Dorence Atwater Dorence Atwater ( February 3 , 1845 – November 26 , 1910 ) was a Union Army soldier , merchant , entrepreneur , and United States Consul to Tahiti . He was born and raised in Terryville , Connecticut , the third child of Henry Atwater and Catherine Fenn Atwater . He was well - educated , and at 16 he joined the Union Army to fight in the American Civil War . In July 1863 , Atwater was captured and found himself among the first batch of prisoners at Andersonville , Georgia . There , he kept a list of the dead and made a secret copy of his own , which allowed him , in cooperation with Clara Barton , to mark the graves of otherwise unknown soldiers . After persecution and prosecution by a small clique in the Federal Government , he was released from prison by President Andrew Johnson and sent to the Seychelles as a 23 - year - old United States Consul . From there , he was sent to Tahiti to be consul there . He met and married Princess Moetia " Moe " Salmon , and was successful in shipping , pearl fisheries , and many other enterprises . He was a proficient businessman . He worked with leper s and other charities and was beloved by the Tahitian people , who called him " Tupuuataroa " ( Wise Man ) . He died in San Francisco on November 28 , 1910 , and in 1912 his body was returned to Tahiti , where he was given the only Tahitian royal funeral ever to have been awarded a non - royal . He is buried beneath a magnificent 7000 lb . marker , next to his wife of 35 years . His headstone bears the inscription , “ He builded better than he knew perchance he might awake one day in surprise to find he had wrought a monument more enduring than brass . ” Early life . Dorence Atwater was born in Terryville , Connecticut in 1845 , the third child of Henry Atwater and Catherine Fenn Atwater . He was clever , had a natural ability for getting into scrapes , was excellent with numbers , and had calligraphic penmanship . Despite his middle child personality , he was raised with ethics and values that became the foundation of his entire life . As a child he worked as a store clerk due to his handwriting and aptitude for numbers . He designed and planted a garden for a neighbor , and for this , too , he had a natural gift . His sister Fanny once said of Dorence ' s mischievousness , “ Whenever he and I were playing at something we weren ’ t allowed , invariably I got caught while Dorr simply vanished into thin air . ” Entering the Civil War . Only 16 years old when the American Civil War broke out , Dorence listened to a Union recruiter of German nationality . The man regaled him with tales of the glory and romance of war , and promised Dorence he would be like a father to him , keeping him safe . Unfortunately , this stand - in father was among the first to be killed in the war . Too young to serve , Dorence lied about his age and joined anyway . Although Henry hauled his disobedient son to Hartford to confess his lie , it was too late . Dorence badly wanted to go to war . For over two years Dorence was a scout , delivered important messages , and was involved in many battles . He wrote to his father telling him how his outfit had taken out a bridge . “ Imagine , ” he said , “ hundreds of men , each with his canteen full of turpentine . He pours out the turpentine as he gallops across the bridge , and last man across throws the lit match . ” Prisoner of War . One morning just before dawn , Dorence was exercising his horse out in the woods when he came upon two men in Union uniforms . Their mannerisms and the looks on their faces didn ’ t sit well with Dorence and he began to reach for his revolver , tied under his horse ’ s blanket . Dorence ’ s intuition about the men was correct ; they were Confederates in Yankee uniforms , and they got the drop on him . The horrendous battle at Gettysburg had just occurred . The prison named Camp Sumter , known to the prisoners as Andersonville and to Dorence as " hell itself " had just opened . Andersonville had a quota of 400 prisoners a day . They picked up Dorence on their way through Richmond , and so he was among the first prisoners to be marched there . Dorence was ill when he arrived , and was put into the prison hospital , such as it was . Upon recovering , his handwriting was discovered again and he was given the task of keeping the " Death List , " just that — a list of those who had died at the camp . One copy was for the Confederates and one , he was told , would go to the Federal Government . He suspected the Federal Government would never see this copy , and was correct in that assumption . He decided to keep his own list , hidden among the papers of the ones belonging to the Confederates . All the while Dorence knew that if the prison leader Captain Wirz discovered what he was doing , he would be hanged . When he was finally released from Andersonville , the Death List was completed . He wrote , “ People are dying all around me . I can do nothing to save them , but I can let their families know exactly where they are buried - - where to put flowers and pray . ” He dropped the huge list into his cotton laundry bag and walked right through the Confederate lines with it . The Assassination of Lincoln and Henry Atwater ' s Death . Shortly after Dorence arrived home , he pulled the