The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1880-10-10


weEle the following from a. ex-
ceedingly Interesting letter in the New
York Sun Of Augus, Is:
II walked on. TO the west end of the
town 90 see the site CT the old Confeds-
rate prison, and where j: stood saw
them boil ling houses The old stock
ade. bad been torn away. No reli, Of
he place which for nearly eighteen
months was the home of 1900 men,
the flower Of the Confederate army,
and within whose walls vas the scene
OF how many . heart -bfeAkins tragedy
of lingering lines. broken hopes, and
welcome deaths. now remains. /
WALKED over to the north. Go the city
cemetery where the Confederate dead
are buried. | made nv way through
the usual amount % Browns, Joneses,
and Johnsons. With virtues glowing on
freshly cut grave stones, bat failed 70
End any spot where the Confederate
dead lie. Al length saw . wedge
shaped field across the road. I climbed
over the fence. and crossing the high
way entered the enclosure with my hat
in my hand and reverent feeling. /
saw the turf cast up in bilIowy lines. L
called up all my imagiuiugs Of the
great conflict at which these men were
the heroes and this was the final end.
They were buried very thick here I
said 10 Q rustic. who was leaning on the
fence and regarding my hatless sp-
pearance and insane air with amiable
curiosity. This is . beet 6eldr said
the rustic. The field had been fall
plowed. At the sections house / asked
where the Confederate dead lay. He
kindly gave mo full directions, and
showed me q great map hanging on the
wall. with graves as thick as leaves.
and the name Of each dead man printed
on the spot where be lay. There was
. ledger Of immense size in which Was
the name, home, sgs, regiment and date
of death of each deceased person.
Nearly three Thousand Confederate
soldiers ere buried in an acre in the
northern part of the cemetery. They
lie 90 thickly that there Is barely room
to put ones finger between the boxes.
But there Is nothing to indicate that
any dead are buried here. The heal
boards have rotted away. and the earth
ridges have been plowed over. They
have sown grass. and now o green and
velvety swsrd has sprung up. Some
bali dozen scattered gravestones remain,
but appear only as SO many isolated
graves; when one reads them they have
a peculiar and tender interest under
the Northern sky, bearing Southern
names from Virgins. Carolina and
LJuisiaus, and telling to future times
their simple story Of devotion, and Of
the romance and poetry Of the war.
"There once came 70 the prison a
woman with four little children. all
clad IN the poorest garments, and evi-
IDENTIFY destitute She, came from the
far South. Her husband was in prison.
She bad come all the way with her lit.
tie children to see him. How she ever
got North with her little childrep flls
me with astonishment. She came to
the prison door in her calico sun bonnet,
her children clustered around her.
She asked to see her husband. who was
inside sick. They told her that she
could not Gee him that day, but TO
come ths next day. She came st. the
appoisted tins. and obey told her that
her husband was dead. Thou she
wanted tn see his corpse. They. sent
her to the dead house. She vent but
found that his body had not yet come.
When she called next day the body
had just gone to the cemetery. There
the body had just BEEN buried. !. She
entrested them to dig UP and open. the
ceffin for her. They did 90. She
could not recognize the vested features
- those OF her husband. at FIRST but
the children cried ont that Il was their
father. What became Of her and them,
God knows." f1 fp ~ y"