USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > The story of Camp Chase; a history of the prison and its cemetery, together with other cemeteries where Confederate prisoners are buried, etc > Part 5
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What a privilege to be an American! M. Lester says: "God has given us a grand mission."
The war with Spain was on and the Southern boys were marching away under the Stars and Stripes. Sons of heroic men who fought to tear its stars from the azure field were bearing it proudly against a foreign foe who could not know the mag- nificent strength of a united North and South. You can understand how busy are our women with their needles these bright days, ministering to our absent soldier boys. The sewing machine, instead of the parlor instruments, makes the music of the hour.
You will not know until the struggle is over the strong ties between the North and South born of this comradeship-whose sons, the descendants of patriots. could mingle their blood and tears for principles dear to them, under opposing standards, and blend their dust under a common banner against a merciless foe on alien shore. Let us keep their graves green.
We will send flowers for the Southern Memorial Day, and may God bless the hands that place them over our silent heroes !
As the promoter of this fraternal observance, you will be grate- fully remembered by us. Yours for America on land and sea.
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.
DECORATION SERVICES, CAMP CHASE, 1898.
J95501ON3
101051
CHAPTER IV.
THE SERVICES OF 1899.
The Children of Avondale School Sing-Orations by Judge David E. Johnson, of Bluefields, W. Va., and by General W. D. Hamilton- Tableau of Blue and Gray with Hands Clasped-An Impromptu Serv- ice Some Days before the Regular Decoration Exercises-The South- ern Members of Waterworks Convention Pleased and Impressed-They Stood with Uncovered Heads-The Mystery of the Broken Tombstone.
True to the South, they offered free from stain Courage and faith ; vain faith and courage vain.
For her they threw lands, honors, wealth away ;
And one more hope that was more prized than they. For her they languished in a foreign clime,
Gray-haired with sorrow in their manhood's prime ; Beheld each night their homes in fevered sleep, Each morning started from their dreams to weep;
Till God, who saw them tried too sorely, gave The resting place they asked-an early grave. O, then, Forget all feuds, and shed one manly tear O'er Southern dust-for broken hearts lie here. -Columbus (Ohio) Press-Post.
AGAIN there were flags and flowers at Camp Chase Cemetery. Again the Blue and the Gray walked side by side through grass- grown paths and scattered flowers upon pathetic heaps of earth.
There were not so many ex-Confederates present as the year before, but all who came were made welcome by their Ohio friends. If at first the friends seemed few, that time was past, and a multitude was present for the exercises in 1899. Among the number again taking melodious part were the pupils of the Avondale School of Columbus ; and if the souls dwelling in God's eternal somewhere revisit earth, two thousand spectral forms stood reverent as the sweet, fresh, young voices of the children sang.
The exercises began by bugle call. Then the long roll was sounded by the G. A. R. Veteran Drum Corps. The audience joined with the school children in singing "America," after which
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
there was presented, on behalf of the Ex-Soldiers' and Sailors' Association, by Comrade D. M. Brelsford, for many years its secretary, a large and handsome floral piece, received by that courtly representative of the South, Rev. John Hewitt, in a grace- ful speech of thanks, voicing the gratitude of the Southerners toward the ex-soldiers and people of Columbus.
The "Blue and the Gray" was then sung by the Misses Maud and Sophia Fleming in a sweet and charming manner, after which prayer was offered up to the Divine Being for his blessing upon so auspicious and important event in the advance of his kingdom and love.
The invocation was followed by the pupils of the Avondale School singing "To-Day This Hallowed Place We Seek," in which the sweet young voices, rising amid a hushed and sacred silence, moved many to tears.
The opening address, by Judge D. F. Pugh, was listened to with deep attention and interest. At its conclusion the school children. sang "Cover Them Over with Beautiful Flowers."
Col. David E. Johnson, of Bluefield, W. Va., spoke briefly in response to the address of Judge Pugh. He thanked the soldiers" organization which presented the floral piece, also the ladies' societies auxiliary to the Union Veteran Legion, and the Ex-Sol- diers' and Sailors' Society.
"He expressed the thanks of the South for the thoughtful regard ยท which inspired these services and the men and women who took part in them, concluding in a most touching manner by picturing scenes in Southern homes where women were thinking tenderly of those flower-strewn mounds beneath which the dust of their loved ones lay.
