USA > Alabama > History of the First Regiment, Alabama Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. > Part 11
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Reminiscences and Incidents. 119
special service, and with authority and orders to detail two non- commissioned officers to assist him in his duties. He had al- ready detailed one (McLean), he lacked another and promptly detailed me. This would give another furlough of ten days at home. It had not been fifteen hours since the young lady with a pack of cards had foretold this! Was there ever a more re- markable coincidence! With me the vexatious question was what to do with Ardis, for he was in total ignorance of my hav- ing been detailed. I had to leave him, an inexperienced youth, alone in a strange city. Would it be better to see him myself, tell him that I had to leave him, and try to reconcile him to his fate; or would it be better to steal away from him and leave him to solve his own problems. I wanted to pursue the former course, my friends were decidedly of the opinion that it would make matters ten times worse. So we stole away from him. About sundown that evening we left on the train for Alabama. I could not get Ardis off my mind, could not quiet my. con- science. When he learned of all the particulars he was greatly hurt with me, but after reflection justified me, and approved of my course in doing so.
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CHAPTER VIII.
DEAD OF THE FIRST ALABAMA REGIMENT AT MADISON, WIS .; and MRS. ALICE WHITING WATERMAN.
In another place I have spoken fully of our prison life in 1862. Here I shall pay a slight tribute to the brave men and boys of our command who fell in the first flush of the struggle, almost before the issues of the war had been fully presented, or before the combatants settled down to the grim years of sacrifice and achievement before them.
The following is a list of Confederate dead buried in the Confederate cemetery at Madison, Wis., one hundred and five of whom belonged to the First Regiment Alabama Volunteers, C. S. A., with company, regiment and date of death in 1862, reported to the Wisconsin State Historical Society by James R. Stuart, October, 1893.
H. Falks, Company D, May 16. J. W. Gilmore, Company C, May 25. W. M. Ingraham, Company C. May 16. Samuel Coon, Company D, May I. Isham Crew, Company D, May 26. J. F. Smith, Company K, May 16. F. N. Hood, Company I, May I. Lee Calloway, Company E, May 16. T. H. Lochridge, Company D, May I. Henry Lloyd, Company I, June 12. Pierce Register, Company E, May 16. J. V. Stovner, Company C, May 16. H. J. Stoner, Company D, May 7. W. Moore, Company H, May 27. John Wilkes, Company I, May I. David Benedict, Company E, June 12. WV. H. Hadden, Company B, May 24. J. H. Strickland, Company C, May 10. (168)
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Dead at Madison, Wisconsin ; Mrs. Waterman.
J. B. Ubry, Company I, June 12. J. H. Beasley, Company G, May 24. W. J. Bard, Company C, May 16. John Larron, Company E, April 28. J. A. Mauerief, Company K, June 7. W. T. Eamed, Company E, May 23. S. T. Oliver, Company C, May 14. D. D. Bird, Company I, May 6. I .. Kniebe, Company C, June II. Charles Mettier, Company -- , May 23. Robert Riley, Company D, May 16. Henry Albritton, Company B, May 7. Joshua Browder, Company C, May 6. Davis Mckibbon, Company F, June II. B. F. Harrow, Company H, June 12. Benager Peacock, Company D, May 24. B. F. Mansell, Company G, May 14. John Brandon, Company H, May 7. Ham Infinfer, Company D, April 2. Henry Glisson, Company D, May 3. Ed Bates, Company G, April 21. W. B. Bracken, Company I, May 27. S. M. Barber, Company C, May 22. E. Branning, Company C, May 12. Harvey Meader, Company F, May 3. J. M. McCaul, Company G, May II. G. W. Spears, Company B, May 19. T. D. Fulton, Company G, May 10. J. K. Jones, Company H, May 3. J. J. Farmer, Company -, July 3. R. W. Clifton, Company G, June 13. John R. Holt, Company I, May 24. T. T. Demmins, Company I, May 10. . Company D, April 30. W. L. Peacock, Company D, June 23. G. S. Marquis, Company C, May 10. J. W. Andrews, Company E, June II. -, May 6. J. M. Edwards, Company E, May 16. S. J. Sager, Company D, May 23. Thomas Essry, Company H. May 13. (169)
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
J. G. Dawson, Company I, May 6. N. T. Reardon, Company I, April 30. W. C. Mathews, Company E, April 28. Thomas Mims, Company D, May 6. N. J: Wicks, Company C, April 30. William Greene, Company H, June 4. P. L. Drinkard, Company B, May 23. A. L. Spears, Company B, May 13. N. Hollister, Company H, April 30. F. L. Meucham, Company H, May 30. J. J. Gilmore, Company F, May 13. J. T. Morrison, Company C, May 5.
