansas,” The Statutes at 

Large of the United States of America from March, 1911 to March, 1913, pp. 663–664. 

314U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1913 

to March, 1915, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1915, p. 630. 

315Therese T. Sammartino, Little Rock National Cemetery National Register of Historic 

Places Nomination Form, on file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1999.

316Sammartino, Little Rock National Cemetery National Register Nomination.

317“Memo: Use of Available Gravesites in Confederate Section of the Little Rock 

National Cemetery,” February 4, 1988, on file at Little Rock National Cemetery; and 

U.S. Congress, United States Statutes at Large Containing the Laws and Concurrent 

Resolutions Enacted During the Third Session of the Seventy-fifth Congress of the 

United States of America 1938, Volume 52, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1938, p. 117.

North Alton Confederate Cemetery

318Jann Cox, Alton Military Penitentiary in the Civil War: Small Pox and Burial on the 

Alton Harbor Islands, St. Louis District Historic Properties Management Report No. 

36, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, St. Louis, Missouri, 1988, pp. 

46–48. 

319The War of the Rebellion: The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. III, p. 169. Hereafter cited as O. R.; Lonnie R. Speer, 

Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, 

Pennsylvania, 1997, p. 68; and Charlotte Stetson, Don J. Huber, and Robert St. Peters, 

Alton Remembered, G. Bradley Publishing, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, 2000, p. 69. 
255

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

320O. R., Series II, Volume III, p. 237; and Stetson, Huber, and St. Peters, Alton 

Remembered, p. 69.

321Cox, Alton Military Penitentiary in the Civil War, pp. 73–74. 

322Cox, Alton Military Penitentiary in the Civil War, pp. 75–101 and 115. 

323Cox, Alton Military Penitentiary in the Civil War, pp. 101–103. 

324Stetson, Huber, and St. Peters, Alton Remembered, p. 69; William B. Hesseltine, 

Civil War Prisons, Kent State University Press, 1962, p. 6; and Cox, Alton Military 

Penitentiary in the Civil War, p. 114. 

325Cox, Alton Military Penitentiary in the Civil War, pp. 111–112. 

326U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., 1870, p. 88; U.S. Congress, Senate, 

Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the law, the report 

of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the years 1870 and 

1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 89; U.S. Congress, Senate, 

Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to the law, the report of 

the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the year 1874, Ex. Doc. 

No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, p. 115; and Cox, Alton Military Prison in the Civil 

War, p. 108.

327W. Nelson to E. B. Grimes, January 27, 1877, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 2, Folder: Alton.

328Montgomery Meigs to J. Donald Cameron, February 26, 1877, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 

2, Folder: Alton.

329Ibid. 

330W. M. Mitchell to James M. Burns, February 21, 1887, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 2, 

Folder: Alton; and S. B. Holabird to James M. Burns, February 25, 1887, RG 92, Entry 

576, Box 2, Folder: Alton. 

331“The Confederate Cemetery,” Alton Evening Telegraph, October 24, 1893; and “The 

Confederate Cemetery,” Alton Evening Telegraph, May 26, 1894. 

332Henry Nichols to Charles A. Booth, July 21, 1899, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 2. 

333Henry Nichols to Charles A. Booth, July 21, 1899, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 2; and “The Confederate Cemetery,” Alton Evening Telegraph, July 20, 1899. 

334“Confederate Burying Grounds Ownership,” Alton Evening Telegraph, September 8, 

1899. 

335“Re Alton Cemetery, Alton, Ill. (219647), July 12, 1905,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 2. 

336“Will Strew Southern Flowers,” Alton Evening Telegraph, May 28, 1900. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

256

337“The President of the St. Louis Chapter Daughters of Confederacy Writes Regarding 

Alton Cemetery,” Alton Evening Telegraph, January 20, 1903. 

338“Will Organize Chapter of Confederacy Daughters,” Alton Evening Telegraph, May 

30, 1904; “Will Decorate Confederate Graves,” Alton Evening Telegraph, May 17, 

1905; and “Many Daughters of the Confederacy Visit Alton,” Alton Evening Telegraph, 

June 3, 1905. 

339“D. O. C. Chapter Gets Custody of Cemetery,” Alton Evening Telegraph, September 

29, 1905. 

340Mrs. S. H. Gregory to William Elliott, July 14, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 1. 

341William Elliott to Mrs. S. H. Gregory, August 1, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 1. 

342William Elliott to Superintendent National Cemetery, April 13, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

343Mrs. Mary H. Gregory to William Elliott, May 1, 1907 and William Elliott to Mrs. S. 

H. Gregory, May 11, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

344“Federal Officer Here to Mark Graves,” Alton Evening Telegraph, June 22, 1907, and 

Transcribed notes of interviews conducted by Elliott and Nye in Alton, Illinois, June 

27–July 1, 1907, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 2. 

345William Elliott to Messrs L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, July 29, 1907; John M. 

Pfeiffenberger to William Elliott, August 2 and 19, 1907; John M. Pfeiffenberger to 

William Elliott, September 2, 1907; William Elliott to Messrs L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, 

September 25, 1907; William Elliott to Messrs L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, October 2, 

1907; John M. Pfeiffenberger to William Elliott, November 9, 1907; and L. Frank Nye 

to Messrs L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, February 8, 1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 2. 

346Mrs. S. B. Grommet to William C. Oates, January 11, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 1. 

347S. B. Grommet to William C. Oates, February 4, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 1. 

348William Oates to Secretary of War, March 27, 1909; and Memorandum General Wm. 

C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, March 30, 1909, 

RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

349L. Frank Nye to W. B. Pedigo, April 1, 1909, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

3502nd Indorsement [sic] War Department Office of the Judge-Advocate General, April 

6, 1909, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

351Circular and Poster, May 21, 1909; and Between William C. Oates Commissioner for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and The Champion Iron Company, of Kenton, 

Ohio, August 28, 1909, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 4. 
257

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

352“Work Started on Monument to Confederates,” Alton Evening Telegraph, August 12, 

1909; and “Confederate Monument Completed,” Alton Evening Telegraph, September 

17, 1909. 

353William C. Oates to Secretary, Sam Davis Chapter, UDC, February 22, 1909, RG 92, 

Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

354S. B. Grommet to William C. Oates, March 2, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 1.

355Memorandum from Hon. Wm. C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

356“Work Started on Monument to Confederates,” Alton Evening Telegraph, August 12, 

1909. 

357“Confederate Monument Completed,” Alton Evening Telegraph, September 17, 1909; 

“Will Set Tablets December 13,” Alton Evening Telegraph, December 7, 1910; and B. B. 

Stakemiller to Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, January 24, 

1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 1.

358B. B. Stakemiller to William C. Oates, June 9, 1910; William C. Oates to B. B 

Stakemiller, June 25, 1910; and William C. Oates to Secretary of War, June 22, 1910, 

RG 92, Entry 701, Box 4.

359Elise Linkogle to James Berry, May 4, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

360Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, to Alton, Ill., RG 92, Entry 697, Box 1. 

361Final Narrative and Completion Report for the Repairs of Monument and Fence at 

the North Alton Confederate Cemetery at Alton, Illinois, Under the Works Progress 

Administration, Official Project 13-116, Completed May 15, 1936, RG 15, Entry 25, 

Box 1 Folder: Alton 1. 

362“Improvement Complete,” Alton Evening Telegraph, August 26, 1993.

Philadelphia National Cemetery

363R. Hugh Simmons, “Fort Delaware & the US Army Hospital at Upland, PA, in 

1863,” Fort Delaware Notes, Vol. 55, February, 1995, p. 1; and War of the Rebellion: 

The Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. 

Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. V, p. 240 

and Series III, Vol. III, p. 965. Hereinafter cited as O. R.

364Simmons, “Fort Delaware & the US Army Hospital at Upland, PA, in 1863,” p. 1; and 

O. R. Series II, Vol. VI, p. 118. 

365U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess. U.S Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, pp. 9–12. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

258

366U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War Communicating, In obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, pp. 15–17.

367Schedule of Information, Philadelphia National Cemetery, January 8, 1889, RG 92, 

Entry 576, Box 56; and Transcribed notes of visit to Philadelphia, PA., July 30, 1906, 

RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder 2: Philadelphia; and Report of Superintendent 

Philadelphia National Cemetery, January 8, 1889, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 56, Folder: 

Philadelphia. 

368John Simpson to Lt. Col. C. G. Sawtelle, December 2, 1891, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 

56.

369Philadelphia, PA., May 9 1892, Plans of the National Cemeteries in the United States, 

1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1. 

370Ibid. and Report of Superintendent Philadelphia National Cemetery, January 8, 1889, 

RG 92, Entry 576, Box 56, Folder: Philadelphia.

371Benjamin F. Baker to Charles L. Leiper, April 25, 1898, typescript of letter, RG 92, 

Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1. 

372J. H. Dettre to William D. Stauffer, April 9, 1898, typescript of letter, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1. 

373“Confederate Monument in Philadelphia,” Confederate Veteran, July 1900, pp. 309–

310 and Transcribed notes of visit to Philadelphia, PA., July 30, 1906, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 2. 

374Transcribed notes of visit to Philadelphia, PA., July 30, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 

8, Folder: Philadelphia 1. 

375Ibid. 

376Monthly Report of the Philadelphia National Cemetery for the month of December, 

1891 [handwritten copy], RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1. 

377Transcribed notes of visit to Chester, PA., August 2, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder: Philadelphia 1. 

378William C. Oates to Depot Quartermaster, Philadelphia, March 8, 1910, RG 92, Entry 

697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1; and William C. Oates to Frank Gray, January 21, 

1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 2.

379Transcribed inscription on the Philadelphia Confederate monument in Hollywood 

Cemetery, Richmond, Va., June 30, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Philadelphia 2.

380War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead, Washington, D.C., March 11, 1911, Circular and Poster, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 

8, Folder: Philadelphia 3; and Agreement between James H. Berry, Commissioner 

for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, and James T. Maxwell, trading as John 

Maxwell’s Sons of Philadelphia, Pa., Contact for furnishing and erecting Monument 

to Confederate Dead, in the United States National Cemetery, Pittsville, Philadelphia, 

Pa., dated April 24, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Philadelphia 3.
259

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

381“Dedication Ceremonies in Charge of United Daughters of the Confederacy,” 

Philadelphia Record, October 10, 1911; Monument unveiling program, October 12, 

1911; and “Federal Tribute to Southern Dead,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, October 

13, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 2.

Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery

382Regina Combs Hammett, History of St. Mary’s County, Maryland, Regina Combs 

Hammett, Ridge, Maryland, 1977, p. 122. 

383Lonnie R. Speer, Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War, Stackpole Books, 

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1997, p. 151. 

384Speer, Portals to Hell, pp. 152–153.

385Edwin W. Beitzell, “Point Lookout, Maryland,” Chronicles of St. Mary’s, Vol. 2, No. 4, 

April 1954, pp. 18–19. 

386U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of 

the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume VI, p. 740, U.S. Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1899, p. 740. Hereafter cited as O. R.

387Speer, Portals to Hell, p. 189.

388E. W. Goodwin to M. I. Ludington, December 2, 1865, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57, 

Folder: Point Lookout.

