The Washington times., 1923-05-30
IN GRAY To
BE HONORED
BYNORTH
Graves Of FOG Southern Sol
diers Near Sandusky Are
Decorated Each Year.

is theirs annually today-Memorial
Day. The graves of these 206,
mostly Confederate officers of the
war which divided the Anion, col
lectively referred to as the Flower
of the Southern army" have come
to be Sandusky's own.
They are never forgotten.
When the first Memorial Day was
observed here the thoughts Of the
boys" Of the locality-then men
in their prime-turned to their
brothers of the "enemy'-the "boys"
who had worn the gray.
They're far from friends and
home, comrades" said the late Gen.
Isaac Foster Mack. orator of the
occasion. Let us remember them
as the valiant soldiers they were
the soldiers who gave their all
for the cause they espoused-and
honor them accordingly"
Flowers were plucked in the
dooryards of the dwellings Of
those boys in blue"-flowers which
later rested on the graves in the
Johnson's Island burying ground.
Custom Is Established.
And so a custom was established
that endures today-a custom in the
continuation Of which sons and
daughters, grandsons and grand
daughters Of the men who estab-
lished it are always active on the
morning of Memorial Day.
Bright and early today a boat put
out from Sandusky for Johnson's
Island.
Within the island burying ground
a prayer was said. hymn was
sung. Flowers were then strewn
upon the graves. A moment Of
meditation was followed by the bene-
diction. Then came the four-mile
journey back to Sandusky.
It is always so on the morning Of
Memorial Day in Sandusky.
Who are those Southern sons
who sleep in the little burying
ground on Johnson's Island?
Available records fail to disclose
the names of all. They do. how
ever, show that each man-and the
men were officers, with few excep-
tions-was brought to the lonely
island as prisoners of war between
the autumn Of 1852 and the early
spring of 1865.
Grave No. contains the remains
Of Col. J. e. Crugg, or Scruggs.
who commanded the Eighty-fifth
Virginia Regiment and for whom
taps" sounded March s, 1853.
In grave No. 2 rests Capt. e. J.
Tuggles, Company H, Thirty-fitth
Regiment, Georgia Infantry, VINO
died March 6, 1863.
The records do not show VINO
sleeps in graves 8, 4. 5, and Z,
their headstones bearing the single
word Unknown"
Tv1 No g lies buried Cant.
A. z. Upchurch, of the Fifty-fifth
North Carolina Infantry; in grave
No. 10, Lieut.. Col. Joel Barnett, OF
the Ninth Battalion, Louisiana
Cavalry; in grave No. 16, Capt. d.
r. Wells, First Alabama Cavalry;
in grave No. 10, Lieut.. ]. W.
Mullins, of the Fifteenth Arkansas
Infantry, and in grave No. Il,
Capt. r. D. Copas, Of the Sixth
Tennessee Infantry.
On down the list of known SOL
diers are names Of which not only
the Southland but the nation is
proud.
OF those in the graves Of the
"unknown''-and a third Of the POS
are graves of "unknown"-it can
be said that they were sturdy
young fellows, sons of Southern
mothers, in whose hearts there
may never have died the hope that
their boys" might return.
Cemetery Plot Purchase.
Through the efforts Of the mem
bership of Robert Patton Chapter,
United Daughters of the Confed-
eracy, of Cincinnati, needed money
was raised by subscription, and in
1908 the cemetery plot was pur-
chased by the chapter, thus insur-
ing it's retention to posterity as
"hallowed ground"
On June 8. 1910, a monument
was dedicated at the entrance to
| the burying ground, the first monu-
ment ever erected to the memory
OF Confederate soldiers in the
North. The United Daughters Of
the Confederacy supplied the funds,
raised by subscription throughout
the United States.
The unwilling Of the monument
was made the occasion Of ceremonies
| that attracted international atten-
ton. The late Gen. George w. Cor
don, the last surviving major gen.
eral Of the Confederacy and at the
| time commander -in-chief Of the
United Confederate Veterans, de-
| livered the dedicatory address. Prom
inent men and women Of the South
and the North met and fraterniZed.
Soldiers of the Confederacy and the
| Union clasped hands and forgot"
From the boat landing to the
island cemetery the Stars and
Stripes and the Stars and Bars were
carried side by side, respectively, by
William T. Brown, of Covington,
KY, a Confederate, and John G.
| Ellis, OF the Ohio Soldiers and
Sailors Home, Union veteran.
The monument unveiled by MS
Mary Patton Hudson, Of Cincin.
natl. daughter Of Col. Robert w
Patton, a West Virginia ranger
after whom Robert Patton Chapter,
United Daughters of the Confed.
eracy, was named, was designed
and executed by Sir Moses Ezekiel
soldier under Lee, and was do
mated by him.
Sir Moses, who was born in Rich
mond, Virginia, in 1914, was edu-
Gated at Virginia Military Institute.
| He was knighted by Queen Vic
toria in 1895, and known the world
over for his sculpture. The statue
of Stonewall jackson at Charles
/ ton, West Virginia, and the one of
| Thomas Jefferson at the University
| of Virginia are among his works.
The statue az the entrance to the
| Johnson's Island Cemetery repre-
sents a Louisiana Tiger" with
Ona hand clI1tcbip~ - ,,,,elxat ond