T. C. Adams, Company K, April 30. J. E. Henry, Company K, May 30. Wm. Smith, Company D, May 23. C. A. Hollingsworth, Company E, May 12. Thomas Cooper, Company F, June 3. J. H. Ross, Company I, May 30. J. R. White, Company I, May 3. Wm. Pipkens, Company D, April 30. W. Christwood, Company L, May 29. D. M. Scott, Company F, May 30. F. Boykind, Company G, May 13. John Braden, Company D, May 5. Joshua Browder, Company G, May 30. Robert Taylor, Company D, May 22. J. M. Wylie, Company H, April 28. Joel Lodwick, Company D, April 28. R. S. Castlebury, Company I, May 29. , Company B, April 2. M. Grentham, Company D, May 5. C. Sissonly, Company C, April 2. J. P. Jarnegan, Company F, May 29. J. H. Thuwers, Company G, May 19. Isaac Taylor, Company H, May 5. Thomas Kaumater, Company H, May 3. J. F. Codrick, Company H, April 20. William Brooks, Company G, April 27. Edward Smith, Company E, May 17. W. J. Russell, Company E, May 4.
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Dead at Madison, Wisconsin ; Mrs. Waterman.
William Ham, Company F, April 20.
Thomas Ostine, Company E, May 27.
N. Smart, Company C, May 19. Samuel DePuster, Company G, June 19. Samuel Willis, Company H, May 25.
HISTORY OF THE CARE AND CUSTODY OF THE SACRED SPOT WHERE THE HEROES SLEEP.
The story of the care and custody of the graves of the fore- going, by Mrs. Alice W. Waterman should be given here, as a tribute to her heroic conduct and devoted attention. Fortu- nately I am able to do this through a report made by a com- mittee of the Confederate Veterans' Association of Washing- ton, D. C., extracts from which are here given. There is no survivor of our regiment who does not have for Mrs. Water- man a feeling of the profoundest gratitude and love.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
Hall of the
CONFEDERATE VETERANS' ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON, D. C., CAMP 171, U. C. V.,
December 2, 1897.
Comrades : The committee appointed to report as to what steps should be taken in respect to the 139 dead Confederate soldiers who lie buried in Forest Hill Cemetery at Madison, Wisconsin, have to report that they have investigated the records, so far as they are accessible, in reference to this matter and find the facts to be as follows :
The operations around New Madrid, Missouri, and Island No. Ten, were carried on by about 7,000 Confederates on the one side, and about 28,000 Federal troops on the other. Be- sides these land forces the Federal army was assisted hy a large flotilla of gunboats upon the Mississippi. It is not intended here to detail even briefly the operations which resulted in the capture of Island No. Ten, after an unusually severe siege of about six weeks, and after the greater portion of its garrison
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
had evacuated it. Those who desire to read at length the mil- itary history of that memorable occasion, will find the official reports of both sides in the 8th Volume of the War Records, Series 1. It is sufficient to say here that the Confederate forces upon the Island and on the mainland numbered about 7,000, of which about 3,000 were on the island.
In the volume of War Records just referred to, at page 94, the strength of the Union forces operating against the island, seven days before its capture, is officially stated at 18,547 officers and men present for duty. In the same volume, page 795, the official return of the Confederate force upon the island, present for duty, is 2,385 men on the 21st of March, which was seventeen days previous to its capture. When it was seen that the island must inevitably be taken, steps were begun to evacuate it, and accordingly on the night of the 6th of April, during a heavy rainstorm, about 6-7ths of the men succeeded after spiking most of the guns, in getting off in boats and rafts, and made their way to the Confederate lines. This was done, however, only after the disaster of New Mad- rid, where about 2,500 of our men were compelled to surrender to a force of about 15,000 cf the enemy. The dispatch of Ad- miral Foote to the United States Secretary of War, dated April 8th, and announcing the capture on the previous day of Island Number Ten, states the number that surrendered to him to be "17 officers and 368 privates, besides 100 of them sick." Of these five hundred men, nearly all were of the First Ala- bama Regiment; one hundred and fifty only of that regiment having succeeded in getting on the island, the others remain- ing until it was too late. The First Alabama was commanded by Col. Isaiah G. W. Steedman. That he was a gallant officer, and his men among the very flower of their native State, the official reports alluded to clearly show. The regiment was, as its number indicates, probably the first regiment formed in the State at the breaking out of the war. We all know that in ev- ery Southern State, at that time, the men of these first regi- ments-the men who shouldered their guns at the first sound of the tocsin of war, were always among the best soldiers of the Confederacy. Consequently we are not surprised to find the First Alabama frequently mentioned in the official reports of the transaction on Island Number Ten. Gen. Leonidas Polk, in a letter announcing to Gen. McCown the Confederate
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Dead at Madison, Wisconsin; Mrs. Waterman.
