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 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
I set out to tell you of the unveiling of a monument at Colum- bus, Ohio, to the Confederate dead of old Camp Chase.
Well, I found the North fully reconstructed. I had my doubts, from the legislation that has burdened the statutes of the United States in discriminating against the South, whether' they were genuinely reconstructed, but they are.
Among the many friends who have aided in every manner pos- sible the work at Camp Chase, no one has been more untiring than Mr. S. A. Cunningham, proprietor of the Confederate Vet- eran. In the July number for 1902 there appeared an article cov- ering several pages giving a complete description of the affair. Although no doubt it has been widely read in the South, and by friends of the South elsewhere, the story of that day cannot be told without quoting from that issue.
Governor Nash, of Ohio, who presented the monument, said :
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow-Americans, this is truly a happy day with me, when I can address you upon this sacred ground as fellow-Americans. Forty years ago we were divided into two hostile camps. To-day the scene is changed. We are not here as Federals, we are not here as Con- federates; we are all here as Americans to do honor to our heroic dead and to do something, if possible, to make our country greater and better in the years to come. [Applause. ]
It is indeed a pleasure to be here. The ground upon which we now stand is sacred. In it lie the remains of two thousand who
68
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
were of the bravest and best of the sons of the South, and here they have peacefully slept during all these years. It is a sacred duty which we perform when we come here to honor their memories and to do homage to their brave deeds. It is not only a sacred duty, but it seems to me that in doing this we are doing a splendid work for this reunited country. When the people of the North show their esteem for the brave men of the South who sleep in their midst, they are teaching a splendid lesson in patriotism.
The days of strife are over, they are gone forever, and nevermore will they disturb our peace and harmony. I believe that it will be your aim [addressing the Confederates present] in all the days to come to aid in all ways possible the glory of the beautiful flag which we all love to-day. [Applause.] I know it will ever be your pleasure to uphold law and order in this country, and thus make greater and stronger the splendid insti- tutions founded by our fathers. Whenever we unite in meetings like this, we come together not as men who were once hostile but as men and women who love and honor this great republic and who will forever uphold its beautiful banner. [Applause.] This is no idle prediction. Less than four years ago our country was called upon to engage in war with a foreign foe. The sons of the Confederate soldiers rallied to the defense of our threat- ened flag and upheld her honor and glory just as bravely and just as readily as did the sons of the North. The sons of the North were rejoiced to have the sons of the old Confederates at their sides doing valiant service for their country. Some people at times despair of the future of this republic, but I have no such misgivings. I know that for the last thirty years the old Confed- erate soldiers of the South have faithfully taught the story of patriotism to their children. I know that the old Union soldiers of the North have been just as patriotic in their teachings to their children, and from these sources has grown throughout this nation a wonderful patriotism, a wonderful love for our country. This spirit will forever guard the honor of my country and my flag.
I am rejoiced that we have among us to-day many ex-Confed- erate soldiers and their friends. To them I bid a most hearty welcome. I am glad that you are here, because you can see from this splendid assemblage that the people of the North honor with you the memory of your old soldiers who sleep in this cemetery. [Applause.] I hope that you will take the story of it back to your Southern homes, and inform your friends that the remains of the ex-Confederate soldiers in the State of Ohio are honored by the people of this State. [Applause.] In this sacred con- nection it gives me pleasure to present, on behalf of the State of Ohio, this splendid monument to the memory of your soldiers. This monument. builded of stone and bronze, will last for many years, but it will not outlive the memory of the brave deeds and the heroic men whose sacred ashes repose in this cemetery.
69
THE MONUMENT UNVEILED -- 1902.
