The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-10-19
The Ander,snviIle Dead.

L < Inc Au0ereonShtc Deau'
f 4WAsInNGToN, Oct. lS-The following
\ report 81. Capt. s. w. Moore, agent, who
was sent to AndersoaSille, Georgia, to
i mark the graves of Union prisoners for
future reidentifcatfon, contains valuable
Information, in which thepeople are in
terested, and will be appreciated by the
relatives and friends Of those who have
given thsiraiyes toitheir country.
I tAss,T Q.M.,s., OFFICE, DEPT OF WASH, (
| WAsHINGToE, D. c., Sept, 90, 1860, IS
70 Breret Maif Gen. Mass, Quartermaster
General us A., Washington, D. C.
Gehefal@In accordance with special
.orlsx No. -l9,sQuartermaster Generals
Ohice, dated June Goth. 1866, directing
tme to proceed to Andersenyille, Georgia,
,fer the purpose of marking the graves Of
Bnion Soldiers for future ident tifcation
and Enclosing the cemetery. have the
.honor.to report as follows: left Wash
inetop ON the 9th of fEJuly last, with me-
I;cmnies and material for the purpose
.above mentioned On my arrival at
Savannah Iascertained that there was
| no railroad communication, whatever,
! to Andersonyile, the direct road to Macon
lgbeine broken and that from Augusta
| via Atlanta is also in the same condition
T" Tried to procure wagon TRANSPORTATION,
but was informed by the General COM
].snanding the department Of Georgia
that sufficient number. of teams could
| not be had in the State to haul one-half
| the stores, and as the roads were bad and
the distance more than 400 miles, i 'aban-
9oned all idea of attempting road
through country difficult and tedious
under more propitious circuInstancest
Theprospect of reaching Andersonyille at
this time was byno means favora ble ;an a
learly one week elapsed since my arrival
at Savannab3 Thad tslegraphed to Au
gusta, Atlanta and Macon, and received
replies that the Railroads were not COM
pleted. At length on the morning OF
the 10Th of July a gratifying telegram
| from Augusta received annouhcing
the completion of the road TO Atlanta. |
at once determined to procure trauspor-
tation. by, the p -SaYapnah river
1.-THE desired boat was, sec cared, and Sin'24
Ehours after. the receipt of the telegram
7 alluded to, was on my way with men and
material for Augusta On my arrival
there found the railroad completed to
Macon. and that from Macon to Ander-
sonville having never been broken
| experienced but little difficulty in
reaching my destination, where / ar
rived July 25th, after tiresome trip oc-
cupying six days and nights.
At Macon Major General Wilson de-
tailed one company of the 4th U. 5. Cav
airy and one of the 18th Regiment Z
1 s. colored troops, to assist me. a smenl-
Der of the former company was killed on
the 9Th Of August at a station named
Montezuma, on the Southwestern rail.
road. The. rolling stock Of all the roads
over which I travelled is In a terrible con-
dition. and very seldom greater rate of
speed was obtained than twelve miles an
| hour At the different stations along the
route the object of the expedition was
we'll known, and not untrequently those
wearing the garb of rebel soldiers came
into the cars and discussed the treatment
ofour prisoners; at Andersonville, all of
| Whom. .candidly admitted il was shame-
! fnl and IA blot Oh the5 escutcheon OF the
| South which years would not efface.-
While encamped at Andersonville was
daily vi sited by men from the surround
ing country, and had an opportunity of
cleaning their feelings toward the Coy
ernment, and with hardly all exception
from those who had been in the rebel
army, penitent and more kindly disposed
! than those who had never taken a part
and anxious to again become citizens Of
the government they had fought SO hard
| to destroy. gs.F III
On the morning of the Goth of July
the work of identifying graves, paint
ing and lettering headboards, laying ont
walks and enclosing the cemetery COM
| menced, and on the evening of the 10Th
| of August was completed, with the eX.
| ceptiOns hereafter mentioned. The dead
| were found buried in trenches on sites Sc
lected by the rebels, about three hun
dred yards from the stockade. The trench
es were from two to three feet below the
| surface, and, in many instances, where
the rains had washed away the earth, but
a few inches of earth were found on the
| graves. So close were they buried, with
out coffins or ordinary clothing to cover
their nakedness, that not more than IL
inches were allowed to each man. Indeed
the little tablets marking their resting
places, measuring hardly 10 inches in
width, are almost touching each other.
| United States soldiers, while prisoners
at Andersonville, had been detailed to
inter their companions, and by single
stake at the head of each grave, which
bore number corresponding with SIM
liar number and name upon the Ander-
sonville hospital record, was enabled
to identify and mark with neat tablets,
similar to those in the cemetery at Wash
| ington, the number, name, rank, age, &c,
and date of death, of II, ,466 graves, there
being but 467 which bore the incription,
unknown US. soldiers" 100000 feet
of pine lumber was used in these tablets
alone.
axThe cemetery contains fifty acres and
has been directed by one man, avenues
running through the centre and sub-di-
vided into blocks and sections in such
manner that with the aid of the report,
which am now having copied for the
superintendent, the visitors will expe-
rience no difficulty in finding any grave.
A force of men are now engaged in
laying ont walks and cleaning the
cemetery ofstumps, preparatory toplant-
ing trees and flowers. have already
commenced the manufacture of brick,
and will have sufficient number by the
first of October to pave the numerous
cutters throughout the cemetery, the clay
in the vicinity Of the stockade being well
adapted fol the purpose of brick max
ing. Appropriate Inscriptions are placed
| a n. - y -. ~.~1F Re- ,l.,n,r