Commander of the island, that he had sent the First Alabama to reinforce him, speaks of the men as being among the best of Bragg's army. After the surrender of this little garrison to a force forty times its superior in numbers, they, with a large number of other Confederate prisoners, were sent North. A part were sent to Camp Douglass, near Chicago, and a smaller portion, which included these men of the First Ala- bama, were sent to Camp Randall near Madison, Wisconsin. They remained there, however, but about three months, when they were sent elsewhere, and it is believed were shortly after- wards exchanged. During this period of three months, 139 of these men died, 110 being of the First Alabama. Their deaths were undoubtedly the results of the suffering and con- stant exposure they had undergone in their heroic defense of Island Number Ten, which during the siege was constantly flooded in consequence of freshets of the Mississippi river, the men being often compelled, as the official reports state, while manning the guns of the batteries, to stand for hours knee deep in the chilly waters of the river, for the siege was during the month of March. (See the report of Gen. Trudeau com- manding Artillery at Island Number Ten, March 29, 1862, Vol. 8, Series 1, War Records, page 150.) Elsewhere we have given the names, of these dead heroes. As they died, sometimes at the rate of ten a day, they were laid side by side in a plot of ground on the edge of Forest Hill Cemetery, and that spot soon became known to the people of Madison, Wis- consin, as "Confederate Rest." And rest it was indeed, to these poor fellows, who, succumbing to the hardships of war, laid them down in their last sleep, martyrs to the cause they loved. For nearly five years after the war the site of those graves was almost forgotten. Among strangers who could not be expected to sympathize with the sentiments which had imbued these boys in gray and led them to offer their lives upon the altar of their country, it would perhaps, in time, have be- come completely obliterated but for the fact that there came to live at Madison, Wisconsin. a widowed, southern-born woman -MIrs. Alice W. Waterman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She learned of this lonely little corner in Forest Hill Cemetery and expended of her means to beautify it. How she did it, let the people of Madison, whose sympathies she awoke for these, our dead comrades, tell us, as we find it in the Wisconsin State
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
Journal of May 29, 1885, published at Madison, and from which we now quote :
"The knowledge of the fact that many of her countrymen lay neglected and almost forgotten among strangers at the North, far removed from the homes of their youth and the loving care of those to whom they were near and dear, touched a tender spot in the heart of the lady, and she resolved to do what lay in her power to beautify the resting place of the strangers. She heaped up neat mounds over each grave, planted trees in the plat and an evergreen hedge along the east and south sides, cleared away the weeds, trim- med the grass, and had a rude board fence, which has since been removed, constructed around the plat. Then she secured head boards, had them appropriately inscribed with the names of the dead, their company and regiment, as well as the date of death.
"Her work was commenced during the time Gen. Lucius Fair- child was Governor, and that gentleman displayed the charity of a true soldier for a fallen enemy, by doing various little acts of kindness tending to aid Mrs. Waterman in the work which her sympathetic nature inspired. Gov. Washburn, who succeeded Gov. Fairchild, went a step further than his predecessor in office, for upon a Memorial Day, when he was the State's Chief Executive, he led a party of old Union soldiers into Confederate Rest, and with his own hands strewed floral offerings upon the graves of the boys in gray. This custom has been generally followed since it was established. Gov. Washburn was the first Chief Executive in any of the Northern States to exhibit such charity, but his conduct has since been very generally emulated where Union and Confederate soldiers lie buried together. Hon. B. J. Stevens, while acting as Mayor of Madison last year, showed great kindness to Mrs. Water- man, and offered to assist her in any manner he was able, while the Cemetery Commissioners-Gen. C. P. Chapman, Deming Fitch and Darwin Clark-have of late years been very thoughtful in their attentions.