Judge David F. Pugh, Past Department Commander of the G. A. R. of Ohio, said in the unveiling address :
The beautiful and impressive custom of decorating the graves of the soldier dead originated after the Civil War and was inau- gurated in several Southern States, I believe, in the year 1866 or 1867, by Southern ladies ; and the fact that they decorated graves of .unknown Union soldiers, as well as their own Confederate soldiers, gives it an additional historical and sentimental interest. They went out into the cemeteries and scattered flowers impar- tially over the unmarked graves of the Union dead and upon the graves of their own soldiers. The hearts of Northern people were touched and thrilled by this kindly act. We of the North are to-day merely following the unselfish and noble example of those women. Five or six years ago a fair was held in the city of Wheeling, W. Va., to raise money for the erection of a home for dependent Confederate soldiers of West Virginia. A Captain Johnson, an ex-Union soldier and officer, contributed a Chinese sword of curious workmanship, to be sold for the benefit of the home. In sending it to the managers he said it was all he was able to do for the home, and expressed the hope that God would bless the surviving veterans, both Blue and Gray. We here to- day, in our participation in this solemn and decorous ceremony, are moved by the same spirit which inspired and actuated Captain Johnson.
The ablest, most skilled of the Union generals, General Grant, occupied a portion of his last days on this earth urging and impressing his countrymen to restore fraternity and love between the North and South; and this advice was illustrated and illuminated by the unspeakable pathos of his death chamber. When he was serving his first term as President, Gen. Robert E. Lee visited the White House. He honored his old antagonist by giving him audience in preference to the Senators and Repre- sentatives in Congress who were in waiting and had preceded Lee under the inspiration of his motto, "Let us have peace !" When Lee surrendered, he refused to imitate the example of the Roman and Grecian generals by making a triumphal entry into Richmond. He would not permit any celebration of the victory by the Union army in the presence of the Confederates. He spared the latter every humiliation. He knew that it was necessary to the consummation of the victory that the sur- rendered Confederate soldiers should become loyal citizens. He knew that the republic could not hold vassal provinces by the bayonet and survive. We simply honor his memory and observe his dying precept to-day by participating in the decoration of these graves and the dedication of this statue.
One of the wisest acts-certainly the most magnanimous act- of President Mckinley was his advocacy of a plan for the
70
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
National Government to maintain the Confederate cemeteries and at its expense. It was only a reiteration of what he had said twenty years before at Oberlin, Ohio. In a memorial address there, speaking of the duty of the people of Ohio with respect to the graves of the dead Confederates in Camp Chase, he said : "On us, too, rests the responsibility of caring for their graves. If it was worth while to bury each man in a separate grave, or give him an honorable interment, is it not worth while to preserve the grave as a sacred trust, as it is, and as it is to us alone?" The line of action for us is, fortunately, simple. In the office of the Adjutant General of the State is a record of all these dead, with a diagram of the grounds, each grave being numbered. From this it is possible to find the grave of each man and to arrange the grounds in proper manner. Let this be done by the State. Let the Legislature provide for the oversight and care of these graves.
President Mckinley made two extended tours through the Southern States. The ex-Confederates by the thousands attend- ed his meetings and receptions, and cheered and applauded him. Nowhere in the South was he threatened by anarchists. His life was safer than in the North. When it became necessary to make additional major and brigadier generals for the Spanish War, this broad-minded President did not hesitate to put the stars upon the shoulders of those old graybacks, Generals Wheeler, Lee, But- ler, Oates, and Rossiter. When Mckinley died, not the North alone, but the North and South --- the whole nation, reborn, re- united-mourned his death and shed tears over his grave. The "kindly light" of his magnanimous example and teaching encour- ages and cheers us on to-day in paying tribute to the heroic Con- federate dead who sleep in this Confederate cemetery.
Just fresh from the battlefield of Shiloh, where I witnessed and heard two ex-Confederates, one representing the State of Ten- nessee, participate in the dedication of the Ohio monuments to the heroic Union dead who sleep there, and where I was thrilled by the royal eloquence of one of them, in which he honored our dead comrades, I have no doubt either of the propriety or the duty of an ex-Union soldier participating in the ceremonies of this occasion. We decorate these graves to-day, and we dedicate this statue, because the men who sleep here were brave men. because they nobly illustrated American skill and valor on the battlefields of the Civil War. Although one side was thought to be right and the other considered wrong, yet both sides were inspired by similar impulses and actuated by the same sincerity of conviction. The Civil War is without its twin in history. For the grandeur of its impost. the vastness of its resources, and the tenacity of the combatants it has no parallel in the annals of war. Fought by men of the same blood, it demonstrated the endurance, the prodigious power, and the vast resources of the republic. It was
71
THE MONUMENT UNVEILED-1902.
