The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-03-03
Mr.. FORAKER'S %BROADNESS
IN State and National Councils
His Influence Was For Pay
ing Suitable Honor To Con-
federate Dead Sleeping In
Northern Soil = Many Tar
Heels In EImira Graves

TO the Editor: June IL, 1912, II
attended the unwilling Of a bronze
statue of a Confederate private al
Camp Chase, near Columbus, 0, where |
we nave 2, $50 graves. The statue
is typical of the Confederate private,
his pants and coat ragged AM patch
ed, his toes peeped out from the we'll
worn shoes; he has a full canteen
and an empty haversack.
II was built by two Northern men.
I asked one Of the latter, Col. w. H.
Knauss. how he got suc an expensive
stone fence surrounding the four
acres Of cemetery. He said: when
Hon. j. +. Foraker was Governor of
Ohio. he sent a message to the Legis-
Iature, asking that they make an ap-
propriation, WHICH was DONE, $4,000
being the noun appropriated.
] said that when l lot home / would
write Senator J. b. Foraker at next
session Of Congress to try to secure an
appropriation to mark III 24,456
graves of C~onfederates who died in
Northern prisons. The was
passed without opposition, and o.
June Is, 1914, / made a visit to Ell
mira and enclosed your post caro- OF
our graves.
The Elmira prison was no open
ed until July, 1864, and 1900 of us
were transferred from Point ! ~okOut.
Md. The transfer not being COM
plete until December. 1864. -he war
ended April, 1865, yet there are 2,917
elaNes from the seven months, and
over two thousand died after ex-
change when General Grant modified
his order and said he would agree
10 the exchange of sick rOr sick, but
the surgeons must certify.
EnA-r Crapt Nod nrnuIn11CI
stopped the exchange, saying, lit wa:
cheaper to feed us than to tight
us.
II was in the 44th Virginia Regi
ment, General w. r. Jones brigade
Edward Johnson's division, n wa
captured by GeneraN Grant May IL
1864. General Grant crossed tn
Rapidan on May 4th and we had gu
first battle May 5th, when our Brig
~adier-General Jones was killed.
I'VE had continuous fighting unit
May 18th, when General Hancock as
saulted us in front with three CO
umns while we were in n Ger
eral Thomas Francis Meagher's Iris
Brigade broke our left and got in on
rear. killing many V~irginians an
North Carolinians after they ha
surrendered. Our entire division ha
dwindled to LOO men and all xii
ed or captured except seven on e.
IRENE right. We were carried
Point Lookout, Md and the prise
becoming overcrowded. the trarsf'
TO Elmira vas made, commencing
June. 1864.
Newspapers were cOntraband. AZ
as / stood by a LARGE monument ne'
our graves, June "A. 1914, ] slW
copper plate on one side giving Il
names OF forty-nine Confederate pr
orers killed in the Sohala tPennsy
vania) wreck on Erie Railway, Ju
IA, 1864, on the reverse side was t
names on copper plate of nlnete
guards Of the 18th Penn. killed
same wreck. All the names of t
killed are given. but the bodies we
mixed up so they could not be lde
uifted. l passed over the Erie Ra
way and this spot August L. 49,
yet { never knew this wreck occurr
until June IA 1913.
Many Tar Heels Among Captured
In the capture spoken Of were
great many North Carolinians. ano
stood shoulder to shoulder with ma
OF the boys and closed their eyes
the prison after death. l know
VIII surprise you when ] say, I
OF the 2,917 graves at Elmira, Il
1888 held bodies from North Ca
lima.
Mr.. Cay w. Holmes, of Elmi
vas Il young newspaper man WI
We were i'll prison and viewed
prison many times from an obser
tory built by an enterprising citiz
MO charged ten cents for a look
the Rebels The proprietor real
quite a harvest. for ii was well I'll
except in bad weather. Last year
fi"lmcs conceived the idea of &C
Viiiug a history of the prison. and
Ncrtised South for fl
men who served there. He has sc
iorty-onc statements showing
prison life in all its phases. and
pecially the burial of the dead. WI