The concluding address was delivered by Gen. W. D. Hamilton, of Zanesville, Ohio, whose speech the Louisville Courier-Journal published in full and said of the speaker: "He was during the Civil War one of the noted cavalry leaders on the Federal side, and the sentiments that he expressed were so manly, brave, and patriotic that they reflect great credit on his head and heart ; and the people of the South will pleasantly remember General Ham- ilton for his generous and noble address."
My friends, it is easy to hate our enemies. It is natural to re- tain a spirit of enmity against those who have injured us.
It is a mission of Christianity to give us lessons of forgiveness,
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THE SERVICES OF 1899.
and the Son of God came from heaven to teach us not only to for- give our enemies, but to love them.
In this there is an inference that we ourselves may have given some cause to make enemies, and that there is something good and lovable even in those who differ from us.
It is not our province to discuss the cause of our Civil War. It is enough for us to know that these men buried here were inno- cent. It cannot be traced to the men who took to the field on
GEN. W. D. HAMILTON.
either side. Its origin was embodied in the Constitution and grew out of the unfortunate existence of slavery when it was formed, and came down to us through nearly a century of bitter legislative contention, and was finally disposed of in that bloody court of which we formed a part.
During all this time the social relation between the sections became less and less cordial, and the business interests more and more strained. We cultivated the habit of belittling all that was good and magnifying all that was bad in each other.
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
War brought destruction and untold sorrow, but it cleared away the obstacles to a better knowledge of the people toward each other. Our former impressions were entirely upset by the won- derful courage and nobleness of character displayed on both sides.
Never were armies composed of men more earnest in their efforts, intensified, if possible, during the last two years as the forces of the South were driven back to become the defenders of their homes against the increasing strength of a powerful invading army.
It is little wonder that the women of the South, whose homes were ruined, and the women of the North, whose sons lie scattered in unknown graves, should retain a feeling of bitterness. Heart wounds were given which saddened the life of a generation and have magnified the task of conciliation which the best men and women of both sides have undertaken and which these floral tributes to the Confederate dead to-day are designed to promote.
On occasions like this we feel that there is a holiness in flowers. They are the mute companions of our purest thoughts and give expression to our tenderest sympathies. They are angels from the realm of nature employed to bear our message of affection to the dead.
The fraternal spirit which prompts our presence here to-day is the harbinger of a time when the people of the United States will gather annually, bringing the roses of the North and the magnolia blossoms of the South as a tribute to American valor to trim the graves of every soldier who fell in battle or died in prison for a cause he had been taught from pulpit and from family altar to believe was right.
In the better light of a third of a century both sections are learning to look upon the Civil War as thoughtful students of its results.
We can now see that God was preparing the nation through a sacrifice of blood to become his consistent agent in the difficult task of advancing civilization in the dark places of earth and in extending Christian liberty among the islands of the sea.
It was the training of the Civil War that made recent unpar- alleled achievements possible.
The sons of the Blue and the Gray fulfilled the promise of their fathers when they fell into line side by side to test the power of Spain. And they have divided the lionors of a most brilliant campaign on land and sea.
The daring spirit of Lieutenant Hobson, of Alabama, is the pride of the North as well as the South.
The dashing courage of Colonel Roosevelt, of New York, with his Rough Riders from both sections, has won the admiration of us all, and we old soldiers of the cavalry recognize a gallant brother in Gen. Joe Wheeler, that ubiquitous trooper of Alabama, who used to bother us so much when we wore the blue and he
DECORATION DAY, CAMP CHASE, 1899. SCHOOL CHILDREN OF AVONDALE SCHOOL, COLUMBUS, OHIO, WHO SANG AT THE SERVICES.
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
the gray ; and a startled world joins us with uncovered heads in paying homage to that phenomenal hero of the Asiatic seas, George Dewey, of Vermont.
It is time that we bury the bitterness of the past when we re- flect that in the scales with which anxious nations are weighing us to-day not only: will these names be placed, but the character and ability of Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and Stonewall Jackson will be estimated side by side with that of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, and the soldierly qualities of both armies will be equally considered in determining the nation's place among the powers of the earth.