not a war by either side against Chilians or Italians, Spaniards or Filipinos. It was only Americans who could hope to successfully overthrow the Union, and it was only Americans who were qual- ified to successfully defend it. The Civil War showed what kind of people inhabit this continent-all brave men and women. It demonstrated that the Anglo-Saxons on this continent, whatever might betide them on the other side of the ocean, had not degen- erated. Bunker Hill was easier to climb than Cemetery Ridge, Missionary Ridge, or Lookout Mountain. During those four years Washington, sleeping on the banks of the Potomac, often heard martial footsteps like those of its own soldiers. On both sides there was unparalleled endurance, with fortitude and unselfish- ness, through a long and exhausting conflict. Such armies as were raised and maintained on both sides were wonderful in their exhibition of soldierly attributes. That the Confederate sol- diers were gallant, that they were hard fighters, can be proved by every Union soldier who struggled against them in the fiery front of battle.
After the battle of Missionary Ridge I was attracted by the ex- treme youthful appearance of a dead Tennessee Confederate sol- dier who belonged to a regiment of Cheatham's Division, against which we had fought the day before. He was not over fifteen years of age and very slender. He was clothed in a cotton suit and was barefooted-barefooted on that cold and wet twenty- fourth day of November, 1863. I examined his haversack. For a day's rations there were a handful of black beans, a few slices of sorghum, and a half dozen roasted acorns. That was an infinitely poor outfit for marching and fighting, but that Tennessee soldier had made it answer his purpose. The Confederates who, half fed, looked bravely into our faces for many long, agonizing weeks over the ramparts of Vicksburg; the remnants of Lee's magnifi- cent army, which, fed on raw corn and persimmons, fluttered their heroic rags and interposed their bodies for a year between Grant's army and Richmond, only a few miles away-all these men were great soldiers. I pity the American who cannot be proud of their valor and endurance.
All the bitterness has gone out of my heart, and, in spite of a Confederate bullet in my body, I do not hesitate to acknowledge that their valor is part of the common heritage of the whole coun- try. We can never challenge the fame of those men whose skill and valor made them the idols of the Confederate army. The fame of Lee, Jackson, the Johnstons, Gordon, Longstreet, the Hills, Hood, and Stuart, and many thousands of noncommis- sioned officers and private soldiers of the Confederate armies. whose names are not mentioned on historic pages, can never be tarnished by the carping criticisms of the narrow and shallow- minded. On both sides the Civil War was prolific in that heroic excellence of human character which some people had supposed
72
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
was the monopoly of ancient history, tradition, and poetry. Here- after it will not be necessary for any American, whether he be Blue or Gray, to read the stories and legends of Grecian and Roman glory to inflame his imagination about heroes and hero- ism. There are other trophies than those of Miltiades, as some
W. P. HARRISON.
one has said, to keep him awake at night. He can set his imag- ination on fire and keep himself awake by reading stories of equal interest and of equal valor about a hundred crimson battlefields of the Civil War.
More than thirty-seven years have passed away since Lee and Grant met at Appomattox. Thirty-six seedtimes and harvests have distributed their benedictions to the Blue and Gray alike. After going through ordeals which we were spared and through
73
THE MONUMENT UNVEILED-1902.
privations of which the North has no conception, the Southern people rebuilt, rehabilitated, their part of the country in a most phenomenal way. The waste places have been made to blossom like the rose, and old battle grounds are covered with verdure. Northern capital and vigor have married Southern energy and capital, their sons and daughters have intermarried, and the South is sharing in the universal prosperity.
Much has been done for the burial of ancient grievances and old grudges and for the cultivation of thoughtful love of coun- try. We are in the midst of an epoch of fraternal love and peace. The final victory at Appomattox was not a victory of the North over the South, but of the North and South over the South. it was as much their victory as ours. They were, equally with us, beneficiaries of that victory ; and its blessings are just as precious to them as to us. The North and South have been welded into a more homogeneous nation by a common grief. Our nation has been made richer by the blood and tears mingled together from both sides. What we thought and said of each other in the war times is now forgotten. Our flag, with not one star dropped from it, waves over both Blue and Gray.
