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 9
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"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"S. B. HOLABIRD, "Quartermaster General, U. S. A."
With an acknowledgment, I replied :
"I quite agree with Your Excellency that the present condition of the cemetery is a disgrace to civilization, and that humanity requires that even the burial places of our enemies in war should not be thrown into the commons and left for briers and brambles.
"Very respectfuly, your obedient servant,
"H. A. AXLINE, Adjutant General."
It will be observed that the government had no money to repair the place where rests the dust of those who died at Camp Chase Prison. But the then Governor and his Adjutant General did not
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let the matter rest until a bill was prepared, introduced in Con- gress, and finally passed authorizing a stone wall to be built around the cemetery.
As sometimes happens with government work, the wall was a poor job and soon began to crumble. There was no one to look after it, and many administrations came into power in Ohio and passed away, none seeming to think of the lonely cemetery where lay the Southern dead.
As already stated, it was in 1895 that the writer became inter- ested in the place, and, among other things, called the attention of Mr. Foraker, after he became Senator, to the condition of the wall, with the result that an appropriation at first of two thousand dollars was secured to rebuild it. At a subsequent session of Con- gress, this sum being too little, it was increased to three thou- sand six hundred dollars. A contract was made for the work, un- der direction of Colonel Yeatman, Commander of the Columbus Barracks, and was completed by the middle of November, 1904.
The wall, which is four feet high in front and five feet above the two and one-half feet of concrete foundation on the north, is built of Ohio limestone and cement, surmounted by a broad coping of sandstone. It presents a strong, fine appearance, giving the impression of stability that will stand well the storms of time. Mr. Grant, the government inspector, says there need be no new wall built around the cemetery for three hundred years.
In the fall of 1900 there occurred a pleasing event in which the writer participated ; and while not germane to the text, it was one of those incidents that made friends of old-time enemies, and thus fits in here.
Judge D. F. Pugh prepared a bill, and procured its passage, authorizing the Governor to return the Confederate flags and banners. The act is as follows :
Whereas, The animosities of the Civil War are forgotten by the people of this nation, sectionalism is dead, and fraternity, and good will prevail everywhere; therefore,
Be it resolved, That the Governor of Ohio be, and is hereby, authorized and empowered to withdraw from the relic room of the Capitol building, from time to time, the Confederate flags and banners there stored, and return the same, or cause them to be returned to the survivors of the military organizations of the late Confederate army from whom they were respectively taken and captured.
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The reunion of the Forty-Sixth Ohio was held in the town hall of Worthington, near Columbus, at which time the tattered battle- flag of the Thirtieth Louisiana was put into the keeping of those who had fought for it. The story is told by the New Orleans Picayune as follows :
With other battle-marred and bullet-pierced relics of the Con- federacy reposing in Memorial Hall, there was deposited last evening the battle flag of the Thirtieth Louisiana Regiment. This sacred memento of the fighting days of 1861-65 was for thirty- six years in the possession of its captors, the Forty-Sixth. Ohio Volunteers, who recently sent a gracious invitation to the "Boys in Gray" of the Thirtieth Louisiana to send a delegation to Co- lumbus, Ohio, for the purpose of being guests of the Forty-Sixth and at the same time receiving their old flag, as a token of the esteem, unity, and harmony which now prevail over all parts of the United States.
The Louisiana veterans sent their delegates to Columbus, and the flag was returned to them and brought back to this city. The cherished colors were formally presented to the Army of Tennes- see for deposition in Memorial Hall.
Secretary Brown read the minutes of the meeting of the Thir- tieth Louisiana survivors held September 14.
At that meeting the invitation of the Forty-Sixth Ohio was read and accepted, and a committee was appointed to act in all matters pertaining to the proposed trip to Ohio.
J. H. Brown. Judge J. U. Landry, and - Harrison were ap- pointed to receive the flag.
Mr. Brown then read the report of the flag committee, giving the particulars of the trip and of the reception, paying special trib- ute to such gallant Ohioans as Judge D. F. Pugh, Col. Wm. H. Knauss, Governor Nash, and Dr. Thos. P. Shields. The com- mittee was enthusiastic about Ohio and her generous, hospitable people.
