The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-05-30

equipment. When go into the field Of active
service each about his neck piece of
tape and hung upon that tape there Is metal
tag which contains his name, the branch of the
service to which he belongs and his particular
regiment and company. This tag is made of
aluminium and the lettering is stamped into it.
1t is practically indestructibIe If is killed
In battle he may always be identified.
When the identity of the individual has been
established the department will communicate
with his relatives If they desire his remains,
these will be prepared for transportation to the
old home. They will be brought back to his own
people to be buried as they wish. All expenses
will be borne by the federal government. If the
relatives of the dead soldier sailor prefer
that he be buried in national cemetery they
may so order and the orders will be carried out
to the letter.
There are the men who have died in the Philip
pines for instance. None of these left to rest
in this foreign tropc land All eventually
sent back to the states. Relatives informed
of their coming. They may order the disposition
of the remains they fit. In there is
call for the remains Of the Philippine vet
eran, his body is inferred in the national
terry at San Francisco and duly marked.
During the Civil there were great numbers
of Confederate soldiers taken prisoners and held
in northern prisons. Many of these died in these
prisons, and many others, suffering from wounds
and disease, died in the hospitals of the Union
forces Two years ago the federal government
appropriated S2OO,0OO to mark the graves OF
these Confederate soldiers That money is
being expended. The task is practically com
peted The Confederate dead are thus being
honored in the land from which came their enc
mics II the monster conflict.
At many of the prisons the dead Confederates
were buried separately, and their graves were
marked with their names. In these cases the
graves are being permanently marked with head
stones Of design different from those used for
the Union troops, but in no way less imposing.
There is the cemetery at Elmra n Y, for
instance. The resting place of the Confederate
dead at that point is no less beautiful nor we'll
cared for than any of the national GENE
teries.
But in most instances it was found that the
dead had been buried in trenches as were most
of the dead both sides in that war. Here it
is impossible to identify the individual remains,
but the names of all the buried in given
trenches are to be found in the records of the
prison. In such cases one imposing monument
is erected over the spot and the names of all the
dead resting there inscribed upon it. Such
monument has been erected at Camp Douglas,
Chicago, and upon it are names of 1926 Confed-
crates. At Point Lookout the remains of
$500 prisoners who died and their resting place
has been marked by similar monument. The
is being followed at Tinrs Point,
N. j.; at Alton, Ill., at Camp Morton, Ind, and at
Camp Chase Columbus o. All such burying
grounds marked by Jan. l. 1912, and the
commission appointed for that purpose disbanded.
The federal government has taken action
toward marking the graves Of Confederate sol
ders other than those who died in northern pris-
and hospitals But throughout the south the
various organizations, such the United Con-
federate Veterans and the Daughters of the Con-
federacy have given ample recognition to the
men who died for the southern Their
bodies have been gathered in special cemeteries
monuments have been built in their honor and
their graves have been appropriately marked.
In the south on Memorial day there often
enacted scenes that more touching than
those in other sections, for there the veterans Of
both causes. those who the blue and those
who the gray, join hands in honoring the
military dead. Oftentimes the uniforms Of the
two causes, by in the very eventide
of life are in evidence and old animosities are
buried in realization of the vaor of both
batants and the fact that each fought for a cause
he deemed the right.