389James M. Moore to M. I. Ludington, April 4, 1866, RG 92, Entry576, Box 57; and 

M. I. Ludington to Montgomery C. Meigs, June 12, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57, 

Folder: Point Lookout. 

390Edwin W. Beitzell, Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates, St. Mary’s County 

Historical Society, Leonardtown, Maryland, 1983, p. 115.

391M. I. Ludington to Montgomery C. Meigs, April 4, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57, 

Folder: Point Lookout.

392M. I. Ludington to Montgomery C. Meigs, June 12, 1866; James M. Moore to D. H. 

Rucker, July 27, 1867; and C. W. Folsom to D. H. Rucker, November 29, 1867, RG 92, 

Entry 576, Box 57, Folder: Point Lookout.

393Montgomery C. Meigs to Secretary of War, March 17, 1871, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 

57, Folder: Point Lookout; and U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War 

communicating, in obedience to the law, the report of the inspector of the national 

cemeteries of the United States for the years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd 

Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1872, p. 21.

394Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 85, p. 111, 1870 and Laws of the State of 

Maryland, Chapter 407, p. 506, 1874, typescript copies, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Point Lookout 1.

395Millard F. Minnick to William Elliott, February 4, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2: 

Folder Point Lookout 1. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

260

396John T. Callaghan to William Elliott, May 28, 1906, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2: Folder 

Point Lookout 1. 

397William C. Oates to Luke E. Wright, October 29, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2; 

George B. Davis to Luke E. Wright, November 3, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 2; and 

Robert Shaw Oliver to William C. Oates, December 19, 1908,” RG 92, Entry 701, Box 

2. 

398J. A. Fowler, Acting Attorney General to Secretary of War, July 23, 1910, RG 92, 

Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1.

399Laws of Maryland, January Session, 1910, Chapter 543, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 

2, Folder: Point Lookout 1; and Circular and Poster, War Department, Office of 

Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, Washington, D.C., June 23, 

1910, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1.

400Board of Trustees of Confederate Prisoners of War Lot, Point Lookout, Md., to 

William Oates, July 18, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5. 

401 W. A. Fenwick to William C. Oates, July 18, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5.

402Board of Trustees of Confederate Prisoners of War Lot, Point Lookout, Md., 

to Robert Shaw Oliver, September 19, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5; and 

Supplementary Contract dated April 3, 1911 Modifying the contract between Robert 

Shaw Oliver, Acting Secretary of War, and The Van Amringe Granite Co., of Boston, 

Mass., dated September 19, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5. 

403Between Robert Shaw Oliver, Acting Secretary of War and The Van Amringe Granite 

Company of Boston, Mass., September 19, 1910, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5; and 

Francis V. King to James H. Berry, March 19, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Point Lookout 2.

404James Hall to James H. Berry, February 7, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Point Lookout 2; Francis V. King to James H. Berry, March 24, 1911, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 2; and S. Percy Yeatman to James H. Berry, 

November 21, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1. 

405James H. Berry to Francis V. King, October 9, 1912, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Point Lookout 1. 

406James H. Berry to War Department, September 4, 1912, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 

2, Folder: Point Lookout 2; and “Monument at Point Lookout, Md.,” Confederate 

Veteran, March 1911, p. 123.

407National Cemetery Data, Point Lookout, St. Mary’s County, Maryland, September 30, 

1980, National Cemetery Administration, History Program Collection Vertical file: 

Confederate Cemeteries. 

408Beitzell, Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates, p. iii. 

409Beitzell, Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates, p. 122. 

410Beitzell, Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates, p. 115; James M. Moore to 

W. J. Ludington, April 4, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 67; William J. Ludington to 

Montgomery C. Meigs, June 12, 1866, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 57; U.S. Congress, 
261

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to the law, the 

report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the years 1870 

and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1872, p. 21; Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 85, 1870, p. 

111; Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 407, 1874, p. 506, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 

2, Folder: Point Lookout 1; and U.S. Congress, Report of Commissioner for Marking 

Confederate Graves, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 1105, 62nd Cong., 3rd 

sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912, p. 27. 

Rock Island Confederate Cemetery

411Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt, “Rock Island Arsenal,” in Historic Rock Island County: 

History of the Settlement of Rock Island County From the Earliest Known Period to the 

Present Time, Kramer & Company Publishers and Engravers, Rock Island, Illinois, 

1908, pp. 53–56.

412Blunt, “Rock Island Arsenal,” p. 57.

413Benton McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island: The Story of a Civil War Prison, Northern 

Illinois University Press, DeKalb, Illinois, 2000, pp. 25–27; and Clifford Stephens, 

Rock Island Prison Barracks, 1863–1865, RIA Pamphlet 870-3, Rock Island Arsenal, 

Rock Island, Illinois, 1967.

414T. R. Walker, A History of Rock Island and Rock Island Arsenal from Earliest Times to 

1954: Volume I to 1898, U.S. Army Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Illinois, 1962, 

pp. 101–102; and McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, p. 12. 

415McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, p. 3.

416McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, pp. 47–57. 

417McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, 55–57; and William B. Hesseltine, Civil War Prisons,

Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 1962, pp. 51–53. 

418McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, pp. 88–89, 106–107 and 144–147. 

419Hesseltine, Civil War Prisons, pp. 5–8. 

420McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, pp. 205–206. 

421McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island, p. 63; M. L. Poland to Commanding Officer, 

Rock Island Arsenal, April 18, 1871, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 

2; “Marking Graves of Confederate Prisoners,” Confederate Veteran, May, 1904, p. 

225; and Hesseltine, Civil War Prisons, p. 50. Pest houses were where patients with 

pestilential or contagious diseases were housed to keep them away from the main 

hospital population. 

422H. A. Snyder, Rock Island Prison Barracks, 1863–1865, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock 

Island, Illinois, 1967, p. 6; and “Confederate Cemetery Is One of Historical Sites on 

Arsenal,” Moline Daily Dispatch, July 2, 1951. 

423Blunt, “Rock Island Arsenal,” pp. 59–60.

424U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

262

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 88. 

425M. L. Poland to Commanding Officer, Rock Island Arsenal, April 18, 1871, RG 92, 

Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2. 

426M. L. Poland and A. B. Dyer to Commanding Officer, Rock Island Arsenal, April 

26, 1871, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2. A great deal of captured 

Confederate ordnance was stored at Rock Island. 

427 D. W. Flagler to John C. Underwood, February 26, 1895, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Rock Island 2.

428Ibid.

429Memorandum of visit to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., in connection with the 

Confederate Cemetery on the island, February 28, 1908, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Rock Island 2. 

430Memorandum of visit to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., in connection with the 

Confederate Cemetery on the island, February 28, 1908, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Rock Island 2; and Clifford W. Stevens, Rock Island Confederate Prison Dead, 

Blackhawk Genealogical Society, Rock Island, Illinois, 1973, p. 1. A survey of the 

cemetery conducted by the author in July 2009 confirmed Nye’s findings. Headstone 

No. 647 was absent.

431Rock Island, Ill., May 31, 1907, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

432Clipping from The Daily Times, Rock Island, Illinois, June 23, 1908, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2; Between William C. Oates, Commissioner for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and Schricker Marble & Granite Co. of 

Davenport, Iowa, Contract for setting headstones in the Confederate Cemetery on 

Rock Island, Rock Island, Illinois, dated June 25, 1908, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Rock Island 2; and Acceptance of Proposal. Order No. 2. War Department, 

Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, July 9, 1910, 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2. The count of 1,951, minus the grave 

that was removed in 1955, would equal the current total of 1,950. 

4331st Indorsement War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves 

of Confederate Dead, Lemon Building, Washington, D.C., May 1, 1912, RG 92, Entry 

698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

434Office of the Secretary, War Department, April 30, 1912, 26312 Comr. Berry, RG 92, 

Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2; James McKinney to James H. Berry, May 5, 

1912, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2; and 1st Indorsement [sic] War 

Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, 

Lemon Building, Washington, D.C., May 1, 1912, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Rock Island 2.

4351st Indorsement [sic] War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves of Confederate Dead, Lemon Building, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1912, 

RG 92, Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.
263

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

436“Confederate Cemetery Is One of Historical Sites on Arsenal,” Moline Daily Dispatch, 

July 2, 1951. Note: the 1870 map does not show a formal road connecting the prison 

camp with the Confederate Cemetery.

437“Far from Forgotten,” Moline Dispatch, November 16, 2003. 

438“As She Does to Others,” Confederate Veteran, September 1895, p. 274. 

439“Confederate Flags To Fly Over 1,960 Southern Soldiers’ graves on Island,” Moline 

Dispatch, N. D., Rock Island County Historical Society, Vertical file: Wars – Civil 

War 1861–1865/Cemeteries/Confederate Cemetery; “Stars and Bars Placed on 

Arsenal Confederate Graves,” Rock Island Argus, N. D., Rock Island County 

Historical Society, Vertical file: Wars – Civil War 1861–1865/Cemeteries/Confederate 

Cemetery; and “Feature Page,” Sunday Democrat-Times, May 26, 1957. 

440“Confederate War Dead Stars and Bars Gone,” Rock Island Argus, May 13, 1975. 

441“Reconciling the Past,” Quad-City Times, May 21, 2000. 

Springfield National Cemetery

442U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 93. 

443Ibid. 

444U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for 

the years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government 

Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1872, p. 92.

445R. I. Holcombe, editor, History of Green County, Missouri, Perkins & Horne, St. Louis, 

Missouri, 1883, p. 542. 

446U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43nd Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1875, pp. 120–121.

447William H. Owen to C. W. Foster, July 9, 1886, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: 

Springfield, Missouri; and M. H. Wade to Quartermaster General, April 22, 1887, RG 

92, Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: Springfield, Missouri. 

448Springfield, Missouri, October 3, 1892, Plans of the National Cemeteries in the 

United States, 1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1.

449Confederate Southern Memorial Association, History of the Confederated Memorial 

Associations of the South, Graham Press, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1904, p. 221. 

450Confederate Southern Memorial Association, p. 222.

451Ibid.
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

264

452“Condensed History of the Confederate Cemetery at Springfield, Missouri,” pp. 

23–24, Undated clipping, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Library Vertical Files, 

Folder: Springfield National Cemetery, File I. 

453Confederate Southern Memorial Association, History of the Confederated Memorial 

Associations, p. 223; “Veterans at Springfield, Mo.,” Confederate Veteran, July 1899, 

p. 308; “Confederates Have $5,000 for the Monument,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, 

January 27, 1900; and “Monument is a Certainty,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, 

February 28, 1900. 

454“The Willipus Aids Monument Builders,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, June 27, 1901. 

455Missouri United Confederate Veterans, United Confederate Veterans’ Reunion, 1901, 

souvenir booklet, Springfield, Missouri, 1901, pp. 91–92. 

456Missouri United Confederate Veterans, United Confederate Veterans’ Reunion, pp. 

17–19; “The Excursions,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, August 10, 1901; “Opening 

Scenes,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, August 10, 1901; and “Young Ladies Take a 

Prominent Part in the Ceremonies. Strong Points Made by Some of Missouri’s Most 

Eloquent Orators,” Springfield Leader-Democrat, August 11, 1901. 

457Missouri United Confederate Veterans, United Confederate Veterans’ Reunion, p. 65; 

and “Condensed History of the Confederate Cemetery at Springfield, Missouri,” pp. 