The meeting adjourned to Memorial Hall, where the Army of Tennessee was in session. Business was suspended as the sur- vivors of the brave old Thirtieth Louisiana entered the hall with martial tread and erect bearing, headed by Major Trepagnier and Private John M. Coos, bearing the flag.
In giving a lengthy account of the engagement wherein the flag was lost by the Louisianians, Major Trepagnier says:
This position of the enemy's line was occupied by the Forty-Sixth Ohio Regiment, one of the best veteran commands in the Federal army, all being armed with murderous Spencer six- shooting rifles. They wisely reserved their fire until we were close to their line, when they poured such a terrific and destruc-
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tive fire at short range into our line that our men were actually mowed down without being able to do much injury to them, they being concealed from view by the thick underbrush in front of their works. In a short time the Thirtieth Louisiana was fear- fully cut up by this hailstorm of lead. Our gallant field officers, Lieut. Col. Thomas Shields and Maj. Charles J. Bell, had fallen, both shot dead; fourteen line officers out of twenty present had also fallen, either killed or wounded. The color bearer and all the color guards were shot down; only six members of the color company and only three members of the company on the left of the colors were uninjured. All of the officers of these two companies were either killed or wounded; and when the brigade was ordered to retire from the field, the Thirtieth Louisiana could muster only six officers and about sixty men.
This flag, whose staff had been shattered by bullets, had changed hands as often as its defenders had fallen, until there was no one left around to protect it, and it remained on the bloody ground, ciose to the enemy's works, surrounded by the bodies of its defenders, and thus became a prize in the hands of the Forty-Sixth Ohio Regiment.
We feel keenly the loss of our colors, and our only consolation lies in the fact that they fell without dishonor. We also derive great satisfaction from the spontaneous action of the members of the Forty-Sixth Ohio in their anxiety to return us our flag as a testimonial to the soldierly conduct of its defenders. These brave and chivalrous soldiers of the Forty-Sixth Ohio Regiment many years ago desired to return this flag, and were prevented from doing so only because they could not legally obtain posses- sion of it.
It was the fixed intention upon the part of the writer to cease active work regarding the care of Camp Chase Cemetery at the conclusion of the unveiling of the arch and statue in 1902; for, as has been said, the care of the cemetery and the arrangements for memorial services were placed in the hands of the Daughters of the Confederacy and the local Camp of Confederate Veterans. In 1903 and also in 1904 the ladies in charge of the exercises called upon me for an address, to which I responded. There had been mischievous endeavors to prevent my further service in these Confederate memorial exercises. It is amusing to recall efforts by narrow-minded and prejudiced Federal comrades to prevent my being present on that occasion. For instance, one wrote: "Don't forget the 30th of May in your anxiety to decorate and care for the Confederate dead." Rude cartoons of me were sent by anonymous persons, but none of this interfered with my
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even tenor. I considered the sources and took fresh courage with an approving conscience. It is most gratifying to have the approval, years afterwards, of distinguished and noble men, of which the following is an illustration :
President Mckinley, in an address at Atlanta, Ga., about the close of the Spanish War, said :
Every soldier's grave made during the unfortunate war is a tribute to American valor. And while, when those graves were made, we differed widely about the future of the government, those differences were long ago settled by our arbitrament of arms; and the time has now come, in the evolution of sentiments and feeling under the providence of God, when, in the spirit of fraternity, we should share in the care of the grayes of the Con- federate soldiers.
Those men and their true followers who fought the battles of the war on both sides were glad the war was over. But those of both armies who managed in various ways to get on detail duty in the rear or around headquarters, so that when the army moved they could remain behind, were the ones to disapprove.
It is good to be alive to-day; good to be able to look into the eyes and to grasp the hands of each other-the Blue and the Gray-when we recall how, a generation ago, we strove with each other under the lightning and the dim clouds of battle. To- gether the two armies-the Federate and Confederate-embrace the choicest of American men, and together they built high the standard of American courage. I think that we can claim that there are no better warriors in the wide world than in America, and no emblem of grander principles ever designed by man or God than our flag-the flag of our fathers.
In several Southern places the Confederate Camps have joined with the G. A. R. organizations on May 30, our Memorial Day, and assisted in doing honor to cur dead heroes.