"Mrs. Waterman has an affectionate way of referring to the buried Confederates, whose graves she guards so tenderly, as 'My boys.' She says she planted the hedges around the plat to 'keep the cold wind off my boys,' and it affords her pleasure to know that when the sun rises in the morning, it shines warmly in the faces of 'my boys.' She planted white lilac amid the graves, be- cause they will blossom even if she is 'not there to watch them,'
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Dead at Madison, Wisconsin; Mrs. Waterman.
and her object in setting out two butternut trees was, as she puts it, so 'that the children will go there to gather the nuts, and thus make the place more pleasant by their presence.' "
Closely adjoining this cemetery of our dead comrades lies a cemetery of Federal dead, and we are informed that for many years it has been the custom on Decoration day to hold mem- orial exercises in the open spaces between these two burial spots, and at their conclusion to decorate the graves of Federal and Confederate dead alike. For this beautiful and touching tribute accorded by Union soldiers to their one-time foemen we tender our full-hearted acknowledgments, and say to them that they have, by their kindly remembrance of our comrades, given a fresh illustration to the saying of the ancient Tusculan that :
"Whoever is brave should be a man of great soul."
But if those who were once our enemies have through all these years not forgotten our dead, is it not time that we should remember them? Is it not time that we place above those lit- tle mounds, which the coming years must eventually waste away, a more enduring memorial than the perishable flowers placed there by the impulsive hands of friendly strangers ?
Mrs. Waterman died on the 13th of September last, (1897), at Madison. At her funeral was delivered the beautiful ser- mon, an extract from which is appended to this report. We have learned that it was the ambition of this good lady for over twenty-five years of her life to some day see a monument of granite erected in the midst of these graves whereon should be carved the names of these dead soldiers of the South, but her efforts were futile. She, herself, by the vicissitudes of for- tune, had lost her entire means, and the people of her native land were poor and struggling under adverse circumstances to recuperate their broken fortunes, so the monument was never erected, but she continued to see after and care for the graves. And now that she is dead, who shall see to it that this monu- ment be built? Who shall see to it that this spot where these men lie, the furthest north of any of our buried comrades, shall be marked with a token to all who shall see it that we have not forgotten our dead? As Southern men we should hide our heads in shame if, after knowing the facts which we now know, we should fail to see to it that this monument be built with the names upon its face, not only of these men who lie buried
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
so far away from their own southland, and for love of which they fought and suffered and died. but the name also of this noble Southern woman, Alice We erman, the patriotic care- taker of their graves for so many years, and who now sleeps with them, a heroine among heroes.
Comrades, your committee have to report in conclusion that this Association having had the honor to be the first among the Associations of ex-Confederate soldiers and sailors, to have this matter brought to their attention, should be among the first to take immediate steps toward the work of procuring means to erect this monument, and thereby perpetuate the names of these men and of the noble woman who for so long a time had faithfullly kept green their graves. Your com- mittee, therefore, submit for adoption the following resolu- tion :
Resolved, That the committee having in charge the matter of the Confederate dead who lie buried in Forest Hill Cemetery at Madison, Wis., be, and they are, hereby empowered with authority to proceed in such manner as they may deem proper and expedi- ent to procure the means for the erection of a monument over their graves, and that it report, from time to time, what progress they have made thereat.
We have annexed to this report, besides a list of the dead with the names of the commands to which they belonged, a letter to the Chairman of the Committee by Mr. Hugh Lewis, a brave Federal soldier of the Second Wisconsin Regiment, who lost his arm at the second battle of Manassas. To him this Association is greatly indebted for the first information which came to it in regard to this matter. Mr. Lewis has for many years been a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, and was a warm friend of Mrs. Waterman. To him we are also indebted for the excellent photograph of that noble lady, and of the cem- etery where lie buried these 139 Confederate soldiers.
In addition to his letter we have also annexed an extract from a copy of the funeral oration delivered.over the body of Mrs. Waterman before burial among "her boys" and also copies of several articles from the Madison newspapers bearing upon the subject of this report. These articles show a more than excellent spirit on the part of the good people of Madison and encourage us to believe that in that city at least, the war with all its animosities, has long been at an end .*
*The several extracts referred to are too long for insertion, and are omitted.
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CHAPTER IX.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF COL. (SURGEON) I. G. W. STEEDMAN ; AND HIS REMINISCENCES OF PRISON LIFE.