24–25, Undated clipping, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Library Vertical Files, 

Folder: Springfield National Cemetery, File I.

458“Bill Passed By Senate Would Consolidate Cemeteries Here,” Springfield Republican, 

February 16, 1910; and U.S. Congress, The Statutes at Large of the United States of 

America from March, 1909 to March, 1911, Part I Vol. 36, U.S. Government Printing 

Office, Washington, D.C., 1911, pp. 1077–1078. 

459“$11,500 Award Will be Made at St. Louis,” Springfield Republican, August 29, 1911. 

460Samuel Lewis to Quartermaster General, November 19, 1914; James Burns to Samuel 

Lewis, October 8, 1914, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Springfield, Missouri. 

461James Burns to Samuel Lewis, March 13, 1915, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Springfield, Missouri.

462“Last Confederate Vet in Greene County Dies,” Springfield Daily News, June 10, 1939; 

“Thomas H. Hadden,” Springfield Leader & Press, June 10, 1939; and “Burial Friday 

to Complete Roll in Cemetery’s Confederate Area,” Springfield Daily News, May 21, 

1964. 

463“Tract Used for Confederate Veterans to be Taken in by National Cemetery,” 

Springfield News-Leader, November 7, 1948; and U.S. Congress, Statutes at Large of 

the United States of America from December 1927, to March 1929, Vol. XLV, Part I, 

U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1929, p. 354. 

464Department of Veterans Affairs, A Promise Made–A Commitment Kept: The Story 

of America’s Civil War Era National Cemeteries, Department of Veterans Affairs, 

National Cemetery Administration, Washington, D.C., 1999, p. 255; “Tract Used for 

Confederate Veterans to be Taken in by National Cemetery,” and Public Law 85-41, 

85th Cong., S. 1274, May 31, 1957. 
265

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

465Paul T. Bannai to Director, Springfield National Cemetery, N. D., National Cemetery 

Administration, History Program Collection,Vertical file: Springfield National 

Cemetery.

466“Tract Used for Confederate Veterans to be Taken in by National Cemetery,” and 

U.S. Congress, Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December, 1927, 

to March, 1929, Vol. 45, Part I, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 

1929, p. 354. 

Union Cemetery Confederate Monument

467Albert Castel, General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West, Louisiana State 

University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1968, pp. 202–203 and 221; and Monroe 

Dodd, editor, Kansas City: An American City, Kansas City Star Books, Kansas City, 

Missouri, 1999, pp. 53–56. 

468Louis O. Honig, Westport: Gateway to the Early West, Honig, Kansas City, Missouri, 

1950, pp. 49 and 83; and Theodore S. Case, History of Kansas City, Missouri, D. 

Mason & Co., Publishers, Syracuse, New York, 1888, p. 82. 

469“Hospital–Lockridge Hall,” Daily Journal of Commerce, October 24, 1864; “The 

Hospital,” Daily Journal of Commerce, November 18, 1864; “The Prisoners,” Daily 

Journal of Commerce, October 26, 1864; and “The Westport Hospital,” Daily Journal 

of Commerce, October 31, 1864. 

470“Montgomery, Alabama, October 16, 1908,” RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas 

City.

471William P. Borland to James H. Berry, March 1, 1911;William P. Borland to Jacob M. 

Dickerson, April 22, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas City; and Flora 

E. Stevens to William P. Borland, April 17, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

472Memorandum for the Secretary of War: Cost of Monument for marking Confederate 

graves in Union Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri, March 1, 1911; and William 

Borland to James H. Berry, March 1, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas 

City.

473William Borland to James H. Berry, April 5, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City; and Smart & Strother to James H. Berry, September 18, 1912, RG 92, 

Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas City. 

474Memorandum to the Secretary of War, March 1, 1911, 3rd Indorsement [sic], RG 92, 

Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas City.

475“Blue and Gray Pay Homage,” Kansas City Times, October 23, 1911. 

476Ibid.

477“A Shaft to Men of the Gray,” Kansas City Star, October 22, 1911; “Shaft is Unveiled 

to Fallen Heroes,” Kansas City Journal, October 23, 1911; and “Blue and Gray Pay 

Homage,” Kansas City Times, October 23, 1911. 

478“Uncle Sam Erects Confederate Shaft,” Confederate Veteran, April, 1912, pp. 154–155; 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

266

and “Blue and Gray Pay Homage,” Kansas City Times, October 23, 1911. 

479Union Cemetery Association, Union Cemetery Association: A Walking Tour, Kansas 

City Parks and Recreation Department, Kansas City, Missouri, 2004. Please note that 

Union Cemetery in Kansas City, which is inactive, does not have sections or section 

numbers. Important burials on the printed tours are marked with small signs, which 

are numbered to aid visitors in finding a particular grave. 

Woodlawn Cemetery Confederate Monument

480The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. III, p. 269. Hereafter cited as O. R.

481Governor Morton to Col. B. F. Mullen, February 24, 1862; and B. F. Mullen to Laz. 

Nobel, Adjutant General of Indiana, February 27, 1862, Vigo County Public Library, 

Vertical file: U.S. History/Civil War/Confederate Prison Camp/Mullen Family. 

482“14 Confederate Were Buried Here,” unidentified newspaper clipping dated October 

25, 1925, Vigo County Public Library, Vertical file: Confederate Hospital; “I Hear 

the Tread of Prisoners,” unidentified newspaper clipping dated October 24, 1958, 

Vigo County Public Library, Vertical file: Confederate Prisoners in Terre Haute; and 

“Camp Morton, Tuesday Eve., March 18, 1862, Report of prisoners in the charge of 

Col. F.B. Mullen, 61st Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, delivered at Camp Morton and 

Remaining at Terre Haute,” typescript, Vigo County Public Library, Vertical file: U.S. 

History/Civil War/Confederate Prison Camp/Mullen Family. 

483Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910: Isaac Ball to Mrs. 

William J. Behan, February 19, 1901, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute. 

484“14 Confederate Were Buried Here.”

485Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910: See Henry O. 

Sterg to Mrs. William J. Behan, February 17, 1901 and Mrs. William J. Behan to 

Superintendent Woodlawn cemetery, February 5, 1901, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, 

Folder: Terre Haute. 

486“Confederate Dead at the North,” Confederate Veteran, May 1901, p. 197. 

487Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910: See Isaac Ball to Mrs. 

William J. Behan, February 17, 1901; J. T. Sudbrink to Mrs. William J. Behan, January 

31, 1901; John M. Hickey to Mrs. William J. Behan, February 2, 1901; David Denny 

to Mrs. William J. Behan, February 10, 1901; and Isaac Ball to Mrs. William J. Behan, 

February 19, 1901, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute; and “Confederate 

Dead at the North,” p. 198. 

488Memorandum in connection with visit made by L. Frank Nye on the above date [July 

25, 1907] concerning Confederate prisoners of war buried here, RG 92, Entry 697, 

Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute. 
267

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

489Ibid. Note: Section 37 is now referred to as “old Section 37.” There is no longer a 12th 

Street; all of the streets are named. 

490William Oates to Secretary of War, December 31, 1908, with three endorsements 

dated January 11, January 18, and April 5, 1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: 

Terre Haute.

491L. Frank Nye to John E. Lamb, May 13, 1910; and John E. Lamb to William C. Oates, 

May 16, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute.

492Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 

9, Folder: Terre Haute.

493James H. Berry to Secretary of War, December 30, 1911, RG 92, Entry, 697, Box 9, 

Folder: Terre Haute.

494Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking 

Graves Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910: Isaac Ball to Mrs. 

William J. Behan, February 19, 1901, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute;

and “14 Confederates Were Buried Here.”

495“Confederate Memorial Is Rededicated,” Terre Haute Tribune, October 29, 1951; 

“Ever Know Confederate Monument Still Stands In Woodlawn Cemetery?” Terre 

Haute Tribune-Star, September 13, 1953; and “14 Confederates Were Buried Here.”

496Simona Lansaw, Woodlawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, Index 

of Burials 1839 Thru 1899, Wabash Valley Genealogical Society, Cook-McDowell 

Publications, Inc., Owensboro, Kentucky, 1980, p. iii; “Priest Traces the Life Of His 

Vigo Ancestors,” Terre Haute Tribune-Star, May 28, 1972; All Vermont Gray Granite, 

M. H. Rice’s drawing of monument for bid documents, 1911, RG 92, Entry 698, Box 

2, Folder: Terre Haute; and Lennie Snyder, personal communication, July 30, 2009. 

497Lennie Snyder, personal communication, July 30, 2009.

Woodlawn National Cemetery

498Michael P. Gray, The Business of Captivity: Elmira and Its Civil War Prison, Kent State 

University Press, Kent, Ohio, 2001, pp. 4–8. 

499The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and 

Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

D.C., 1880–1901, Series II, Vol. VII. Hereafter cited as O. R., p. 152; and Gray, The 

Business of Captivity, p. 13. 

500O. R., Series II, Volume VII, p. 157.

501Gray, The Business of Captivity, pp. 12–14. 

502Joseph C. Boyd, “Shohola Train Wreck,” The Chemung Historical Journal, August 

1985, pp. 1253–1255. 

503Gray, The Business of Captivity, pp. 15–16; and Boyd, “Shohola Train Wreck,” pp. 

1256–1259. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

268

504Gray, The Business of Captivity, pp. 55–61.

505Gray, The Business of Captivity, pp. 103 and 153; Clay W. Holmes, The Elmira Prison

Camp: A History of the Military Prison at Elmira, NY. July 6, 1864 to July 10, 1865, 

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1912, p. 130; and O. R., Series II, Volume VIII, pp. 

997–1002. 

506Holmes, The Elmira Prison Camp, p. 128; and Gray, The Business of Captivity, p. 95.

507Gray, The Business of Captivity, p. 97; and Holmes, The Elmira Prison Camp, pp. 

129–131.

508Holmes, The Elmira Prison Camp, p. 131; and Thomas E. Byrne, “Elmira’s Civil War 

Prison Camp: 1864–65,” The Chemung Historical Journal, reprint of September 1964 

article, August 1990, 1997, 2002, p. 1298. 

509“Burying the Rebel Dead,” unidentified newspaper clipping, Chemung County 

Historical Society, Elmira, NY, Folder (PC) Elmira Prison Camp, Misc., VF 500-320. 

510U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience 

to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States 

for 1869, Ex. Doc. No. 62, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1870, p. 5. 

511U.S. Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

years 1870 and 1871, Ex. Doc. No. 79, 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1872, p. 8.

512Major Oscar Mack to H. Boardman Smith, September 30, 1874, RG 92, Entry 576, 

Box 2; and U.S., Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in 

obedience to the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries for the year 

1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875, p. 8.

513U.S., Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to 

the law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries for the year 1874, pp. 7–8.

514Major Oscar Mack, Special report relative to the Government lots in the Woodlawn 

Cemetery, Elmira, NY., September 23, 1874, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 2.

515Ibid.

516Ibid.

517House of Representatives, Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States 

Being the Second Session of the Forty-Third Congress; Begun and Held at the City of 

Washington, December 7, 1874, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 

1875, p. 511. 

518H. Boardman Smith to Col. Mack, September 28, 1874, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 28. 

519Ibid.