My fellow-citizens of the gray and the blue, as we distribute these flowers on the graves of more than two thousand of the nation's Confederate dead I feel that we should thank God that we and they were permitted to belong to that generation of sol- diers who were selected to work out his plans, however myste- rious, for the republic.
In closing I quote the language of General Gordon at a Confed- erate reunion in Charleston, S. C., when he said: "I feel. the power of your confidence to pledge in the name of every Confederate and son and daughter of Confederates the South's eternal loyalty to every cause for the upholding of Amer- ican manhood. the perpetuity of American freedom, the unity of the American people, and by all these agencies we may accel- erate the onward march of the American republic in its benign progress."
Men and women of the North, we should be encouraged to pay some regard to the graves of their comrades, which the fortunes of war have placed in our keeping, to hear such sentiments expressed by the foremost living Confederate and indorsed by that great.as- sembly of his comrades.
"The Soldier's Farewell" was sung by the school children, fol- lowed by a tableau in which Blue and Gray clasped hands. At the conclusion of the exercises J. C. McCoy Post Drill Corps fired a soldier's salute, and the graves were decorated by the representa- tives of the two armies present, assisted by the ladies of the C. V. L. and ladies, and Society of the Ex-Soldiers' and Sailors' Asso- ciation.
In addition to the flowers sent from the South, several wagon loads of flowers were sent by local friends. Not a grave of the two thousand two hundred and sixty was slighted ; on each were flowers from the old home and from the North.
So ended the services of 1899.
Some twenty days prior to the events just narrated an im-
47
THE SERVICES OF 1899.
pressive and impromptu little service was held at Camp Chase Cemetery, and it came about in this way :
A national convention of waterworks superintendents was be- ing held in the city of Columbus, and among the number were many Southern men. Some of these gentlemen bore a part in the memorable struggle of the sixties, and naturally desired to see the cemetery that was attracting so much attention North and South.
These gentlemen, together with the ex-Confederate soldiers and ladies of the South then residing in Columbus, by invitation of the writer visited the cemetery for the purpose of seeing how well and with what tender devotion the mounds covering the last resting place of the Confederate dead were cared for by the people of the North in whose keeping the destinies of war had placed them. The party was made up of Rev. John Hewitt, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church ; Hon. H. C. Erwin, Atlanta, Ga .; Mr. W. J. Milne, Birmingham, Ala .; Mr. Charles A. Bolling, Richmond, Va .; Judge J. A. Anderson, Atlanta, Ga .; Col. L. H. Goodman, New Orleans; Gen. Waller S. Payne, Fostoria, Ohio; Mr. H. C. Campbell, Charlotte, N. C .; Mr. W. H. Rapp and Col. J. B. Travis, of Atlanta ; and others.
The trip to Camp Chase was made in carriages, kindly furnished by Chief Lauer, of the Columbus Fire Department, Judge D. F. Pugh, A. W. Shields, W. B. Potts, H. N. P. Doyle, and myself.
Arriving at the burial grounds, Rev. Dr. Hewitt offered an invocation in which he eloquently and beautifully referred to the noble cause promoting the gathering, and invoked the blessing of the Supreme Ruler of all in the exercises to be performed.
The members of the party were provided with potted flowers by Mrs. Knauss to be planted upon graves of the heroic dead. The ladies who had assembled at the grounds before the arrival of the visitors requested the honor of planting the flowers, and that pleasant task was submitted to their willing hands. The scene presented after the graves had been decorated was beautiful and impressive. Around and above the silent mounds of earth stood with uncovered heads the persons mentioned. The fresh, green grass waved gently to and fro, swayed by the gentle spring breeze, while the wind breathed a solemn requiem through the trees overhead. As each one of the party spoke tenderly of the
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
silent heroes buried there, and uttered words of commendation and praise for the men and women of the North, the eyes of the visitors from the South filled with tears of emotion as they beheld the graves of their dead.
For years there stood in the cemetery a broken tombstone, and its loneliness made it conspicuous. The top of the stone, through some unknown cause, had been broken off and in the lapse of years had been lost. On the remaining portion of the stone re- mained the inscription: "Third Miss. Batt. Resident Osyka, Miss. Died Jan. 16, 1865. Aged 37 yrs. Erected by his wife." The lost portion evidently contained the husband's name. The stone was broken long before the decoration services caused the briers to be torn away and flowers placed thereon.