An "authentic" statement for the Tribune. While awaiting Mr. Greeley's acceptance or rejection of the proposition that was made to him in our issue of yesterday in reference to the treatment of prisoners of war in federal prisons, we are anx- ious to give him further evidence of the truth of the statements we have published, in order to strengthen the appeal to his be- nevolence and sense of justice. We; therefore, give editorial prominence to the following letter, which we guarantee is a faithful copy of the original written by the subscribing parties and addressed and delivered to the Colonel commanding the post at Johnson's Island :
Prison Hospital, Johnson's Island,
November 16, 1864.
Colonel : The undersigned, officers of the Confederate States Army (prisoners of war) are in times of peace practic- ing physicians. We are now acting as surgeons to our prison hospital.
We adopt this method of informing you, (if you are not already informed of it), that the prisoners confined here are suffering seriously from want of food.
Ist. We make this painful announcement from our personal experience, and observation among our comrades.
Food is the constant theme of conversation among them, and we are repeatedly told, "We are hungry ; we do not get enough to eat." Instances are not infrequent of repulsive articles be- ing greedily devoured; rats, spoiled meat, bones, bread from the slops, etc.
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
Secondly : We wish to demonstrate to you from physiolog- ical data, that the ration issued is insufficient to maintain health. Prof. Dalton says: "With coffee and water for drink, we have found that the entire quantity of food required during twenty-four hours, by a man in full health, and taking free ex- ercise in the open air, is as follows :
Meat (Butchers) 16 ounces avoirdupois.
Bread
19 ounces avoirdupois.
Butter, or fat .. 31/2 ounces avoirdupois
381/2 ounces avoirdupois.
That is to say, rather less than two and a half pounds of solid food." (See Dalton's Physiology, page 115.)
Col. Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisons, in his pub- lished order regulating the ration of prisoners of war, estab- lished the following :
Pork or bacon
10 ounces in lieu of fresh beef
Fresh beef
14 ounces
Flour or soft bread
16 ounces
Hard bread
14 ounces in lieu of flour or soft bread
Corn meal 16 ounces in lieu of flour or soft bread
Beans or peas
121% pounds
Rice or hominy
3 pounds
Soap
4 pounds
Vinegar
3 quarts
to 100 rations
Salt
434 pounds
Potatoes
15 ounces
Water
52 ounces
Accompanying this communication, we enclose the abstracts of rations actually received, during the month of October for the first and second divisions of the prison. The abstracts have been carefully prepared for this purpose by the chiefs of those divisions from their memoranda, taken at the time of issue. By carefully estimating the average daily ration in ounces of solid food, from these abstracts for October, you will find that each prisoner received 281%. ounces.
Colonel Hoffman's order allows him about 3416 ounces.
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Confederate Prisoners of War.
Prof. Dalton would give him 381/2 ounces. Your com- missary, therefore, has given us ten ounces less than the phys- iological requirements of health, and six ounces less than Col. Hoffman's order.
This deficit of six ounces is the result-
Ist. of a short issue of bread of about 1.5 cunces. ..... I12 OZ. 2d. of a short issue of bread or peas, rice or hominy and
and potatoes (only one, instead of three, having been issue daily) 372 OZ ..
3rd. no issue of meat at all for three days. I OZ.
6 oz.
As to the quality of the ration issued for October: The beef consisted almost entirely of fore-quarters, neck and shank, the large proportion of bone reducing the actual meat received nearly one-half, or to seven ounces (7 oz.) Salt beef and fish, now issued about twice a week, are not included in Col. Hoffman's published order, as a part of the rations. Salt fish, with our want of facilities for properly preparing them, make a most unpalatable dish, and from the testimony of our com- rades, are only used from dire necessity, to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Moreover, salt fish and salt beef do not contain sufficient oil or fat, to answer the requirements of health dur- ing winter in this latitude.
Though Col. Hoffman's order falls short of the physiolog- ical requirements of a man in health, by three and a half ounces, yet we believe if his order be faithfully executed, health can be maintained for a long while, considering the limited amount of exercise generally taken by prisoners.
But, Colonel, it is our solemn conviction that if the inmates of this prison are compelled to subsist for the winter upon this reduced ration of ten ounces less than health demands, and six ounces less than Col. Hoffman's order allows, all must suffer the horrors of continual hunger, and many must die from the most loathsome diseases. As physicians, we ask you for hu- manity's sake, to compel your commissary to do his duy faith- fully and honestly, by issuing the ration we are entitled to.
As officers and prisoners of war, demand it.
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