Allow me to announce that on May 29 I received from Mrs. E. K. Fritzlin, of Denton, Tex., a box of Southern Cape jasmine buds, to be given to the women of the Union Veteran Legion, who have in the past assisted with the Confederate memorial services in this city, for them to wear while on their blessed work of strewing flowers over the graves of our Union dead on our Memorial Day. She said: "As a token of my respect for their noble and Christian work."
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I received also a box of white carnations from Mrs. Florence Tucker Winder, President of R. E. Lee Chapter, U. D. C., for our services at Greenlawn Cemetery in doing honor to our dead.
Would to God there were more of this feeling, and that we, as Americans, could go arm in arm to these sacred places! We hope that when we join that brotherhood beyond, and meet the Commander of the great majority, we will see more clearly. Just now an instance of the battlefield occurs to me: The dead and wounded were lying together. One boy thought he was dying. His thoughts going back to his home in the North, he saw his mother on her knees praying for him. He asked the one by his side to pray for him. The reply was: "I have never prayed in my life-don't know how." The dying fellow turned to the other side and saw that the one lying there was shot through the head and was speechless, but he said to him: "Can you pray for me?"'The dying man slowly laid his hand on his heart, and then as he raised it slowly he pointed up, up to heaven, implying: "God is there. Give your heart to him!" Then both died. The one who never prayed lived and became a Christian man, and said he there gave his heart to God. May that same God who has spared us to this time bless you all !
Another event that I cannot refrain from mentioning was the large informal banquet, at the Great Southern Hotel in Columbus, to Mr. S. A. Cunningham, of Nashville, Tenn., editor of the Con- federate l'eteran. Besides the guest of honor, Mr. Cunningham, there were present: Dan Emmett, of Mt. Vernon, author of "Dixie ;" John Y. Bassell, Judge D. F. Pugh, Gen. H. A. Axline, Col. R. M. Rownd, Mayor Sam Black, Judge Todd Galloway, Thomas E. Knauss, W. H. Holliday ( County Auditor), S. N. Cook, D. B. Ulrey, J. L. Porter, C. A. Roth, Rev. T. G. Dickson, Henry Briggs, Capt. W. B. Albright, Dr. Thos. P. Shields, John H. Levy, John Grim, S. A. Humphries, Thos. J. Davies, W. J. Snyder, J. H. Crampton, and representatives of the city papers. Several of the foregoing were prominent Union veterans, while several others were much-esteemed Confederates.
The inner man having been satisfied, the toastmaster said:
The Camp Chase Association was formed by a few men, some of whom fought in the Union army and some in the Confederate army, and some of them are here to-night to break bread with our friend and guest from the South.
S. A. CUNNINGHAM, EDITOR CONFEDERATE VETERAN. (Showing the Sam Davis overcoat.)
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The object of our association is to take care of the neglected graves of Americans who fought for what they thought was right and, as American heroes, sacrificed their lives for their principles. They prayed to the same God that we did, and in the judgment day must answer to the same God.
It is a token of our good will toward and respect for our South- ern friend that we come together to spend a social hour in getting better acquainted.
Our guest, the editor and publisher of the Confederate Vet- eran, is not here to increase his subscription list, but to visit the burial place where many of his comrades rest. I am sure he will tell his people at home that we are civilized and live in the Lord's land, and show respect to the living and the dead.
Among those who spoke that evening were Mayor Samuel Black, Gen. Axline, J. Y. Bassell, Dr. Dickson, and Judge Pugh. In response, Mr. Cunningham graciously thanked those present for the honors conferred, and said that it had impressed him more than any other incident in his life. His work for the last five years had been in the line of this meeting. He was grateful for the spirit manifested by the Union soldiers.
He said no section could have. regretted the death of Lincoln more than the South, and he knew that many Southern men and women shed tears at the death of Garfield. He was profoundly impressed with the attention given the graves of the soldiers at Camp Chase, and expressed the gratitude of his people for it, knowing that the South would thoroughly appreciate it. He appreciated the fact that the Federal Government had built the wall around the cemetery, and said that it must be repaired. While the Southern people revered the Confederate flag, yet it should be draped in crape, as he had it in his publication-the Confederate Veteran. He was glad that the war was ended, and said that all the South would be grateful to the Northern people just as long as they realized that the war ended in 1865.