.
The story of these exercises reached the Southland, and a Union soldier placed there a box of flowers which came with the request that they be strewn over this unknown grave.
W. Y. Smith, who had been a bugler in the Second Ohio Vol- unteer Cavalry, was present at the exercises in 1898, and when he learned the story of the broken stone said he would replace it if the name of the Confederate buried there could be ascertained. Eventually word reached a far-away home in Mississippi, and in due time a letter came containing a strip of muslin yellow with age, on which was an impression of the face of the broken stone as it was when originally put up. The impression showed the words and their alignment, as follows :
IN MEMORY OF
I. L. CAUSEY,
ORDNANCE SERGT.
- The stone was broken through the line "Ordnance Sergt."
Smith made good his promise, and when the graves were dec- orated in 1899, there stood a marble slab and the name of the dead soldier was a mystery no longer.
2
CHAPTER V.
CAMP CHASE IN 1900.
Ohio's Governor Present at the Services at Camp Chase-He Makes a Wise and Patriotic Address-The Ex-Confederates Pleased with His Kindly Expressed Sentiments Concerning the Dust of the Lonely Dead -General Arnold, of Kentucky, Delivered an Eloquent and Touching Speech-Mrs. T. W. Rose, President of the Ladies' Society of the Union Veteran Legion, Spoke with Much Tenderness-Dr. Thomas P. Shields, an Ex-Confederate of Ohio, One of the Speakers-What South- ern Governors Said.
THE slanting rays of the setting sun were tinting the flowered graves as, leaving the cemetery, the people turned to catch a last look at the peaceful scene and breathe once more the floral South- ern fragrance.
It had been a successful day, and for the first time in the his- tory of the exercises there was an Ohio Governor present. Year after year the chief officer of the State Government had been invited to be present, and year after year the invitation was de- clined. One Governor said frankly he was not in sympathy with the work and did not think it right. The kind-hearted McKinley was in doubt as to the propriety of decorating these graves and declined attending with the gentleness and dignity that character- ized his dealings with his fellow-men. Afterwards, when he be- came President of the United States, his feelings underwent a change, as was evidenced by his Atlanta speech, mentioned in the introductory chapter of this volume.
When the invitation was extended to Governor Nash he at once accepted, saying with decided emphasis: "I am in sympathy with this work and will join you willingly in paying tribute to the memory of these men."
Not only the ex-Confederates, but all who took part in the ex- ercises, were pleased because of his views upon this and kindred subjects.
The address delivered by Governor Nash was as follows :
This is a strange scene. We are assembled about the graves
4
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
of more than two thousand soldiers who perished from 1861 to 1865. At that time the men buried here were a part of that great army engaged in civil strife. More than thirty-five years have passed since that great conflict ended, and we are here to do honor to them by bestowing loving tributes upon their graves. They were once our enemies, but we now look upon their brave deeds as a part of our history.
GOV. GEORGE K. NASH.
As I said in the beginning, this is a peculiar situation, and vet it is no more so than the conflict in which these men fell. In his second inaugural President Lincoln said: "Neither party ex- pected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the con- flict might cease with it, or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph and a result less fun- damental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and prayed to the same God, and each invoked his aid against the other."
It was strange, indeed, that two parties through whose veins
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CAMP CHASE IN 1900.
flowed the same blood should inaugurate and carry on for four years a conflict the most destructive conflict in life and property which is recorded in modern history.
It was most fortunate that both parties read the same Bible and prayed to the same God, because such peoples could not remain hostile to each other. With the lapse of time all the peoples of this country have again become loyal to the government founded by a common country. All have again learned to love the same flag, and have been, and will be, its ardent supporters when dan- ger threatens. When engaged in a foreign war the sons of the South and the sons of the North again became loyal soldiers of the republic and demonstrated that we are a reunited people-in heart, in soul, and in every aspiration of patriotism.
The ceremony in which we have engaged to-day is not a use- less nor a meaningless one. It shows that we of the North have no hatred for the brave men who were once our foes. On the other hand, it demonstrates that for those who fell in an unavoid- able conflict we have respect and honor and love, and that with those who still live we join hands in loyal support of the match- less government whose foundations were laid by their fathers and ours, and cemented by their blood in the days of the Revolu- tion.