520Major Oscar Mack to H. Boardman Smith, September 30, 1874, RG 92, Entry 576, 

Box 28.

521H. Boardman Smith to C. G. Sawtelle, June 24, 1875, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 28. 
269

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

5221st Endorsement, H. Boardman Smith to C. G. Sawtelle, June 24, 1875, RG 92, Entry 

576, Box 28. 

523N. Baker to C. G. Sawtelle, February 2, 1876, RG 92, Entry 576, Box 27. 

524Holmes, The Elmira Prison Camp, p. 132.

525National Cemetery, Woodlawn, NY., September 6, 1893, Plans of the National 

Cemeteries in the United States, 1892–1893, RG 92, Entry 691, NM-81, Box 1.

526Transcribed notes of visit to Elmira, June 15–26, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, 

Folder: Elmira 2. 

527John Smith T. is the name of the Confederate soldier buried in the cemetery. 

Inscribed on the headstone is “Born in Chambers Co., Ala./ 1830/ Died at Elmira, 

NY./ Feb. 17, 1864./ This stone placed here, 1905,/ by his youngest son John Smith T./ 

who lives in Opelika, Ala.” 

528Ibid. 

529Ibid. 

530Re: Total number of Confederate Dead Buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery, 

Elmira, NY., RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2. Senate Ex. Doc. is U.S. 

Congress, Senate, Letter of the Secretary of War communicating, in obedience to the 

law, the report of the inspector of the national cemeteries of the United States for the 

year 1874, Ex. Doc. No. 28, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1875. 

531Transcribed notes on work undertaken in Elmira June 13–July 11, 1906, submitted, 

January 2, 1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2.

532George Levy and John Bellinger, “A Rising in Woodlawn Cemetery, Part II,” The 

Chemung Historical Journal, Vol. 55, No. 1, September 2009, p. 6123; and Transcribed 

notes on work undertaken in Elmira June 13–July 11, 1906, submitted, January 2, 

1908, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2. 

533Proposal for Confederate Headstones, Washington, D.C., April 5, 1907, RG 92, Entry 

701, Box 3. 

534Levy and Bellinger, “A Rising in Woodlawn Cemetery,” p. 6129; and William Elliott 

to Robert Shaw Oliver, September 26, 1907, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 5.

535L. Frank Nye to William C. Oates, January 29, 1908, RG 92, Entry 701, Box 4.

536F. D. Underwood to William Elliott, December 3, 1906, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, 

Folder: Elmira 1.

537William C. Oates to Secretary of War, May 17, 1909, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: 

Elmira 1. 

538William C. Oates to Secretary of War, May 17, 1909; and E. H. Humphrey to William 

C. Oates, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1; and Levy and Bellinger, “A 

Rising in Woodlawn Cemetery,” p. 6129.

539William C. Oates to Chief Quartermaster, Camp of Instruction, Pine Camp, NY., 

August 5, 1910, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1. 
 PART II | Cemetery Histories

270

540Charles W. Fenton to Chief Quartermaster, Eastern Division, September 6, 1911; A. 

B. Shattuck to Headquarters Eastern Division, Chief Quartermaster’s Office, October 

3, 1911; and William B. Cochran to Office of the Quartermaster General, October 14, 

1911, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

541Between James H. Berry, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead 

and Charles G. Blake & Co. of Chicago, Ill., December 6, 1911, RG 92, Entry 697, 

Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2. 

542F. H. Shaw to Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, June 5, 1912, 

RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder; Elmira 2; and Charles G. Blake to James H. Berry, 

October 28, 1912, RG 92, Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1. 

543“Confederate Monument at Woodlawn National Cemetery, Elmira, New York,” The 

United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 8, September 1994, p. 87. 

544“Expansion Planned for Woodlawn Cemetery,” Elmira Star-Gazette, August 8, 1988. 

545“Southside Teens Honor Ex-Slave,” Elmira Star-Gazette, June 23, 1997.

546“Confederate Dead Paid Tribute by Kiwanis Club Men” June 7, 1946, clipping file 

Chemung County Historical Society, Folder 310-165; Parks, Woodlawn National 

Cemetery; “Re-Dedication of Woodlawn National Cemetery,” The Chemung Valley 

Reporter, August 11, 1988; “Confederate Battalion Honors Dead at Woodlawn 

Cemetery,” Chemung Valley Reporter, August 23, 1990; and personal communication 

Walter T. “Skip” Baroody, October 22, 2009.
271

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

APPENDIX A. FEDERAL CODIFICATION

APPENDIX B. HISTORY OF CONFEDERATE FLAGS
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Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

APPENDIX A: FEDERAL CODIFICATION

Most of the national cemeteries and associated Confederate lots that originated with the 

U.S. Army in the 1860s have been managed by the National Cemetery Administration 

since 1973. The most relevant statutes, regulations, and policies to shape the memorial 

function of these properties since the Civil War are cited below, in chronological order.

•	 General Orders No. 75 issued September 11, 18611

“The Quartermaster will also provide means for a registered head-board, to be 

secured at the head of each soldier’s grave.”

•	 Public Law 165 July 18622

“That the President of the United States shall have power whenever in his opinion 

it shall be expedient, to purchase cemetery grounds, and cause them to be securely 

enclosed, to be used as a national cemetery for the soldiers who shall die in the service 

of the country.”

•	 General Orders No. 40 issued July 3, 18653

“[O]n the conclusion of the war called upon officers of this department for special 

reports of the number of interments registered during the war, reports have been 

received from officers in seventeen States, including the District of Columbia.”

•	 General Orders No. 65 issued October 30, 1865

Required quartermaster officers to submit reports on “location and condition of 

cemeteries known to them and recommendations of the means necessary to provide 

for the preservation of the remains therein from desecration.”

•	 Reburial Program authorized by Congress April 13, 18664

“That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to take 

immediate measures to preserve from desecration the graves of soldiers of the United 

States who fell in battle or died of disease in the field and in hospital during the war of 

the rebellion; to secure suitable burial places in which they may be properly interred; 

and to have the grounds enclosed, so that the resting places of the honored dead may 

be kept sacred forever.”

•	 An Act of February 22, 1867 [14 Stat. L. 399]

This law was created to establish and protect National Cemeteries and called for 

cemeteries to be “enclosed with a good substantial stone or iron fence; and to cause 

each grave to be marked with a small headstone or block.”

•	 An Act of March 3, 1873 [17 Stat. L. 545]

“For the erection of a headstone at each grave in the national military cemeteries.”

...“for the erection of a headstone at each grave in the national military cemeteries.” 

Secretary of War William W. Belknap approved the first design, “a slab design of 

marble or durable stone four inches thick, 10 inches wide and 12 inches in height 

extending above the ground. The part above the ground was to be polished and the 

top slightly curved.”

•	 An Act of February 3, 1879 [21 Stat. L. 281]

“That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to erect headstones over the graves 

of soldiers who served in the Regular or Volunteer Army of the United States during 

the war for the Union, and who have been buried in private village or city cemeteries, 

in the same manner as provided by the law of March third, eighteen hundred and 

seventy-three, for those interred in national military cemeteries.”
Appendices

274

•	 S. B. Holabird, Quartermaster General, U.S. Army, “The following Instructions 

are Given for the Guidance of Superintendents of National Military [Cemeteries],” 

October 2, 18835

“Superintendents, however, have the same charge and control of the cemeteries on 

public occasions as at other times. All flowers, flags, and perishable emblems strewn 

or deposited on the graves will be allowed to remain on the ground only a reasonable 

time, not exceeding a few days.”

•	 R. N. Batchelder, Quartermaster General, U. S. A., Circular, January 29, 18916

“Superintendent of National cemeteries shall see that these graves are appropriately 

decorated, and shall assume charge of the decoration ceremonies upon the day 

designated for such observance, and shall confer with and invite comrades 

and religious societies and other organizations in the vicinity to participate in 

the ceremonies.”

•	 An Act March 3, 1893 [27 Stat. L. 599]

“Monuments and Tablets at Gettysburg: For the purpose of preserving the 

lines of battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and for properly marking with tablets 

the positions occupied by the various commands of the armies of the Potomac and 

of Northern Virginia on that field, and for opening and improving avenues along 

the positions occupied by troops upon those lines, and fencing the same, and for 

determining the leading tactical positions of batteries of batteries, regiments, brigades, 

divisions, corps, and other organizations with reference to the study and correct 

understanding of the battle, and to mark the same with suitable tablets, each bearing 

a brief historical legend, compiled without praise and without censure.”

•	 An Act March 2, 1895 [28 Stat. L. 950]

“Battlefield of Antietam: For completing the work of locating, preserving, and 

marking the lines of battle at Antietam, and for properly marking with tablets, each 

bearing a brief historical legend, compiled without praise and without censure, the 

positions occupied by the several commands of the Armies of the Potomac and of 

Northern Virginia on that field. . .”

•	 Public Law 163, June 6, 1900 [31 Stat. L. 630]

“To enable the Secretary of War to have reburied in some suitable spot in the national 

cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, and to place proper headstones at their graves.”

The bill referred to 128 Confederate soldiers buried at the National Soldiers Home 

in Washington, D.C., and 136 buried at Arlington. The Commission to Mark the 

Graves of Confederate Soldiers in the North adopted the “Arlington design” for the 

graves that it marked.

•	 An Act March 9, 1906, Public Law No. 38 [34 Stat. L. 56]

“An Act to provide for the appropriate marking of the graves of the soldiers and sailors 

of the Confederate army and navy who died in Northern prisons and were buried 

near the prisons where they died, and for other purposes.”

...“with power in his [Secretary of War] discretion to acquire possession or control 

over all grounds where said prisoner dead are buried not now possessed or under the 

control of the United States.”

Legislation to mark the graves of former Confederate soldiers—but only “those who 

died as prisoners of war in Federal prisons and military hospitals in the North.”

•	 Joint Resolution February 26, 1908 [35 Stat. L. 567]

The resolution to continue the legislation to mark graves of Confederate dead in 

the north “shall not apply to Confederate Mound, Oakwoods Cemetery, Chicago, Ill.”
275

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

•	 An Act February 25, 1910 [36 Stat. L. 875]

“at the head of each grave of a citizen or civilian prisoner of war who was buried 

among the soldiers a headstone of the size and dimensions of those placed at the head 

of the soldiers graves, but containing no inscription except the number of the grave, 

the name of the occupant, and the word “citizen or “civilian.”

•	 An Act June 11, 1910 [36 Stat. L. 882]

“[It] shall hereafter be construed to apply to the confederate mound in Oakwood 

Cemetery, at Chicago.”

•	 Amended by Joint Resolution December 23, 1910 [36 Stat. L. 1453]

“...authorized to cause to be erected central masonry constructions, or monuments, 

upon which bronze tablets shall be placed containing the names of the deceased 

prisoners of war who are buried in the immediate vicinity.”

•	 An Act January 20, 1914 [38 Stat. L. 630]

“For continuing the work of furnishing headstones of durable stone or other material 

for unmarked graves of Union and Confederate soldiers, sailors, and marines in 

national, post, city town, and village cemeteries.”

