The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-30
CONFEDERATE DEAD.
At Elmira-Marcus B. Toney Writes
 of the Northern Prison.

The Elmlra CN. Y) Advertiser, in re- cent issue contains an interesting ~ ~artlcIe in the way of reminlscence or prison fife from the pen of Marcus E. Iohey' the well known railroad man and eX- Confederate soldier of NashVlle. NIT. roney reached the prison at Elnlra Aug 2 1864 and left there July $, lSb). Ihe recollections of the old days were recalled by a recent visit to Elmira. MT. Toney's article follows: ,,,
 "When l left ny home in NashVllle' Tenn, for a visit east I promised my peo- ple l would stop at Elmira and report | the condition of the graves of our Conted- l crate dead buried there, so l arrived III | your city Aug, 10. after an absence or | thirty-siX years. While waiting for car | I met young man, R. H. Ker, Of your | city, who kindly consented to go with me to the cemetery, and introduced me to the keeper, Charles Abbott. who showed me a large chart hanging in his hall, which contained all the graves and the number of each. On a table under the | chart was a large book in which were enrolled alphabetically the names of the dead corresponding with the chart, and | the name, company, regiment and date or death. MT Abbott being busy. MT. ker | said he would point out the graves, which | were only a short distance. In going through the cemetery l pictured in my | mind the graves grown over with briars | weeds and thistles. Imagine my surprise | on beholding such a nice green, grassy | spoti Not a weed to be seen! With only a narrow path dividing, sleep the boys who wore the blue, and the only differ ence in the graves were the marble slabs of the blue where our wooden head boards had all routed away l thought MT. | Abbott gave special care to our graves, | knowing there were no hands to care for | them. As 1 stood by the graves of our fallen heroes, memory went back to the mothers of those days, who have nearly all passed over the river. thought or their widows, daughters and sisters, now the Daughters of the Confectionery, and thought how futile would be your ef- forts to mark. in marble the names oi
 our dead. It can only be done by the
 General Government.
 Old Prison Site.
 T went from the cemetery over to tho
 old prison site, near the Chemung River
 Your city had so encroached upon It
 could not have identified 1t but for the
 northeast and southwest stones, erected
 by Baldwin post in 1900. l reached FL
 mira prison Aug. 2. 1864, and left July s . 1865 I had charge of ward 36, which con tained some 300 prisoners. Where m!
 ward stood now stands the city pumping
 station, and the camp fronting on tn
 street is filled with residences Nea
 where the old cook-house was is now
 large nursery and in front of the ic
 houses Is where the tents stood that con
 tained the smallpox patients. l had tn
 Varioloid, and the doctor said l must g
 to the hospital. I thought first of tn | horrors over there, and next of the los , | of my nice suit of jeans. After some si' days sojourn there, with two of m; | bunk-mates who died with continent smal l 1 pox received orders to go take a bath away went my suit and I was clad in tn blue with long frock coat. While I wa | admiring my uniform the sergeant too l out his knife and commenced cutting ol my shirt. Hold on,' said l, don't dis figure my uniform He replied, Do yo l reckon l am going to leave you in thl | condition? You would walk out as one 0 our guards.
 Old Darkey Dead,
 ! "T was fortunate in my recent visit Il l meeting Postmaster M. M. Couklin, wh | was on special duty in the prison fo 1 some months and we talked over tn
 prison days. He told me the old darky
 named John w, Jones died only feV