The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-05-19
THE CONFEDERATE DEAD ON JOHN
sON,s ISLAND.

Orleans Daily States G
There are some old Confederates in 4
New Orleans still living who have a
gloomy recollection of Johnson's
leland. in Lake Erie, the principal y
military prison at the North for South q
ern officers during the war. Louisiana t
had many gallant but unfortunate sons /
who passed many long weary days on !
that cold, bleak ,inhospitable island. IL
is now reported that the graves OF the
three hundred Confederates who dled {
there are neglected, the headboards are
fallen or gone, and the lettering upon
| those remaining we'll nigh obliterated.
| A movement is on foot to place the
ground in presentable condition.
The movement, we trust, will ripen
into full fruition. The graves of the
heroic dead among us are annually de-
corated and solemn ceremonies as often
give evidence of gratitude and rever-
ence. Calling upon them, were they
able to respond, we who survive would
be told-We rest at home among
kindred and friends; seek out those
/ who died among our enemies and do
4 honor to their graves.
The writer of the paragraph quoted
was, perhaps, as was the present writer,
a prisoner on Joknson's Island.
Gloomy recollections of that cold,
bleak and inhospitable island come I'M
). hidden at our cotemporary's suggestion
in honor of the dead Confederates
slumbering in its black, waxy soil.
4 But memory is not unaided in supply
n ing record of the events transporting
during the six months of our imprison-
q ment under the rigid prison regulations
o of Major Pearson, commandment. A
i. little diary, kept the while, now lies
Ie before us, worm-eaten in tho binding,
II a truthful record of what then daily
D. TRANSFERRED.
" Turning to the little book referred
as to, we copy the 10th and 18th pages
8, Friday, august 8, (1s62)
lie Lieutenant Gibson, of the 18th Ark
TO ansas regiment, was most inhumanlS
m and atrociously murdered tonight by
- one of the sentinels. Lieut. G. was go
% ing to his quarters, and was ordered
* back when ne had almost reached
Fix them. For not strictly obeying the or
n der he was instantly shot, falling at tn
,ss steps of the block [buildingl in front c
80 the one in which he staid. Here he la
Nv for several minutes,-no one bein
ed permitted to approach him,-until tn
u.s. officer of the day arrived, when th
Re- Lieutenant was carried inside tn
na building, expiring a few minutes aftel
wards, without having uttered wore
OF The utmost indignation prevaile
ve- among the prisoners in consequence
le- this most cowardly act of savage crue
nd ty, which we are not permitted
=, doubt will meet the sanction of TT
nc Federal Major Pearson commanding
oor GThis assumption was verified in tt
Subsequent promotion of the sentinel
.es. be corporal.-ED. TELL
al. Poor Gibson one thousand officer
who, it is safe to assert will infiuen
ON the acts hereafter of not less than 100
vio- Confederate soldiers, will abundant
ept avenge his untimely death-so that
,lti- deed, he will not have persisted in val
lese Further along in thex9ttle diary ju
nay quoted from, we find the followil
we touching memento of the sad eve
the narrated in the foregoing extract. t
iced writer ofthe lines quoted and now fl
gins given to the public, was lieutenant
as ordinance, was for some years anter
re- an actor, and was, we think, W
known by many old citizens of N
Orleans. He was, as Will be seen,
inferior writer of verse and no theor
ical Confederate, and he was polish
""e' gentleman
The following elegant lines w
Iain' written by Lieut.. Z. u. Tidmarsh,
ex- Tenn, upon the burial of Lieut.. G
lean son, of Arkansas, who was inhuma
the murdered by Yankee sentinel
lions The oficer's Funeral in Prison.
$50 No military requiem grand
nave Swells round his lonely bier;
not No muffied drum, no mourning band
onr Attend the warrior here
as All funeral pomp to him IS denied
IF No fife or trumpet loud,
a., No guard of honor by his side,
'o'' No banner for his shroud.
No trophies won In daring fight,
A1or,, His Cofiin rude.