On Decoration Day the flowers of the earth, so blue and golden, make no distinction between the Blue and the Gray, but freely give their fragrance to both. No mother weeps the less fervently because her boy wore blue or gray. To-day in this cemetery the flowers will be scattered on the graves of Americans. Thirty- eight years have stilled the bitterness of the conflict. To-day we stand immeasurably above all resentment or revenge.
I have just returned from a visit to two of the great battlefields, Chickamauga and Shiloh, and it is no extravagance to say that no Union soldier who sleeps in the cemeteries on those battlefields speaks to-day from his grave of wrath or hatred toward the South, but their voices would mingle with ours for peace, frater- nity, and a reunited country.
To-day, standing upon the serene heights of love and forgive- ness, and with an implicit faith in the Divine Forgiver of all, we can see in this joint participation, and we can see in this coopera- tion of Blue and Gray in paying tribute to the heroic Confed- erates sleeping here, a symbol of the true American-the Union for which we have been hoping and praying for many years.
In this final resting place of over two thousand Confederate dead Mr. W. P. Harrison has assisted Col. William H. Knauss to erect this memorial arch and statue of a Confederate soldier. Both Mr. Harrison and Colonel Knauss should be honored for this appropriate monument. It is their votive offering to that brotherly kindness, peace, and love, and forgiveness for which there has been pleading and praying for years all over this coun- try. Only a few of us know how Colonel Knauss has toiled. struggled, and endured to make this monument and these condi-
74
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
tions a success. He has braved the criticism and censure of a. few but bitter opponents of reconciliation. He has resisted the advice of those who have told him that it was not expedient and. good policy for him to manage and superintend the decoration of these graves from year to year; and I repeat that he should be honored for what he has done.
Let the statue be unveiled !
.
HON. D. E. JOHNSON.
Judge D. E. Johnson, of Bluefield, W. Va., on behalf of his. Southern comrades, made a worthy speech of acceptance :
Mr. Chairman, unexpectedly and without preparation, I am called upon to respond to the patriotic and eloquent speech of the distinguished Governor of the Commonwealth of Ohio, present- ing, on behalf of his people, to our Southern people this splendid monument erected to the memory of more than two thousand brave men who wore the gray and whose ashes repose in this area.
75
THE MONUMENT UNVEILED-1902.
These men who sleep here were Confederate soldiers (Amer- icans), who dared to "do the right as God gave them to see the right ;" and so seeing and believing, they consecrated their lives, their all. They suffered and died for their convictions rather
AMERICANS
:2260
CONFEDERA :
SOLDIER
SUPICO
ENC
BOWLDER AND MEMORIAL ARCH.
than prove false to the cause which they had espoused. Right or wrong, they suffered the horrors of prison life, eked out a mis- crable existence, and died in the belief of the justice and right- cousness of principles which they had been taught to hold as sacred and dear to them as life itself. I accord to those who wore the blue
76
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
the same right I here to-day claim for those who wore the gray- that is, that we believed we were right; and, whether right or wrong, the fierce and bloody struggle of four years, the terrible sufferings and sacrifices which we made, the memories of our honored dead, their splendid deeds of valor and heroism, we would not forget if we could, and we could not forget if we would. In calling to mind our own sufferings and the great sacrifices we made to maintain our cause it is evident that those who opposed us were no less in earnest than we. They expended millions of treasure and poured out rivers of blood to uphold and maintain the principles for which they battled and contended. And, above all things else, we must not forget that in that great contest we were, and are still, all Americans, and that the splendid courage and gallantry, heroism and valor displayed by the men who sleep here are the common heritage of our American people.
In accepting, on behalf of our people, this monument erected to the memory of these men, after listening to the patriotic and ten- der speech of Governor Nash, I am happy to say that I rejoice to find that, in a great measure at least, if not altogether, the bit- terness and prejudice engendered by the strife between the sec- tions have passed away, and we are again one and the same people, with one common flag, hope, and destiny, and that this monument is one among many tokens of that evident good feeling of patriotism and fraternalism that will forever bind us together in one common bond of affectionate brotherhood.