Andersonville Death List out of his bag and showed it to his father and siblings . There had been rumors that he had folded it and slipped it in the inner pocket of his coat . But as his brother Richard wrote , “ First , the Union coats had no inside pockets , second , Dorence had no coat , and third , the huge , thick list was not folded . ” Two days later , Dorence came down with diphtheria , , and scurvy . His flesh was literally dying , and so was he . People rarely survived even one of these diseases , but Dorence did . Three weeks later , he was thin and weak , but on the mend . He had just received a telegram requesting him to come to Washington D . C and bring the List . In his youthful naiveté , he was certain they wanted to publish the Death List . Dorence ' s best friend Jim Terry Jr . helped him and took him to the train station by the Terry family carriage . On the train , word came through that President Lincoln had been shot and was dying . Washington D . C . was in chaos and utter grief , and Dorence was still quite weak . Now he was trapped in Baltimore until further notice . To add grief and guilt to what he was already feeling , a telegram came from home notifying him that his father , who had been the only one to nurse him through his illnesses , had diphtheria and was dying . He returned home at the first possible opportunity . His father died that night . After handling the funeral and the added grief of finding homes for the younger children who were now orphans , he returned to Washington to begin work as an intern . Dorence was barely 20 years old . He had been offered a job as an intern after a less than honest government clique confiscated the Death List . In order to take this position , he was told he had to enlist in the General Service . Intensely opposed to doing this , he realized that at least he ’ d be close to the List — and he had young siblings to support . He made the decision to stay close to his friends and even closer to his enemies , which he sensed these men were . The men hemmed , hawed , stalled , and lied to him ; still , nothing happened with the List until one day he looked up from his hotel post office desk at the wall , and there was exactly what he ’ d been praying for : a general notice from the great Clara Barton . She had the means to mark the graves , but no names with which to mark them . Dorence had the names and no means . He paid Miss Barton a visit and , stumbling over his words in awe of her , he told her what she needed to know . That visit was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Dorence Atwater and Clara Barton . General Service and Courtmartial . Months went by and still the government had not published the List . Meanwhile , Dorence and Clara were receiving thousands of inquiries about loved ones who had not returned . With time the List became old news in Dorence ’ s office and nothing had yet been done about it ; it was available to anyone who worked there . Dorence had only leased the List to the government and the lease was long expired . Dorence took the List since it was the only copy that wasn ’ t short thousands of names and smudged beyond recognition . Clara had already arranged the trip to Andersonville with Dorence for the purpose of putting markers on the graves . President Lincoln had approved this action before his death . Dorence took the Death List and traveled via boat with Barton , Dr . James Moore , and forty - two headboard carvers . Upon discovering Dorence ’ s original List was missing from Washington , the government clique sent a messenger to Andersonville to bring it back . Dorence " accidentally " handed him the copy that the Confederates had kept so carefully — thousands of names missing , smudged , and generally unusable . The messenger never noticed . He went back to Washington carrying the Confederates ’ useless list , while Dorence and Clara guarded the original with their lives . While the courier never noticed , the people who had sent him did . When the work was done , Clara and Dorence erected a flag and they and all the workers stood around it to sing the Star Spangled Banner . The two of them wrote reports which can to this day be found with what is known as The Atwater List . It is still available through the Andersonville National Historic Site . Upon return to Washington D . C . , Dorence refused to tell the clique where his List was . They were breaking their contract , and the 20 year old was not going to let them profit by selling news of death to already mourning families . They tore his hotel room apart and looked everywhere they could think , except the one place his father had taught him to hide things — in plain sight . Dorence had hid the List at the house of Clara Barton . The head of the clique gave Dorence a choice to either tell them where the List was or be courtmartialed . Upon telling them he needed further consultation to decide , they stepped in front of the door , put Dorence in ankle chains and marched him through town to be taken to Old Capitol , a prison which housed the worst criminals . Atwater was placed under arrest and immediately taken to be court martialed . He was given twenty minutes , no defense , a dishonorable discharge , and a march in shackles through the streets of