St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-06-12
The Dead at anderson rifle.

Five hundred yards northwest of the
Stockade, is the cemetery where sleep
more that fifteen thousand of the victims
If Andcrsonville,-a spot nearer hell. in
The concentrated malignity which it rep
rc>cnts. than any other on the continent.
Fortunately the prison records We're rc-
t,vcred, 50 that all but about tour ham
Ired graves can be identified The 4rv-
cnmcnt has put up hcad-boards at all
the Graves, with the number. name. state,
regiment and company, taken from these
rccuId,.
IL, incloSure in which the bodies re-
pose. | should judge. must contain some
twenty acres, and i exceedingly we'll
adopted to the purpose, bcin@ Try and
pleasantly diversified with nill and dale.
and part of it with Il small Grove. Tht
government. however. has planned to rc-
| move the bodies TO very LARGE and ma--
nificcnt lot OF hundred and sixty acres
adjoining the present one on lie south.
| The intention was to take up the hOdic,
| and bury them by states, and 10 beautitl
| the lot with monuments and such Other
| works rs would render it worthy of {;
| Lreut republic. a force of more thar
| five hundred men had worked on it the
| entire winter. But when | was there
| the work had been arrested, the men dis
missed, and hope and pray it may new.
er again be resumed. 1t seems TO m(
that the fittcst place for our braves tc
rest in, Is Just where they were borne
out and laid from the prison 1t Is toe
late now to add glory to their ashes by
garniShing their sepulchreS. They vii
speak to the future more impressively
out of the long trenches, where they were
| aid without Il coffin or shroud, than
they could from the most costly mauSole
| ums the wealth of a nation could build
| For one | protest against the intended
| but mistaken honor. We cannot disturb
their sacred dust without breaking th'
charm and the lesson OF their lives Th'
less of ostentation here the better. Onl,
let the government see that imperishabl
tablets are set over these graves and tla
these Gods acres, sown with its mar
tyred dead, are kept severely simple
and severely beautiful, and it will hav
done its duty.
| Had / a son or a brother there,
could not be tempted to remove his re
mains from the company Of his illustrlou
compatriots. 1t would seem 20 me it'll
less than proclamation to disturb repos
50 august and so profound. In all til
earth there is not a spot where our mar
tyrs to liberty and law could rest $
we'll, as right here in sight of the heI
where they were tortured TO death.
lie would be remarkable man VIII
could 90 up and down these long ave
nues of graves, reading thesesunknow
names without feeling such Us he neve
experienced before, and is never likel
to experience again. But if the name
are familiar if they call up old faces, /
whose light he has walked, and rejoice
trusted comrades with whom he la
marched, and bivouacked, cOunselled an
prayed. what word in the language ca
tcll the feeling then? And this latte
was nv fortune. | read there names {
sixty comrades of the old 9th, capture
at Drury's Bluff, who came here to starv
and die. As Ihave no words to expire:
my feeling, L shall not attempt it, bu
- VIII hope that surviving friends, who ma
trace these lines, may ut least have til
comfort, that one who loved them hs
looked upon the place of their rest, an
tendrrly pronounced their names.-Le
te1. from C.qpL1m c. L. Wood,co,th
COnQycgatOndliA.