•	 An Act February 26, 1929 [45 Stat. L. 324]

“That the Secretary of War is authorized to erect headstones over the graves of 

soldiers who served in the Confederate Army and who have been buried in national, 

city, town, or village cemeteries or in any other places, each grave to be marked with 

a small headstone or block which shall be of durable stone and of such design and 

weight as shall keep it in place when set and shall bear the name of the soldier and 

the name of his State inscribed thereon when the same are known. The Secretary 

of War shall cause to be preserved in the records of the War Department the name, 

rank, company, regiment, and date of death of the soldier and his State; if these are 

unknown it shall be so recorded.”

•	 War Department regulations May 26, 19307

“The War Department implemented regulations that authorized the inscription of 

the Confederate Cross of Honor in a small circle on the front face of the stone above 

the standard inscription of the soldier’s name, rank, company and regiment.” When 

this order was issued there were already 6,000 orders at the War Department for 

Confederate headstones.8

•	 War Department, National Military Park National Park, Battlefield Site and 

National Monument Regulations, Chapter 23, Application, 1931.9

“No monument, marker, tablet, or other memorial shall be erected in any national 

military park or national monument until the design, inscription, material, finish, 

and site have been approved by the Secretary of War.”

•	 Section 2 of Executive Order No. 6166, June 10, 1933, as amended by Executive 

Order No. 6229, July 27, 1934; Executive Order No. 6614, Feb. 26, 1934; Executive 

Order No. 6690, April, 25, 1934, set out as a note to section 901 of Title 5:

Government Organization and Employees, transferred all functions of administrator 

of certain historical national cemeteries located within the continental limits of the 

United States, including certain cemeteries administered by the War Department to 

the Director of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations in the Department of 

the Interior.
Appendices

276

•	 An Act June 18, 1973, Public Law 93-43

The National Cemeteries Act of 1973 ordered the transfer of eighty-two of 

the Army’s eighty-four existing national cemeteries to the custody of the 

Veteran’s Administration.

•	 November 11, 1998, the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 1998

(Public Law 105-368). 

This law officially elevated and redesignated the National Cemetery System (NCS), 

and changed its name to the National Cemetery Administration (NCA).
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APPENDIX B: HISTORY OF CONFEDERATE FLAGS

NATIONAL FLAGS

The short-lived Confederate States of America generated three official 

flags. The first, commonly known as the “Stars and Bars,” was adopted 

by the Confederate Provisional Congress on March 4, 1861. Confederate 

Senate Bill No. 132 and the subsequent Flag Act of 1863 established the 

“Stainless Banner” as the second official flag of the Confederacy. It was 

later decided that, from a distance, the large white field looked too much 

like a flag of truce. Confederate Senate Bill 137 modified the design by 

increasing the size of the upper-left corner motif and adding a red bar, 

thus decreasing the field. As the war was coming to an end, Jefferson 

Davis signed the bill into law on March 4, 1865, and this became the 

third and final official flag of the Confederacy (figs. B.1 through B.3).10 Figure B .1 . First national Confederate 

pattern, in use from the beginning of 

the war to May 1863. Museum of the 

Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. MILITARY FLAGS

Battle and regimental flags have been carried by British regiments for 

hundreds of years. U.S. Army regimental flags were standardized with 

the War of 1812 and the designs remained in use through the Civil War. 

During the Civil War, each regiment in federal service carried national 

colors—the stars (thirty-six of them) and stripes—and a regimental flag 

(fig. B.4).

Figure B .2 . Second Confederate 

national pattern, in use May 1863 

to March 1865. Museum of the 

Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia.

The national colors carried by a Union regiment usually featured 

its number, state, and type. For example, the 49th Regiment Ohio 

Volunteer Infantry’s flag was labeled “49th Reg’t O.V.I.” and the 

101st Indiana Volunteer Infantry’s flag was labeled “101st Ind. Vols.” 

Regimental identification was usually painted on the seventh stripe, but 

sometimes it continued onto the ninth and eleventh stripes.

A Union regimental flag was produced in navy-blue silk emblazoned 

with an eagle and shield, the whole bordered with yellow fringe (fig. B.5). 

The eagle’s left and right claws held an olive branch and arrows, 

respectively. “E Pluribus Unum” was featured on an upper banner, either

above the eagle or held in the eagle’s beak. Below the eagle, another 

banner bore the name and number of the regiment; the stars above 

the eagle represented the number of states in the Union. Artillery 

regimental flags were yellow silk with crossed cannon at the center. A 

banner at the top of the field was stenciled “U.S.” and the area below the

cannon included the number and “Regiment Artillery.”11

Figure B .3 . Third Confederate national 

pattern, in use from March 1865 to 

war’s end. Museum of the Confederacy, 

Richmond, Virginia.

When it came to the appearance and form of flags, the Confederate 

army was not nearly as formal as its Union counterpart. Many officers 

in the Confederate army had attended the U.S. Military Academy at 

West Point and or at least served in the U.S. Army prior to shifting their 

allegiance. Thus, while they were familiar with the military flag system, 

Confederate leadership did not realize a standardized-flag system.
Appendices

278

Figure B .4 . One of two flags 

carried by all Union regiments. 

Quartermaster General of the U.S. 

Army, Civil War Battle Flags of the 

Union Army and Order of Battle, 

reprint edition, Knickerbocker 

Press, New York, 1997.

Cathy Wright, collections manager at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, 

Virginia, is responsible for that museum’s extensive flag collection. According to Wright, 

all Confederate regiments carried both the Confederate States of America colors and a 

battle flag. Companies within a regiment might also carry a presentation flag—one given 

to the companies by local citizens. All of the flags except the national colors varied by 

theater, department, corps commander and, in the case of presentation flags, locality. 

“Their appearance could vary widely; some were standard state flags, others were based 

on First or Second National Confederate flags, still others were entirely fanciful and 

creative,” according to Wright. “We have one in our collection made from a ladies’ 

fringed maroon shawl” (fig. B.6).12

CONFEDERATE REGIMENTAL BATTLE FLAGS

No single design existed for the Confederate battle flag. Confederate army regimental 

battle flags were generally specific to a corps commander, army commander, or a 

combination of the two. The appearance of the flag carried by any given Confederate 

army also evolved over the course of the war.

Figure B .5 . Union infantry 

regiments carried the eagle flag; 

the cavalry carried a variation 

of it. Artillery regiments carried 

a yellow flag with crossed 

cannon centered in the field. 

Quartermaster General of the U.S. 

Army, Civil War Battle Flags of the 

Union Army and Order of Battle, 

reprint edition, Knickerbocker 

Press, New York, 1997.

The dominant Confederate army in the Eastern Theater was the Army of the Potomac, 

later known as the Army of Northern Virginia. This territory included Virginia, 

Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia—generally 

lands east of the Appalachian Mountains and north of Georgia. This army commonly 

carried a square flag composed of a red field and blue cross emblazoned with twelve 

(later thirteen) stars. General P. G. T. Beauregard created the flag in 1861. The first 

issue was 48 inches square, silk, with yellow stars. The second issue, also silk, had a 

yellow border and white stars. A third issue was made of cotton. All three original 

issues were produced privately by local sewing circles. Beginning with the first bunting 

flag—bunting is a soft cloth of cotton or wood made specifically for flags—all Army of 

Northern Virginia flags were produced by the Richmond Clothing Depot or Richmond 

Depot. Seven variants existed for the Army of Northern Virginia bunting flag, generally 

reflected in size and border colors (fig. B.7).13

The Army of Mississippi, later designated the Army of Tennessee, was the dominant 

Confederate force in the Western Theater—the area between the Appalachian Mountains 

to the east and the Mississippi River to the west. This army used several battle-flag 

designs; the two most unique were the Hardee and Polk corps flags.

Figure B .6 . The presentation flag 

of the Phillips County (Arkansas) 

Guards. Phillips County Museum, 

Helena, Arkansas.

Hardee-Pattern Flag: The Army of Central Kentucky, which was part 

of the Confederate force holding southern Kentucky in early 1862, was 

headquartered in Bowling Green. The Army of Central Kentucky—

composed of, forty-three infantry regiments, nine cavalry units, and 

twelve artillery batteries—adopted the Hardee-pattern flag, a blue field 

with a white oval or round disk in the center. The number and state 

abbreviation of each regiment was painted in the white disk. This flag 

remained in use throughout the war because General Patrick Cleburne 

successfully petitioned to allow his division to carry the flag rather 
279

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

than the Army of Northern Virginia-pattern flag that was supplied to the Army of 

Tennessee from Georgia in 1864. There were four variants of the Hardee-pattern. The 

Hardee flags varied in size and shape; the last three variants had a white border around 

the blue field (fig. B.8).14

Figure B .7 . The Army of Northern 

Virginia battle flag had several 

variants. This is the first design with 

twelve stars, of which there were 

three versions.

Figure B .8 . The 1st Arkansas Infantry 

flag, one of the later variants of 

the Hardee-pattern, carried by the 

Army of Tennessee. Old State House 

Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Polk-Pattern Flag: The Polk-pattern flag also dates from early in the war when the 

Confederate army in the West held a small portion of Kentucky. General Leonidas 

Polk, former Episcopal bishop of Louisiana, designed this flag for his division, which 

was headquartered at Columbus, Kentucky. Polk’s twenty-eight infantry regiments, ten 

artillery batteries, and six detachments of cavalry were issued this flag in early 1862. The 

original issue was silk and featured a red St. George’s cross with thirteen white stars in 

the center of a blue field. The second issue was made of bunting; the field was dark blue 

and the red St. George’s cross with thirteen white stars was outlined in white. These flags 

were used until late 1863 (fig. B.9).15

In spring 1864, the Confederates were pushed out of Tennessee and into Georgia. 

As a result, General Braxton Bragg was replaced by General Joseph E. Johnston as 

commander of the Army of Tennessee. Johnston’s first order of business was to restore 

morale, and this included issuing new battle flags. Johnston’s flags were based on the 

Army of Northern Virginia’s “southern cross” battle flags, except these flags were 

rectangular. The Army of Tennessee battle flags measured 36 inches by 52 inches; cavalry 

and artillery flags were slightly smaller. These flags had thirteen stars and no border. 

All divisions in the army carried these flags except General Patrick Cleburne’s Division, 

which was allowed to keep the Hardee-pattern flag described above. The Army of 

Tennessee carried these flags for the rest of the war (fig. B.10).16

In the Trans-Mississippi—Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and the western 

territories—there were numerous battle flags. The Trans-Mississippi was far removed 

from the Confederate government in Richmond. After the fall of Vicksburg and Port 

Hudson, communication between Richmond and Texas could take as long as six weeks. 

As a result, even the Confederate flags in the Trans-Mississippi differed from those 

in the East. According to Flags of the Confederacy, the first Confederate flags in the 

Trans-Mississippi often had eleven stars: ten stars in a circle around a central star. The 

first national flags in the East generally had seven stars. Arkansas was late in joining the 

Confederacy; so flags issued later had more stars.17
Appendices

280

Figure B .9 . The Polk-pattern flag was 

used at many early battles in the 

West, including Shiloh and Perryville.

The Beauregard-pattern battle flag (Army of Northern Virginia-pattern) 

was used in the Trans-Mississippi. At least one division, Walker’s 

Division, used the flag with the colors reversed (fig. B.11). Several 

variations of this flag exist, including a rectangular flag. General 

Earl Van Dorn designed a flag for soldiers under his command in 

Arkansas: a white crescent moon and thirteen stars on a red field 

bordered in white or yellow (fig. B.12).18 These are but two examples of 

Trans-Mississippi battle flags.