Washington . The penalty for refusing to reveal the location of the true List amounted to a life sentence . Clara Barton , knowing very well Dorence would not be able to last even a month , once again arrived at Dorence ' s aid . She consulted with President Andrew Johnson . Suddenly , Dorence had a general pardon . Later when Johnson realized Atwater ' s intelligence and will to stand up for what he believed was right , Dorence found himself training to be the U . S . Consul to the Seychelles Islands . U . S . Consul to Seychelles . Dorence went to Hartford with Clara to say goodbye to the many friends he had there . People who had been in the Seychelles assured him the weather there would be good for his health . Unfortunately , the weather did not end up helping . The Seychelles were almost constantly rainy . As Dorence put it , “ It ’ s as if someone greases the clouds until the rain just slides out . ” While working as Consul in the Seychelles , Dorence received a rare invitation to India to be an honored guest of the prince . Dorence was gaining influence in his world . He sailed the Indian Ocean on a whaler and was met by the 26 year old prince . An extended visit did wonders for Dorence ' s health and he met many fascinating people . Mr . " Throck " Throckmorton and a young man using the name Harry Blanchard — one of the original Christy ’ s Minstrels — became good friends for Dorence on the trip back to the Seychelles . Together , they returned to Dorence ’ s home , which he called his " shebang " in reference to the accommodations at Andersonville . Finding Dorence ’ s steward gone and no food in the house , the three went out , bought bread and sardines , and " did away with them in record time , ” according to Dorence . U . S . Consul to Tahiti . After three years , Dorence was sent to be Consul to Tahiti . It was love at first sight , both for him and the people of the Society Islands . He earned praise for his work , he made friends easily , and he loved working with the lepers . Few people at this time understood how difficult it was to catch the disease . Dorence did understand , and after everything he ’ d been through , he wasn ’ t afraid of much anymore . He met and fell in love with Princess Moetia Salmon , who had been educated in France and England . They were married in 1875 , and brought joy to the islands with their senses of humor , entrepreneurship , and care of the less fortunate . Princess Moetia , or " Moe " as they called her , was the sister of Queen Marau , the consort of King Pōmare V of Tahiti . The Atwaters had a home in San Francisco as well as in Tahiti . Unfortunately , their San Francisco house stood on Market Street and while they were vacationing in Mexico , the great earthquake of 1906 occurred . In order to create a firebreak , Market Street had to be demolished by explosives and with it , the Atwater home . In their house was the original Death List , the one Dorence had copied at the risk of his young life . It never occurred to him that the Smithsonian or Andersonville itself would one day dearly love to display his hard work . Death and legacy . Through the years , Dorence had done his mission with the List , established a shipping line , pearl fishery , and worked with the poor and sick all while suffering bouts of illness and severe asthma attacks . In 1908 , he and Moe made a Fourth of July visit to Terryville . In November 1910 , his youngest brother Francis received a letter reading , “ If you want to see me alive again , come out to San Francisco for a visit . ” Francis had just returned from a trip to the Northwest , and didn ’ t feel like taking the train from Connecticut to San Francisco , but his love for his brother took over his desire to stay home . He found Dorence and Moe in their apartment at the Hotel Normandie , where they had lived since the earthquake . Dorence was up and around , feeling good , and they spent several days chatting over childhood pranks and memories . Francis had noticed that Dorence ’ s letters had been difficult to read — that the beautiful penmanship was being lost to weakness . But to see him now , Francis was convinced Dorence was simply lonesome for someone from home . They had a good time , and Francis departed . The day after he arrived home , Dorence ’ s last letter arrived , written so weakly Francis could barely make it out . Dorence Atwater , aged 65 , died the next day , November 26 , 1910 , in San Francisco . Several times , Dorence and Moe had tried to return to Tahiti on their ship , " Tahiti , " and each time he became so ill he had to stay . His dream of “ passing over the Great Divide ” in his beloved adopted land was not to be . He was interred in San Francisco while the royals of Tahiti planned to have his body returned . Moe sat with his casket for 3500 miles on their ship , to be greeted by nearly every person on the island . He was the first non - royal to be given a royal funeral . He was beloved and mourned , and is buried beneath a 7000 lb stone . On one side is carved “ Tupuuataroa ” ( Wise Man ) . On the other , “ He builded better than he knew that one day he might awake in surprise to found he had wrought a monument more enduring than brass . ” Princess Moe died in 1935 at age 87 , and is buried next to him .