The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-04-03

A correspondent of the Boston Her0id who
recently visited the site Of the prison at Ander
sOnyille writes rs follows: anderson is the
name Of a station on the Southwestern Rail
road, about sixty miles or two hours ride from
Macon. 1t Is nothing but Il railroad station
and the only other thing besides the railroad
which characterizes the spot is the immense
Union cemetery of some twenty acres over
which floats the Star.Spangled Banner. The
cemetery is constructed on the spot where the
prisoners were buried, and the trenches were
dug with such precision and regularity that
the soldiers were not generally disturbed, but
allowed to remain as their comrades inferred
them working under the watchtuI eyes and the
fixed bayonets of the Georgia Home Guard.
The cemetery is surrounded by IA stout brick
wall, with an iron gate, and Is under the super
vision of superindent who lives on the
grounds. 1t is PLAIN spot. There is not much
attempt made to ornament this city of our
martyred dead 1t would take IA great deal Of
even such influences as plants and flowers pos.
sess to dispel the melancholy memories that
haunt this hill in the pine woods of South
Georgia
"Southcrners shun the spot, but the cemetery
is much visited by Northern travellers, and the
register IN the superintendent lodge contains
many strange inscriptions besides the names of
the visitors. One lady asks forgiveness of God
for the murderer of her brother, who sleeps in
the cemetery. sentiments of passionate denun-
citation are more frequent. Occasionally a
man who was IN the stockade turEs up among
tue visitors. These men, whatever their nat
ural temper, the Superintendent says, can al.
most be distinguished by the effects Of fear,
dread, and vivid recollection, which come back
like shock into their faces as they again stand
| on the now quiet and Sunllt scene of their war
experiences.
in the cemetery the ground is of a general
level and the graves of the known and I'm.
known, properly separated, range and rows,
closely laid, as far as the eye can reach. There
are actually buried on this elevation l3,1l5
men. The soldier whose identity was preserv-
ed by his comrades is marked in his resting
place bv white marble stone rising eighteen
inches above the level OF the ground. 4 square
marble block with the word Unknown on il
is repeated about one thousand times in the
cemetery. There was no necessity for the con
tractor to swell his bill with mule bones in i'll
| ling up this burialplace. There were bones
and millions of bones; bones ready at hand
when he began his work to occupy him till
long after he was wearled with it and longed Ia
see it done The bodies of 1900 men who
persisted not where dcsth was neck and neck
with hfe,-on the battlcficld,-but in the com
para,ive o. security of prison walls
Part of the siocEade is still standing There
were two rows of trees,-onc inside the other
The outer row has fallen down, save for few
posts here and there, but a large part OF the in.
ner wall still stands Trees have grown up
around the old pen, and a thick growth of un-
derbrush now covers the site of the prison. No
| traces of the famous brook that ran through
/ the stnckade remain, nor the wonderful wells
dug by the prisoners. II i all now a mild
and peaceful section of country. Many Of the
soldiers IN the cemetery have handsome head
stones lifted to their memories by friends in
the North, and efforts are frequently made Il
have certain graves KEEP, green with flower:
= and shower.pOt"