The Confederacy never standardized its battle flags at a national level. 

Attempts to do so failed. Battle flags by their nature are unit-specific, 

personal emblems specific to a given regiment.

THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the 1864 Army of 

Tennessee-pattern Confederate battle flag (fig. B.10) has become known 

as the “Rebel Flag.” The image of this flag has become a part of Southern 

culture and heritage. In the 1940s through the 1960s, college students in 

the South waved the flag at football games. It has been sold in gift shops 

along the Gulf Coast beaches, and at historic sites across the South. 

During those decades, it was a source of regional pride and resistance; 

the latter is a stigma that may be forever associated with that flag.

Figure B .10 . The Army of Tennessee 

battle flag, issued in May 1864, is 

similar to the Army of Northern 

Virginia battle flag except it 

is rectangular.

In The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem,

historian John Coski at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, 

Virginia, provides the following summary:

Figure B .11 . The Beauregard-pattern 

battle flag, used in the 

Trans-Mississippi, was issued 

in square (shown) and 

rectangular formats.

“It’s history. It can’t be changed or denied.” This is a familiar 

refrain from those who defend the place of the Confederate 

battle flag in modern American life. The history in 

question is that of the Confederate States of America and 

the experiences of Confederate soldiers. But the history 

of the flag did not end in 1865. More people have carried 

Confederate flags in memorial parades and ceremonies, 

displayed them in houses or yards, worn them on T-shirts 

and hats, or waved them at football games, stock car races, 

and segregationist rallies since World War II than fought 

under them during the Civil War. Those latter-day uses of 

the flag are also history and cannot be changed, denied, or 

ignored. Proliferation of the flag’s use between World War 

II and the early 1970s generated the diversity of meanings 

and perceptions that underlay subsequent controversies 

about its place in American life. The flag ceased being 

a virtually exclusive symbol of Confederate heritage 

and became also a widely and carelessly used symbol of 

many things, including the South as a distinctive region, 

individual rebelliousness, a self-conscious “redneck” 

culture, and segregation and racism.19
281

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Since Coski’s book was published in 2005, events have transpired 

to bring new, critical appraisal of the Confederate battle flag and its 

meaning to a national audience. For example, following a June 2015 

mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, by a young, white 

supremacist, use of the banner was called into question. Within 

a month of the tragic massacre, the Confederate battle flag was 

permanently removed from the South Carolina statehouse grounds—

where it had flown for more than fifty years. Such incidents continue 

to generate public discourse and engagement on the meaning and 

appropriateness associated with the display of the Confederate 

battle flag.

Figure B .12 . A Van Dorn flag used by 

the 15th Arkansas Infantry. Old State 

House Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Appendices

282

Notes

1 Thomas M. O’Brien and Oliver Diefendorf, General Orders of the War Department 

embracing the years 1861, 1862 & 1863, Derby & Miller, New York, 1864, p. 158.

2 O’Brien and Diefendorf, General Orders, pp. 346-347.

3 The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union 

and Confederate Armies, in 128 volumes, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, D.C., 1899-1901, Series III, Vol. V, p. 316.

4 George P. Sanger, editor, Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the United States of 

America from December, 1865, to March, 1867, p. 353.

5 S. B. Holabird, Quartermaster General, U.S. Army, “The Following Instructions 

are Given for the Guidance of Superintendents of National Military [Cemeteries],”

October 2, 1883, RG 92, Entry 589.

6 R. N. Batchelder, Quartermaster General, U.S.A. Circular, January 29, 1891, RG 92, 

Entry 598.

7 Mark C. Mollan, “The Evolution of the Government Policy on Headstones for Fallen 

Soldiers and Sailors: Confederate Headstones,” Prologue, Spring 2003, Vol. 35, No. 1.

8 “Headstones for Confederate Graves,” Confederate Veteran, August 1930, p. 321.

9 War Department, National Military Park National Park, Battlefield Site and National 

Monument Regulations, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 

1931, p. 14.

10 Devereaux, D. Cannon, Jr., The Flags of the Confederacy, Pelican Publishing Co., 

Gretna, Louisiana, 1997, pp. 7-10, 18-20, and 22-23.

11 Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, Civil War Battle Flags of the Union Army 

and Order of Battle, reprint edition, Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1997, pp. 36–38.

12 Cathy Wright, personal communication via email, May 27, 2010.

13 Cannon, Flags of the Confederacy, pp. 51–54 and FOTC Flags of the Confederacy, 

Northern & Eastern Theater, Battle Flags of the Army of the Potomac and Battle 

Flags of the Army of Northern Virginia: http://www.confederate-flags.org/army%20

of%20northern%20virginia-3.html

14 Flags of the Confederacy, FOTC, Confederate Battle Flags of Army of Mississippi/

Army of Tennessee 1861 to late 1863, http://www.confederate-flags.org/

confederate%20army%20of%20mississippi-hardee.html; Cannon, Flags of the 

Confederacy, pp. 54–55; and Howard Michael Madaus, “Flags: Military flags,” 

Encyclopedia of the Confederacy, Vol. 2, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993, p. 586.

15 FOTC Flags of the Confederacy, Confederate Battle Flags of Army of Mississippi/

Army of Tennessee 1861 to late 1863; Polk’s Corps Battle Flag, http://www.

confederate-flags.org/confederate%20army% 20of%20mississippi.html

16 Cannon, Flags of the Confederacy, pp. 56–57.
283

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

17 FOTC, Confederate Battle Flags in the Trans-Mississippi Department,

http://confederate-flags.org/confederate%20trans-mississippi%20department-1.html

18 FOTC, Confederate Battle Flags in the Trans-Mississippi Department, Beauregard 

Battle Flags with Reverse Coloration, http://confederate-flags.org/confederate%20

trans-mississippi%20department-4.html; and Loy Mauch, “Confederate Battle Flags,” 

Encyclopedia of Arkansas, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/

entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5783

19 John M. Coski, The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem,

Belknap Press of Harvard Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005, p. 97.
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285

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RECORD GROUP 15—RECORDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

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Buildings and Utilities in National Cemeteries, Springfield Confederate Cemetery, 

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Springfield, Missouri 1.

Deed dated 25 June 1948 from Arthur E. Miller, conveying to U.S. 33.23 acres. Entry 25, 

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Final Narrative Report and Completion Report for the Repair of Monument and Fence 

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______. U.S. National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, rostrum. Entry 25, Box 

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301

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RECORD GROUP 92—RECORDS OF THE QUARTERMASTER GENERAL 

(RG 92), U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES & RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, 

WASHINGTON, D.C.

1st Endorsement, H. Boardman Smith to C. G. Sawtelle, June 24, 1875. Entry 576, 

Box 28.

1st Endorsement, War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead, Lemon Building, Washington, D.C., May 1, 1912. Entry 698, 

Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

1st Endorsement, War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead, Lemon Building, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1912. 

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Acceptance of Proposal. Order No. 2. War Department. Office of the Commissioner for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, July 9, 1910. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Rock Island 2.

Agreement between James H. Berry, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead and James T. Maxwell, trading as John Maxwell’s Sons, of Philadelphia, 

Pa., Contact for furnishing and erecting Monument to Confederate Dead, in the 

United States National Cemetery, Pittsville, Philadelphia, Pa., dated April 24, 

1911. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Philadelphia 3.

All Vermont Gray Granite, M. H. Rice’s drawing of monument for bid documents 1911. 

Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Terre Haute.

Axline, H. A., to Samuel B. Holabird, May 15, 1886. Entry 576, Box 22.

Baker, Benjamin F., to Charles L. Leiper, April 25, 1898, typescript of letter. Entry 697, 

Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1.

Baker, N., to C. G. Sawtelle, February 2, 1876. Entry 576, Box 27.

Batchelder, R. N., Quartermaster General, U. S. A., Circular, January 29, 1891. Entry 598.

Belknap, William, to William Merrick, March 22, 1871. Entry 576, Box 57.

Berry, James H., to Luther H. Peirce, December 10, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Berry, James H., to George W. LeVin, March 27, 1911. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

Berry, James H., to Secretary of War, December 30, 1911. Entry, 697, Box 9, Folder: 

Terre Haute.

Berry, James H., to Elizabeth Thompson Sells, January 24, 1912. Entry 697, Box 3, 

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Berry, James H., to War Department, September 4, 1912. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 2.

Berry, James H., to Francis V. King, October 9, 1912. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 1.

Between James H. Berry, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and 

Charles G. Blake & Co. of Chicago, Ill., December 6, 1911. Entry 697, Box 4, 

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Between William C. Oates, Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and 

the Springfield Monument Co., Springfield, Ill. Entry 701, Box 3.

Between William C. Oates, Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and T. 

B. Richardson, of Riverton, Illinois.” Entry 701, Box 3.

Between William C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and 

Schricker Marble & Granite Co., of Davenport, Iowa, Contract for setting 

headstones in the Confederate Cemetery on Rock Island, Rock Island, Illinois, 

dated June 25, 1908. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

Between William C. Oates Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and 

the Champion Iron Co., of Kenton, Ohio, August 28, 1909. Entry 701, Box 4.

Between Robert Shaw Oliver, Acting Secretary of War and the Van Amringe Granite Co. 

of Boston, Mass., September 19, 1910. Entry 701, Box 5.

Blake, Charles G., to James H. Berry, October 28, 1912. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: 

Elmira 1.

Board of Trustees of Confederate Prisoners of War Lot, Point Lookout, Md., to William 

Oates, July 18, 1910. Entry 701, Box 5.

Board of Trustees of Confederate Prisoners of War Lot, Point Lookout, Md. to Robert 

Shaw Oliver, September 19, 1910. Entry 701, Box 5.

Board of Trustees of Confederate Monument, to James H. Berry, February 25, 1911. 

Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas 2.

Borland, William P., to James H. Berry, March 1, 1911. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

Borland, William P., to James H. Berry, April 5, 1911. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

Borland, William P., to Jacob M. Dickerson, April 22, 1910. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

Burke, Martin, to G. B. Dandy, August 7, 1882. Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks.

Burke, Martin, to G. B. Dandy, August 7, 1882, First Indorsement, August 10, 1882. 

Entry 697, Box 35, Folder: Jefferson Barracks.

Burns, James, to Samuel Lewis, October 8, 1914. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Springfield, Missouri.

Burns, James, to Samuel Lewis, March 13, 1915. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Springfield, Missouri.

Calendar No. 2553, 57th Cong., 2nd sess., S. 6486 [Report No. 2589], A Bill to provide 

for the appropriate marking of the graves of the soldiers of the Confederate 

army and navy, and for other purposes. Entry 701, Box 1.

Calendar No. 2553, 57th Cong., 2nd sess., Senate, [Report No. 2589], Marking the 

Graves of the soldiers of the Confederate army and navy. [Report to accompany 

S. 6486]. Entry 701, Box 1.

Callaghan, John T., to William Elliott, May 28, 1906. Entry 698, Box 2: Folder: Point 

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303

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Chenoweth, G. D., to Col. A. F. Rockwell, October 25, 1875. Entry 576, Box 28, Folder: 

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Circular and Poster, May 21, 1909. Entry 701, Box 4.