I cannot close without saying that he who above and beyond all others is more absolutely entitled to the lasting gratitude of our people, on account of his great love for our common human- ity, and who by his earnestness and activity in procuring the erection of this monument has endeared himself to our people by "ties stronger than hoops of steel," is a grand old veteran who wore the blue, and who for the cause he espoused spilt his blood and suffered all things, endured all things, even unto death-his coffin ready-and when the war closed devoted his life not only to peaceful pursuits, but out of the love of his great soul and a heart filled with good red blood has worked earnestly and faithfully to bridge the chasm that so long had separated the ' North and South, and has labored unceasingly for the restoration of harmony, peace, and fraternal relations between our country- men. He to whom I refer now stands by my side. I grasp his hand as an indication of what I have said, and as a token of my love and esteem ; and now, on behalf of my people, who owe hin a debt of gratitude perhaps greater than to any other man living north of Mason and Dixon's line, I, from the depths of my heart [turning to Col. W. H. Knauss] thank you; and now here with clasped hands we declare to this large assemblage, composed in part of those who wore the blue as well as those who wore the gray, that the war is over and that lasting peace is here to stay.
77
THE MONUMENT UNVEILED-1902.
Colonel Knauss, allow me to say in conclusion-and I say it be- lieving that I bespeak the honest, sincere sentiments of our people -that they will not only to their latest day honor you and hold you and your kindly deeds in grateful remembrance, but that our children's children and generations yet unborn will bless your memory.
Following the hymn, "Asleep in Jesus," Capt. James Dinkins,
CAPT. JAMES DINKINS.
of New Orleans, delivered an address which in eloquence is worthy to live after him:
Although the people of the South did not bid me come, I know that I represent them to-day when I extend the hand of kinship and express my pleasure in meeting the people of the great State of Ohio-valiant in war and progressive in peace. The na- tion knows you well and has called your sons to high places on field and in council.
The South shares the pride in your achievements and testifies
78
THE STORY OF CAMP CHASE.
to the quality of your manhood-first to pay the tribute of cour- age to those who once opposed, first to hail the grander brother- hood of the stronger Union, first to raise the rainbow arch above the sacrifice of strife.
Our comrades dead are the living fire upon the altars. of mem- ory, and your tender solicitude has taught all Americans that immortality's light perpetually hallows every grave where heroes lie, and that every death for duty was a hero's death.
The beautiful custom of keeping green and glorious the sacred spots where soldiers sleep stirs patriotism wherever practiced. No section monopolizes it; no sectional lines divide the reverence paid.
In our own fair Louisiana are two national cemeteries: one at Baton Rouge, where rises the Capitol; the other at New Orleans, close to Chalmette field, where Jackson gave undying force to the American doctrine to which Monroe afterwards gave undying fame. Our flag is still here. Under its folds sleep Union sol- diers from many fields ; under its folds for twenty years and more have women-our Southern women-strewn the flowers of love. Mothers and sisters there are in Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Wis- consin, and other States whose hearts lie buried there-too far away for them to place their tokens upon the biers of their be- loved. Mothers and sisters there are in Louisiana who say: "These are our own; their graves shall not be neglected." Their magnolias transplant the message of your lilies ; their roses clasp yours in the wreath of a nation's mourning, dewed perennially by a nation's tears.
Confederates have gathered annually upon this spot, marching beside the other Grand Army, proud that the women of New Orleans have set the example to which more men bow their heads each year in the sight of the God whose blessings our banner begs. Only a few days ago we said "Amen" over your prayers there ; to-day you share our sorrow above the buried Gray.
The people of the North and South have often held different views and opinions in the past, and will continue to do so in the future ; but the only serious disagreement between them was for- ever settled by war thirty-seven years ago.
I am not one of those who tell you there is no East, no West, no North, no South; but, on the other hand, I am proud of the distinctiveness of our separate sections, whose friendly rivalry is the corner stone upon which the nation's greatness rests. De- prive the Puritan in the East of his reverence for his ancient laws, and you destroy his happiness and his usefulness. Take away from the South her traditions, ideals, and legends, and you rob her of much of her glory.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.