The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-02-03
FROM JERSEY
TO GEORGIA
Details Of the Monument Com.
missions Journey.

missions Journey.
The Party Left One Station Shear
Iy an Hour Earlier Than 1T arrlv-
ed'' Water Is Now Plentiful and
Good in the Andersonville Prison
Pen.
The commission to erect monument
to New Jersey soldiers, who died in the
prison pen at Andersonville, Ga, during
the Civil War, left New Jersey on
Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 10 a. M, on the
Royal Blue lire. The party consisted of
the commissioners, Chas. F. Hopkins of
Boonton, Hon. R. A. Clark of Point
Pleasant, and r B. McEwan, secretary,
of Whippany. Mrs. G. F. Hopkins, Wal
ter A. Young, VIM. r. Bailey and Hon.
w. S. Jackson, mayor of Belmar, N. j.,
accompanied the commission. Messrs.
Hopkins and jackson are ex- prisoners of
Andersonville.
The trip as far as Washington was with
out marked interest For number of
miles after leaving Washington the route
was along the famous Potomac river
and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. On
the right arose Sugar Loaf Mountain,
about sixty miles from Washington,
near which Mr.. Clark, one of the COM
missioners, was severely wounded. Old
log houses and whitewashed cabins dotted
the landscape.
At Harper's Ferry the location of the
old United States Arsenal was shown
and other points of interest were pointed
out. At this point the waters of the
Shenandoah and Potomac rivers join.
On the Maryland Heights side the water
is green in color, while the Potomac, on
the Virginia side, was of clayish yellow.
At Shenandoah junction the party was
transferred from the b. g. o. r. r. to
the Norfolk g. Western system. Charles
town was reached, and the place where
John Brown was jailed and hanged was
pointed out Berryville was next
reached, and the pike over which the
gallant Sheridan rode in his famous ride
to Winchester was also pointed out.
At Riverton the South and West
branches of the Shenandoah meet, and
at Forest Royal, where stop was made,
another battle ground was pointed out.
At Luray, Va, the party stopped over
for five hours, for the purpose Of visiting
the famous Luray Caverns. All the
that the next day would bring them into
of all when we arose in the morning a
heavy frost covered the ground, and at
all the watering stations icicles were
found hanging to water tanks.
At Wytheville, Va, the highest atti-
tude of the Allegheny Mountains was
reached, being some 2, 400 feet above sea
level. After crossing the mountains the
train dashed along to Bristol, Tenn.
where the time, changed from eastern to
central time; train arriving at lilo
a. M, and leaving 1915, nearly an hour
earlier than it arrived.
At Bristol we left the Norfolk 90 West
ern system and were switched to the
Southern Railway. The city of Bristol
is of quite some Importance, having the
distinction of being in two states, Vir-
ginia and Tennessee. The electric car
line which runs through the main street
to the depot has one rail in Tennessee
and the other in Virginia. One of the
train hands, on being asked in which State
they paid taxes, replied that he guessed
they did not pay any taxes, judging from
the number of passengers carried.
At 8 o'clock Thursday night the party
arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, where enter
tainment was secured at the Kimball
House. On Friday morning it left, over
the Central Georia Railroad, for Ander-
sonville, one hundred and sixty miles
away, which was reached at 1 80 that
afternoon.
After dinner at the Woman's Relief
Corps Club, the party went at once to the
National Cemetery, which lays about
one-half mile north of the old prison pen.
The site chosen for the New Jersey mon
ument is one of the best, if not the best,
in the entire cemetery, commanding a
position on an elevation, just to the right
of the main entrance to the cemetery,
plainly seen from any part of the ground.
During the evening a snOwstorm set in
and lasted until some time Saturday
morning-the very first of the season in
that section. Notwithstanding the bad
weather the party visited the old prison
accompanied by Captain Wilson, who
is manager of the clubhouse. The old
redoubts were visited, with the excep-
ton of the Star Fort, on the southeast
corner of the prison. Here and there
are the old wells dug by the pris-
oners who attempted to tunnel out of the
pen. Some of them were recognized by
two members of the party as the wells
and tunnels they helped to dig.
The spot where the Anderson raiders
were hung was pointed out, as was also
the deadhouse, suffers tent, the sections
occupied by the different prisoners and
other items of interest to the old ex.
prisoners.
The ground has changed somewhat
from its original appearance, due to the
heavy rains washing deep gullies in the
side of the hill and the heavy growth of
underbrush growing in the swamp and
the low ground. Since it was occupied
as a prison pen, where they were dying
off at the rate of eighty-ive men per day,
more from the need of water than from
any other cause, anumber of springs have
broken out, giving an unlimited supply
of pure, clear, sparkling water. Captain
Wilson takes deep interest in the his
tory of Andersonville, and the two ex-