Circular and Poster, War Department, Office of Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead, Washington, D.C., June 23, 1910. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Point Lookout 1.

Circular—Proposal issued by the War Department, Office of the Commissioner for 

Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, June 25, 1909, to haul Confederate 

headstones to Cypress Hill National Cemetery and to set said headstones. 

Entry 697, Box 4.

Classified Statement of Interments in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, June 30, 

1875. Entry 576, Box 36, Folder: Jefferson Barracks.

Clipping from The Daily Times (Rock Island, IL) June 23, 1908. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Rock Island 2.

Cochran, William B., to Office of the Quartermaster General, October 14, 1911. 

Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Confederate Dead at Oakwoods [sic] Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., October 18, 1907. 

Entry 698, Box 1.

Contract between Robert Shaw Oliver and Van Amringe Granite Co. of Boston, Mass., 

October 5, 1910. Entry 701, Box 2.

Cunningham, S. A., to James Berry, August 10, 1912, includes 1st Indorsement, Phila. 

Depot of the Q. M. Department of the Depot Quartermaster, Philadelphia, 

July 31, 1912, and 2nd Indorsement, War Department, Officer of Quartermaster 

General, Washington, August 1, 1912. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: Finn’s Point 1.

Dana, Col. J. J., to Bvt. Maj. Gen. M. C. Meigs, October 26, 1865. Entry 576, Box 27.

Dana, Col. J. J., to Bvt. Maj. Gen. M. C. Meigs, November 17, 1865. Entry 576, Box 27.

Davis, George B., to Luke E. Wright, November 3, 1908. Entry 701, Box 2.

Davis, George B., to Secretary of War, November 3, 1908. Entry 701, Box 2.

Davis, George B., to Luke E. Wright, November 4, 1908. Entry 701, Box 2.

Dettre, J. H., to William D. Stauffer, April 9, 1898, typescript of letter. Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder: Philadelphia 1.

Dickinson, Jacob M., to William C. Oates, May 12, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Dickinson, Jacob M., to James H. Berry, February 1, 1911. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Dickinson, Jacob M., to James H. Berry, February 18, 1911. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Dillon, William, to John C. Clem, November 13, 1914. Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: 

Fort Smith.

Diary of Works Accomplished, Visitors, Conversations and Letter Written and Received 

Relating to Cemetery Records, January–August 1915. Entry 703.

Donelson, J. L., to John B. Howard, June 1, 1867. Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks.
Bibliography

304

Donelson, J. L., to D. H. Rucker, June 1, 1867. Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks.

Elliott, William, to Fred C. Ainsworth, August 5, 1907. Entry 697, Box 2.

Elliott, William, to George Davis, April 6, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s 

Island 1.

Elliott, William, to Mrs. S. H. Gregory, August 1, 1906. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

Elliott, William, to Mrs. S. H. Gregory, May 11, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

Elliott, William, to Brig. Gen. Charles F. Humphrey, March 15, 1907. Entry 697, Box 5, 

Folder 1: Finn’s Point.

Elliott, William, to W. H. Knauss, June 28, 1907. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 2.

Elliott, William, to John T. Mack, March 16, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s 

Island 2.

Elliott, William, to Messrs. L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, July 29, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 2.

Elliott, William, to Messrs. L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, September 25, 1907. Entry 697, 

Box 1, Folder: Alton 2.

Elliott, William, to Messrs. L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, October 2, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 2.

Elliott, William, to Quartermaster General, March 13, 1907. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: 

Finn’s Point 1.

Elliott, William, to Joseph Rugstaff, December 13, 1906. Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp 

Morton 1.

Elliott, William, to Robert Shaw Oliver, September 26, 1907. Entry 701, Box 5.

Elliott, William, to John Scofield, August 10, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s 

Island 1.

Elliott William, to Assistant Secretary of War, June 10, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island 1.

Elliott, William, to Secretary of War, October 14, 1907. Entry 701, Box 3.

Elliott, William, to Superintendent National Cemetery, April 13, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 1.

Farley, James L., to N. P. Clubman, June 16, 1868. Entry 576, Box 24.

Fenton, Charles W., to Chief Quartermaster, Eastern Division, September 6, 1911. 

Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Fenwick, W. A., to William C. Oates, July 18, 1910. Entry 701, Box 5.

Fowler, J. A., Acting Attorney General, to Secretary of War, July 23, 1910. Entry 698, 

Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1.

Gallant, T. R., to Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, July 28, 1911. 

Entry 701, Box 2.

Goodwin, E. W., to M. J. Ludington, December 2, 1865. Entry 576, Box 57, Folder: 

Point Lookout.

Gregory, Mrs. S. H., to William Elliott, July 14, 1906. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.
305

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Gregory, Mrs. Mary H., to William Elliott, May 1, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 1.

Grommet, Mrs. S. B., to William C. Oates, January 11, 1909. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 1.

Grommet, S. B., to William C. Oates, February 4, 1909. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 1.

Grommet, S. B., to William C. Oates, March 2, 1909. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

Hall, James, to James H. Berry, February 7, 1911. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 2.

Hodgson, T. G., to Quartermaster General, May 31, 1907. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder:

Finn’s Point 1.

Holabird, Samuel B., to H. A. Axline, May 20, 1886. Entry 576, Box 22.

Holabird, Samuel B., to James M. Burns, February 25, 1887. Entry 576, Box 2, 

Folder: Alton.

Holabird, Samuel B., Quartermaster General, U.S. Army. “Instruction for the Guidance 

of Superintendents of National Military Cemeteries.” October 2, 1883. 

Entry 589.

Howard, John B., to J. L. Donelson, May 24, 1867. Entry 576, Box 35, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks.

Hudson, Mrs. Mary Patton, to William Elliott, March 24, 1906. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island 2.

Hudson, Mrs. Mary Patton, to Theodore Roosevelt, July 24, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island 2.

Hudson, Mrs. Mary Patton, to William Oates, December 17, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1,

Folder: Johnson’s Island 2.

Hudson, Mrs. Mary Patton, to Marcus J. Wright, November 11, 1908. Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island 2.

Hudson, Mrs. Mary Patton, to William Oates, November 22, 1908. Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island 1.

Hudson, Mary Patton, to J. M. Dickinson, July 13, 1909. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island 1.

Humphrey, E. H., to William C. Oates. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Kemper, James L., to Secretary of War, May 12, 1875; W. W. Belknap to Governor of 

Virginia, May 19, 1875. Entry 576, Box 28, Folder: Finn’s Point.

King, Francis V., to James H. Berry, March 19, 1911. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 2.

King, Francis V., to James H. Berry, March 24, 1911. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 2.

Knauss, William H., to William Elliott, August 29, 1907. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3.

Lamb, John E., to William C. Oates, May 16, 1910. Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute.

Laws of the State of Maryland, Chapter 85, 1870, and Laws of the State of Maryland, 

Chapter 407, 1874, typescript copies. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point Lookout 1.
Bibliography

306

Laws of Maryland, January Session, 1910, Chapter 543. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Point 

Lookout 1.

Lewis, Samuel E., to Quartermaster General, November 19, 1914. Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder: Springfield, Missouri.

Lewis, Samuel E., to Marcus J. Wright, December 28, 1898. Entry 585.

Linkogle, Elise, to James Berry, May 4, 1911. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

Ludington, M. I., to Montgomery C. Meigs, April 4, 1866. Entry 576, Box 67, Folder: 

Point Lookout.

______. June 12, 1866. Entry 576, Box 57, Folder: Point Lookout.

Mack, Major Oscar, to H. Boardman Smith, September 30, 1874. Entry 576, Box 28.

Mann, James R., to William H. Taft, December 26, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

McKinney, James, to James H. Berry, May 5, 1912. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock 

Island 2.

Meigs, Montgomery, to J. Donald Cameron, February 26, 1877. Entry 576, Box 2, 

Folder: Alton.

Meigs, Montgomery, to Secretary of War, March 17, 1871. Entry 576, Box 57, Folder: 

Point Lookout.

Memorandum for the Secretary of War, May 24, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

Memorandum for the Secretary of War: Cost of Monument for Marking Confederate 

graves in Union Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri, March 1, 1911. Entry 697, 

Box 6, Folder: Kansas City.

Memorandum to the Secretary of War, March 1, 1911, 3rd Indorsement [sic]. Entry 697, 

Box 6, Folder: Kansas City.

Memorandum for Superintendent William Dillon, Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort 

Smith, Arkansas, November 10, 1914. Entry 607, Box 9, Folder: Fort Smith.

Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking Graves 

Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910; Isaac Ball to Mrs. William 

J. Behan, February 19, 1901. Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute.

Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking Graves 

Confederate Dead, to Terre Haute, Ind., July 11, 1910: See Henry O. Sterg 

to Mrs. William J. Behan, February 17, 1901 and Mrs. William J. Behan to 

Superintendent Woodlawn Cemetery, February 5, 1901. Entry 697, Box 9, 

Folder: Terre Haute.

Memorandum of visit to G. G. Gibbon, Pennsville, NJ, made by Colonel Wm. Elliott and 

L. Frank Nye, August 9, 1906. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder 1: Finn’s Point.

Memorandum of visit to Greenlawn Cemetery by Col. Elliott and James H. Hedges, 

November 22, 1906. Entry 697, Box 7, Folder: Camp Morton 1.

Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking Graves 

of Confederate Dead, to Johnson’s Island, Ohio, July 12, 1912. Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island 1.
307

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Memorandum of visit to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., in connection with the Confederate 

Cemetery on the island, February 28, 1908. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock 

Island 2.

Memorandum General Wm. C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead, March 30, 1909. Entry 701, Box 1.

Memorandum for Hon. Wm. C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of 

Confederate Dead. Entry 701, Box 1.

Memorandum of visit by L. Frank Nye, Clerk to the Commissioner for Marking Graves 

of Confederate Dead, to Alton, Ill. Entry 697, Box 1.

Memorandum relative to land in the Greenlawn Cemetery at Indianapolis, Indiana, in 

which Confederate prisoners of war were interred, November 3, 1908. 

Entry 701, Box 2.

Mitchell, W. M., to James M. Burns, February 21, 1887. Entry 576, Box 2, Folder: Alton.

Minnick, Millard F., to William Elliott, February 4, 1907. Entry 698, Box 2.

Montgomery, Alabama, October 16, 1908. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Kansas City.

Monthly Report of the Philadelphia National Cemetery for the month of December 

1891 [handwritten copy]. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1.

Monument Unveiling Program, October 12, 1911. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Philadelphia 2.

Moore, James M., to W. J. Ludington, April 4, 1866. Entry 576, Box 67.

Moore, James M., to D. H. Rucker, July 27, 1867. Entry 576, Box 57, Folder: 

Point Lookout.

Nelson, W., to E. B. Grimes, January 27, 1877. Entry 576, Box 2, Folder: Alton.

Newspaper clippings re: Philadelphia monument unveiling: “Dedication Ceremonies in 

Charge of United Daughters of the Confederacy,” Philadelphia Record, October 

10, 1911; and “Federal Tribute to Southern Dead,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 

October 13, 1911. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 2.

New York Sun, “Fortunes in Headstones,” April 3, 1876. Entry 576, Box 25.

Nichols, Henry, to Charles A. Booth, July 21, 1899. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 2.

