The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-03-05
IDENTIFIED? :?

Some one has called our attention to
letter in the Cincinnati Enquirer of Feb
ruary 22nd., written by J. l.. Whiteside,
of Chattanooga Tennessee, regarding the
graves in the National Cemetery at that
place. 1t seems that Mr.. Whiteside stated
to an Enquirer correspondent that large
number of the graves could not be iden-
titled. This was denied by the local press,
and the Superintendent of the Cemetery.
the Enquirer, he says:
In unloading the cars, which often con-
tanned hundred of these boxes of bones,
many were broken open, in which case
they were placed back without any re-
gard to which box they came from, and
in many cases l found the jaw-bones of
horses or mules in with small portions of
human bones, which could not have been
mistaken as to where they originally be-
longed. 1t must also be remembered that
great many of these bodies came from
the battlefield of Chickamauga, having
been buried by the Confederate forces,
and had they had the time or been dispos
ed to mark individual graves, under the
circumstances such a thing was purely
impossible. do not wish at this late day
to get into newspaper controversy on
this subject, but what told the corre-
spondent on the top of Lookout Mountain
can be proved by evidence that would
fully satisfy any dislntereSted parties. l
can also prove that many of the bodies
were those of Confederates, delivered here
to the authorities merely to get the price
offered by the Government or its agents.
The Battalion to which we belonged
was sent out some time after the battle
>f ~ a11 70 Ir1rr
the field. The idea was to bury the bodies
at such depth that they would not be
plOwed up in the future, in case the graves
should become obliterated in so far as sur
face appearance went. Our recollection
now is that the limit in depth was twen-
ty-eight inches-no grave being allowed
to be of less depth than that. The bodies
had been, as general thing, slightly COW
cred with dirt, some were left lying just
as they had fallen. We buried more than
eight hundred men, and there was scarce
ly possibility of intelligent conjecture as
to whom many of them were. The cloth
ing had rotted from the bodies, as also
had the flesh, and there was nothing by
which to identify the bodies. In places
IL D6CdInt W Jul GWO VI luOlO
skeletons in the same grave, and in one
place two mounds were made, both con-
tanning some seventeen men. Many a
body was found where some poor fellow
had crawled several hundred yards from
the place of receiving his death-wound.
One, evidently an officer, was found under
pine bush, a long distance from the thick
~ Of ho Soh4 bo in,
state that it was next to impossible to
bury him at full length, and a hole was
dug-with no attempt at giving it the
shape of grave-and the body was liter
ally shoveled in. 1t is the greatest nom
sense to talk about identifying" great
many of these bodies.
We recollect distinctly an incident
which occurred at that time, which illus
trates to some extent the certainty of
this Identification. The Commander of
the Battalion, an Ohio man, was fine
representation of the Falstaffian style of
soldier-taking good care to keep out of
the way of the living, and in the way of
the dead soldier, especially if the latter
had ANYTHING of value-which would
son. One day our squad came upon a
Cavalry Sergeant and three or four men,
who had fallen in Il bunch, and while we
were digging away at the grave, with
spade. the Major rode up. One of the
dead men was lying upon his back and a
tooth in his head displayed gold plug.
We were ordered by the old scoundrel to
extract that tooth. We kicked, and step
ped back The Major then explained
that he might find tee dentist who had
put in that plug and thereby identify the
man. But we could not see it that way,
and defied arrest for disobedience of Or
ders, and were not arrested.
If you can imagine how bunch OF
bones may be taken up, in the midst of
dense wood, or in an old feld-Where there