Martyria; or, Andersonville PrisonHamlin, Augustus C. (Augustus Choate)
History
Martyria; or, Andersonville Prison
Hamlin, Augustus C. (Augustus Choate)
Andersonville Prison; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons
Since the close of the war, and since the time when the sketch of the
graveyard was taken, Colonel Moore, of the U. S. Quartermaster's
Department, has been to Andersonville, under orders from the Secretary of
War, and arranged the cemetery in a very acceptable manner. All of the
stakes were removed, and neat head-boards placed instead, with the names
of the dead properly painted in black letters. The ground has been cleared
up by this efficient officer, and the cemetery carefully laid out into
walks, adorned with flowers and trees. Colonel Moore, in his report to the
Quartermaster-General, writes the following account:--
"The dead were found buried in trenches, on a site selected by the rebels,
about three hundred yards from the stockade. The trenches varied in length
from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards. The bodies in the trenches were
from two to three feet below the surface, and in several instances, where
the rain had washed away the earth, but a few inches. Additional earth
was, however, thrown upon the graves, making them of still greater depth.
So close were they buried, without coffins, or the ordinary clothing to
cover their nakedness, that not more than twelve inches were allowed to
each man. Indeed, the little tablets marking their resting-places,
measuring hardly ten inches in width, almost touch each other. United
States soldiers, while prisoners at Andersonville, had been detailed to
inter their companions; and by a simple stake at the head of each grave,
which bore a number corresponding with a similarly numbered name upon the
Andersonville hospital record, I was enabled to identify, and mark with a
neat tablet, similar to those in the cemeteries at Washington, the number,
name, rank, regiment, company, and date of death of twelve thousand four
hundred and sixty-one graves; there being but four hundred and fifty-one
that bore the sad inscription, 'Unknown U. S. Soldier.'"
Extract from letters of the rebel Senator Foote, dated Montreal, June 21,
1865.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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