Nye, L. Frank, to William Elliott, August 7, 1907. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3.

Nye, L. Frank, to William Elliott, September 5, 1907. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3.

Nye, L. Frank, to John E. Lamb, May 13, 1910. Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: Terre Haute.

Nye, L. Frank, to William C. Oates, January 29, 1908. Entry 701, Box 4.

Nye, L. Frank, to William Oates, November 5, 1909. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: 

Finn’s Point.

Nye, L. Frank, to Messrs. L. Pfeiffenberger & Son, February 8, 1908. Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 2.

Nye, L. Frank, to W. B. Pedigo, April 1, 1909. Entry 701, Box 1.

Nye, L. Frank, to Mrs. LeRoy Rose, April 2, 1910. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3.
Bibliography

308

No. 13, Camp Butler National Cemetery (Springfield, Illinois) Inspected 

October 9, 1881. Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: Springfield, 1.

Oates, William C., to the Adjutant General, War Department, September 9, 1909. 

Entry 697, Box 4.

Oates, William C., to Chief Quartermaster, Camp of Instruction, Pine Camp, NY, 

August 5, 1910. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Oates, William C., to Depot Quartermaster, Philadelphia, March 8, 1910. Entry 697, 

Box 8, Folder: Philadelphia 1.

Oates, William C., to Frank Gray, January 21, 1910. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Philadelphia 2.

Oates, William C., to George Ford, June 16, 1908. Entry 697, Box 2.

Oates, William C., to Luke E. Wright, October 29, 1908. Entry 701, Box 2.

Oates, William C., to Robert Shaw Oliver, April 29, 1909. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island 1.

Oates, William C., to Mary Patton Hudson, April 30, 1909. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island 1.

Oates, William C., to Ramsey Stewart, November 23, 1909. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Oates, William C., to Jacob M. Dickinson, May 21, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

Oates, William C., to George W. LeVin, June 4, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

Oates, William C., to Secretary, Sam Davis Chapter, UDC, February 22, 1909. Entry 697, 

Box 1, Folder: Alton 1.

Oates, William C., to Secretary of War, December 31, 1908, with three endorsements 

dated January 11, January 18, and April 5, 1908. Entry 697, Box 9, Folder: 

Terre Haute.

Oates, William C., to Secretary of War, March 27, 1909. Entry 701, Box 1.

Oates, William C., to Secretary of War, May 17, 1909. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Oates, William C., to Secretary of War, June 22, 1910. Entry 701, Box 4.

Oates, William C., to B. B. Stakemiller, June 25, 1910. Entry 701, Box 4.

Oates, William C., to J. M. Dickinson, December 10, 1910. Entry 701, Box 2.

Office of the Secretary, War Department, April 30, 1912, [26312 Comr. Berry.] 

Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

Oliver, Robert Shaw, to William C. Oates, December 19, 1908. Entry 701, Box 2.

Owen, William H., to C. W. Foster, July 9, 1886. Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: 

Springfield, Mo.

Owen, William H., to Col. J. G. Chandler, September 15, 1887. Entry 576, Box 36, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island.

Peirce, L. H., to Brig. Gen. M. C. Meigs, November 8, 1865. Entry 576, Box 27.

Pfeiffenberger, John M., to William Elliott, August 2 and 19, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, 

Folder: Alton 2.
309

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

Pfeiffenberger John M., to William Elliott, September 2, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 2.

Pfeiffenberger, John M., to William Elliott, November 9, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: 

Alton 2.

Plans of the National Cemeteries in the United States, 1892–1893. Entry 691, NM-81, 

Box 1.

Poland, M. L., to Commanding Officer, Rock Island Arsenal, April 18, 1871. Entry 698, 

Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

Proposal for Confederate Headstones, April 5, 1907. Entry 701, Box 3.

Proposed Work on Confederate Mound Monument, Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Ill. 

Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp Douglas 2.

Randolph, J. B., to William C. Oates, July 23, 1909. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Jefferson Barracks.

Re: Alton Cemetery, Alton, Ill. (219647), July 12, 1905. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 2.

Re: Confederate Cemetery at Rock Island, Ill., February 26, 1895. Entry 698, Box 2, 

Folder: Rock Island 2.

Re: Fence around Cemetery on Johnson’s Island, O., October 3, 1907. Entry 698, Box 1, 

Folder: Johnson’s Island 2.

Re: Point Lookout, Md., May 9, 1907. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder 1.

Report of Superintendent Philadelphia National Cemetery, January 8, 1889. Entry 576, 

Box 56, Folder: Philadelphia.

Re: Total number of Confederate Dead Buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery, Elmira, 

NY. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2.

Rock Island, Ill., May 31, 1907. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: Rock Island 2.

Schedule of Information, Philadelphia National Cemetery, January 8, 1889. Entry 576, 

Box 56.

Sells, Mrs. W. B., to James Berry, January 1, 1912. Entry 697, Box 3, Folder: Camp 

Chase 3.

Shattuck, A. B., to Headquarters Eastern Division, Chief Quartermaster’s Office, 

October 3, 1911. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 1.

Shaw, F. H., to Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, June 5, 1912. 

Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2.

Simpson, John, to Lt. Col. C. G. Sawtelle, December 2, 1891. Entry 576, Box 56.

Smart & Strother to James H. Berry, September 18, 1912. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

Smith, H. Boardman, to Col. Mack, September 28, 1874. Entry 576, Box 28.

Smith, H. Boardman, to C. G. Sawtelle, June 24, 1875. Entry 576, Box 28.

Special List No. 2 Jefferson Barracks, Mo., National Cemetery. Civilian Prisoners of War. 

Entry 697, Box 6.

Special Report relating to the government lots in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, 

New York, September 23, 1874. Entry 576, Box 28, Folder: Elmira.
Bibliography

310

Stakemiller, B. B., to Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, 

January 24, 1910. Entry 701, Box 1.

Stakemiller, B. B., to William C. Oates, June 9, 1910. Entry 701, Box 4.

Stevens, Flora E., to William P. Borland, April 17, 1910. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: 

Kansas City.

Stewart, Ramsey, to William Elliott, January 29, 1908. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Camp 

Douglas 2.

Stewart, Ramsey, to William C. Oates, November 30, 1909. Entry 698, Box 1.

Stewart, Ramsey H., George W. Levin, and E. W. Carter to James R. Mann, March 21, 

1910. Entry 701, Box 2.

Stockton, E. A., Jr., to William Oates, May 11, 1910. Entry 701, Box 2.

Supplementary Contract dated April 3, 1911, modifying the contract between Robert 

Shaw Oliver, Acting Secretary of War and Van Amringe Granite Co., of Boston, 

Mass. Dated September 19, 1910. Entry 701, Box 5.

To the President of the United States: A Petition from the Charles Broadway Rouss 

Camp of Washington, D.C., Camp No. 1191 of the United Confederate Veterans 

relating to the Confederate Graves in the National Military and Naval Cemetery 

at Arlington, Va., June 5, 1899. Entry 585.

Tomlin, John F., to Quartermaster, Philadelphia, April 1, 1907. Entry 697, Box 5, Folder: 

Finn’s Point 1.

Transcribed notes of visit to Philadelphia, PA, July 30, 1906. Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder 2: Philadelphia.

Transcribed notes of visit to Chester, PA, August 2, 1906. Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder 2: Philadelphia.

Transcribed notes of visit to Elmira, June 15–26, 1906. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: 

Elmira 2.

Transcribed notes of November 17–29, 1906, Indianapolis visit by Commissioner 

William Elliott and L. Frank Nye, transcripts November 17–29, 1906. Entry 697, 

Box 7, Folder: Camp Morton 1.

Transcribed notes of interviews conducted by Elliott and Nye in Alton, Illinois, 

June 27–July 1, 1907. Entry 697, Box 1, Folder: Alton 2.

Transcribed notes on St. Louis and Jefferson Barracks, L. Frank Nye, May 31, 1907. 

Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Jefferson Barracks.

Transcribed notes on work undertaken in Elmira June 13–July 11, 1906, submitted, 

January 2, 1908. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: Elmira 2.

Transcriptions of the inscriptions on the Philadelphia Confederate Monument in 

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va., June 30, 1910. Entry 697, Box 8, Folder: 

Philadelphia 2.

Typescript of notes taken by L. Frank Nye on visit to Johnson’s Island 

October 27–November 7, 1906. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: Johnson’s Island 2.

Underwood, F. D., to William Elliott, December 3, 1906. Entry 697, Box 4, Folder: 

Elmira 1.
311

Federal Stewardship of Confederate Dead

U.S. Congress. “Confederate Mound in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Ill., 57th Cong., 

1st sess., House of Representatives, Report No. 2155.” Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Johnson’s Island.

U.S. Congress. “Confederate Mound, Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, April 22, 1910, 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and 

ordered to be printed,” 61st Cong., 2nd sess., Report No.1095. Entry 701, Box 2.

U.S. Senate. “Report of Quartermaster General Relating to Cemetery of Prison Camp of 

Johnson’s Island, near Sandusky, Ohio, 46th Congress Executive Document 

No. 53.” Entry 576, Box 36, Folder: Johnson’s Island.

U.S. War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead, Washington, D.C., May 21, 1909, Circular and Poster; Between William 

C. Oates, Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, and Van 

Amringe Granite Company, Boston, Mass, August 28, 1909. Entry 701, Box 2.

U.S. War Department, Office of the Commissioner for Marking Graves of Confederate 

Dead, Washington, D.C., March 11, 1911, Circular and Poster. Entry 697, Box 8, 

Folder: Philadelphia 3.

U.S. War Department, Office of the Judge-Advocate General, April 6, 1909. Entry 701, 

Box 1.

Van Amringe, W. B., to William C. Oates, January 12, 1910. Entry 698, Box 1, Folder: 

Camp Douglas 2.

Wade, M. H., to Quartermaster General, April 22, 1887. Entry 576, Box 68, Folder: 

Springfield, Mo.

Walcott, Charles C., to William C. Oates, June 8, 1909. Entry 697, Box 6.

Walcutt, Charles C., Jr., to Commissioner for Marking Confederate Graves, June 8, 1909, 

and 1st Indorsement, June 25, 1909. Entry 697, Box 6, Folder: Jefferson Barracks.

Yeatman, S. Percy, to James H. Berry, November 21, 1911. Entry 698, Box 2, Folder: 

Point Lookout 1.

OTHER ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

“Camp Morton, Tuesday Eve., March 18, 1862, Report of prisoners in charge of Col. F. B. 

Mullen, 61st Regiment, Indiana Volunteers delivered at Camp Morton and 

Remaining at Terre Haute.” Typescript, Vigo County Public Library, Terre 

Haute, IN.

Descendants of the Point Lookout POW Organization. www.plpow.com/

OrganizationInfo.htm

Taussig, Meredith. “Confederate Mound Monument.” Commission on Chicago 

Landmarks, Chicago, Illinois, 1991.

United Daughters of the Confederacy, Ohio Division, Robert Patton Chapter, 

Cincinnati. Dedication of bronze monument to Confederate soldiers in Johnson’s 

Island, Ohio, stockade cemetery . . . June, 8, 1910. Ebbert & Richardson, Co., 

Cincinnati, Ohio, 1910. Ohio Historical Society.
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July 2016

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