It is hoped that as the years go by our children and our chil- dren's children may unite in showing honor to the soldiers of the Confederacy as well as to the soldiers of the Union. All fought most honorably in a conflict which, it seems, could not have been avoided. To their names no dishonor should be attached. By thus honoring all, love for a great republic will be strengthened and her flag will be followed as the guiding star for all the people for all time to come.
Again I quote from the local daily papers :
Over the graves of the fallen Southerners floated a tiny red, white, and blue banner of the United States, while the memorial shaft and the speakers' stand were decorated in the same colors. The remarks of Governor Nash were so well received by the Confederate veterans that Rev. Dr. Hewitt moved a vote of thanks be tendered. This was carried by-as Col. Knauss put it-a vote of two hundred thousand to one, the Governor voting "no." "The Governor has expressed," continued Dr. Hewitt, "a sentiment that is as broad and liberal as it is possible for any one who had fought either for or against the South to express. Any one who could stand there and express the sentiments the Gov- ernor has done would be worthy the recognition and thanks of those against whom he had fought."
Mrs. Alice M. Rambo and Miss Edna Smith sang the duet, "Forget Not the Day," after which General Arnold, an ex-Con-
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
federate, whose son was in one of the Kentucky regiments in the Spanish-American War, made a beautiful and touching speech. He told of the gratitude of the Southern wives and mothers toward the noble Northern men and women who had reclaimed the burial grounds and strewed flowers over the mounds of the sleeping veterans of the South, adding :
When my countrymen and my countrywomen read of your acts, the fragrance of your good deeds is like the dew on the blossom, and the rain of their blessing is upon you.
The General told of the bloody day at Perryville, Ky., when the home of his widowed mother was turned into a hospital and she administered alike to those who wore the blue and those who wore the gray. God created the world, the flowers, and the birds; then he created man after his own image; and then, best of all, he created woman.
General Arnold, continuing, said :
For four years I was a Confederate soldier, and as such I have no regret. With the memory of those days upon me, I desire to thank Governor Nash for his patriotic address. Both sides built monuments of bronze and stone, but those crumble. The names, however, will be handed down as a heritage as long as language is a vehicle of thought between man and man.
The Chairman, at the conclusion of Gen. Arnold's address, in- troduced Mrs. T. W. Rose, National President of the Union Vet- eran Legion, a ladies' society, who said :
I have been asked to represent the Woman's Soldiers' Aid So- ciety and the ladies of the Union Veteran Legion, which duty 1 feel myself incompetent to perform adequately. I feel it my sacred duty, however, to come and assist in strewing flowers over these brave men who lie here, so far from home and kindred. These were men who fought bravely for their convictions. They left their loved ones as did our own brave boys. We come re- n.embering the mothers. wives, and sisters who sent them and prepared them for war with their own hands, and we know they would gladly strew with their own hands these flowers.
Sisters of the South and sisters of the dead in our keeping, as long as we are permitted to come here we will cover these green graves with your flowers ; and with our own loved ones we hope to meet after the last bugle calls to the other shore. God bless the Blue and the Gray !
Dr. Thomas P. Shields, of Union County, an ex-Confederate.
1
DECORATION DAY, CAMP CHASE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY, 1900.
Gov. George K. Nash (Ohio) second from the right; Mrs. Mary Rose, National President U. V. L., Woman's Relief Corps, in center; Dr. Thomas P. Shields, President Confederate Veteran Camp, Columbus, Ohio, to the left of Mrs. Rose,
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THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
was introduced ; and though at first he was overcome by emotion, he made an eloquent speech. Among other things, he said that he always marched with the boys in blue on their memorial day and helped to strew the flowers.
The Daily Press-Post, of Columbus, which has always treated the Confederate Memorial Day with great consideration, asked the Governors of many Southern States, particularly those who had been in the Southern army, to express their views upon the memorial services conducted at Camp Chase each year, outlining the interest taken by Col. W. H. Knauss and the 'Columbus people in this Confederate burying ground and how in recent years veterans of both armies have gathered around the graves and obliterated the old hostilities forever in the ceremonies of fraternal forgetfulness.
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