El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-10

, congress of S25O0 for the purposes OF
| gathering the remains of confederate
! soldiers buried in Arlington and in
various places in the District of Co
lumbia and collecting them at one
place in the national cemetery at Ar
| lingtOn.
How Graves Are Marked.
1t is claimed that George L. Rhine
hart, a soldier of the 23d Cor 26th)
North Carolina infantry, was the first
confederate interment made in Airing
ton. Many interments were made
afterWard of persons held to be "cltl-
zens in rebellion until as late as the
latter part of 1857. They were not all
confederate soldiers, a few being state
prisoners Of war who had been held
in the old capitol prison in Washing
ton In all, there were $40 persons
classed as confederates buried there
When, after the marking of the
graves of union soldiers, there was
surplus left from the appropriation.
part of it was used TO mark these
other graves CHASING them as rebels,
citizens. contrabands, prisoners of war,
etc, and over their graves were erect
ed plain marble headstOnes of similar
description for all as civilians, having
upon each only the number Of the
grave and the name Of the occupant,
so that there was nothing to distin-
gufSh the graves of the confederate
soldiers from the other classes.
This was the condition until IN the
70s when 241 were removed by the
states Of Virginia, North and South
Carolina, leaving 136. These were
scattered about the cemetery in irreg-
ular groups intermingled with the
graves of union soldiers and others
This was discovered about 1898, and
it was also found that there were
1913 confederate dead in the Soldiers
Home cemetery. These were collected
and marked with headstOnes bearing
the name. rank, company, regiment
and state of the soldier. In June, 1908,
the first memorial exercises were
held over these graves.
Mark Graves of Prison Dead.
Out of the reburial of the eOnfed-
crate dead at Arlington arose an in
vestigation conducted by the Charles
Broadway ROUss Camp of United
Confederate Veterans regarding con-
dition and location of the graves Of
the confederate prisoners who died in
the federal prisons and military hos
pitfalls in the northern states As a
result of this a bill was passed by
congress providing for the establish
ment OF a commission to ascertain the
location and condition of all of the
graves Of confederate soldiers who
died in federal prisons and military
hospitals in the north and who were
buried near their place of confine-
ment, and to acquire possession and
control over all grounds where such
prison dead are buried, which is not
now under control or in possession OF
the United States government
This commission was directed "tO
prepare accurate registers in tripli-
cate, one for the superintendent
office, one for the quartermaster gen
erals office and one for the war rec
ord office, confederate archives. of the
places of burial, the number of the
and state of every confederate soldier
so buried, by notification with the
cOnfed crate archives at Washington;
to cause to be erected over said graves
white marble headstOnes similar to
those placed over the graves OF the
confederate section in the national
cemetery at Arlington"
No less than SO.152 confederate SOL
diers are buried in different places
coming under the provisions OF this
act. 1t incurred no little difficulty to
search them ont nearly 20 years after
they were buried, but the work was
entered upon in a spirit of earnest
zeal and a large percentage of the
The task : now practically complete
and detailed account is being pre-
pared for the secretary of war, which
viii doubtless be published.
Monuments to the Unknown.
In some instances the graves could
not be actually located, but known
number of soldiers were buried IN a
certain place One old cemetery con-
tanning number Of confederate
graves was swept over by fire a num-
Der IF wears ago so that no traces Of
the graves were left In this case il
was impossible to erect separate head
stones, so a large rnorlment was
erected upon which were placed bronze
tablets inscribed with the names OF
the soldiers burisd in the cemetery
In many instances the citizens Of
localities in which confederate SOL
diers are buried nave caught the
spirit voiced by president Mckinley
and have rl'sed monuments by popu-
lar subscription In some other places
have been erected by-pub-
lie funds, bar 50 complete and thor
ough has Jean the work of locating
and caring for the graves of the con-
federates buried in the north that il
Is believed there are no longer any
unmarked confederate graves in the
northern states
Tomorrow: Motor Trucks"