In the Confederate Veteran for December, 1897, there is a complete and perhaps flattering account of the event, which was well appreciated by every Northerner who read it. We will con- clude the story of that evening by quoting from the Confederate Veteran.
When the guests had dined in the superb hotel, the Great Southern, Col. Knauss, the master of ceremonies, startled nearly everybody by stating that there was present a gentleman who was a soldier in the United States Army before any one at the table
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was born-Daniel Decatur Emmett, the author of "Dixie." The applause was so general that Mr. Emmett rose to his feet when called upon for a speech, but he said he must be excused. The writer, knowing how exquisitely he could sing "Dixie," urged that he sing a stanza of it. He said he could not unless all joined
DAN EMMETT, AUTHOR OF "DIXIE."
in the chorus. There was a quick, hearty assent, and the Grand Army veterans joined with the Confederates in the spirit of the great tune. General Axline showed his appreciation of "Dixie" by saying: "We should never have let you Southerners have 'Dixie.' It added fifty thousand soldiers to your army."
Mr. Cunningham went to Camp Chase Cemetery, but the chill of our winter lay over it. The stately elms waved their bare limbs helplessly in the blast from the northwest. One could wish that it had been summer when he first looked upon the spot where
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these men of the South had slept so long. Nature smiles even in the graveyard in summer, and it would not have seemed so lone- some. The birds would have kept the dead company.
"We care not whence they came, Dear in their lifeless clay ! Whether unknown or known to fame, Their cause and country still the same ; They died-and wore the gray." -Father Ryan.
Many letters have been received by the writer from friends throughout the South, dating back to 1897, and each year growing in number. The later letters are not less interesting than those received in the beginning. The earlier friends wrote again, and new friends added strength and cheer by their expressions of ap- preciation.
Many and cordial have been the invitations for the writer to visit the South, and he regrets having been unable to show his appreciation. He quotes testimonials from Tennessee :
From L. T. Dickinson, Adjutant N. B. Forrest Camp No. 4, U. C. V., Chattanooga, Tenn. :
Col. W. H. Knauss, Columbus, Ohio.
DEAR COMRADE: Your name has been a household word in our company for several years. As the years roll by we appreciate more keenly the noble and patriotic work done by you for our sacred dead. In recognition of your generosity, we have made you an honorary member of our company. I take pleasure in in- closing your certificate of membership.
The papers you sent, giving an account of the dedication of your arch, were duly received and presented before the Camp last night; also the picture of the arch and a portrait of your- self, for which I am instructed by the Camp to thank you. Your picture will be framed and hung upon the wall.
From Nashville, Tenn .:
At a regular meeting of Frank Cheatham Bivouac, Association of Confederate Soldiers, a circular from the headquarters of the United Confederate Veterans was read, calling attention to the fact that on Saturday, June 14, 1902, Col. Wm. H. Knauss, of Columbus, Ohio, would have unveiled and dedicated a monument over our Confederate soldiers who are buried at Camp Chase ; moreover, that he had for years had these graves annually strewn with flowers.
Thereupon the president appointed a committee, which sub-
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mitted the following preamble and resolutions, which were unani- mously adopted :
"Whercas Col. Wm. H. Knauss, by his acts, has proven himself to be a true Christian gentlemen and patriot, and has cared for th. graves of our comrades when no one else dared do so; there- fore,
"Be it resolved, by Frank Cheatham Bivouac, That the thanks of this association be, and are hereby, extended to Colonel Knauss for his noble and self-sacrificing acts in honoring our Confederate dead.
"In testimony whereof the Bivouac has caused these Presents to be signed by its president and secretary, and attested with the seal of the State Association.
GIDEON H. BASKETTE, President ; JOHN P. HICKMAN, Secretary; M. B. TONEY, Recording Secretary."
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CHAPTER IX.
VISITING THE SOUTH.
A Trip to New Orleans Mardi Gras Time-An Unlooked-For Reception -What the Crescent City Papers Said-Great Bouquets of Roses by the Ladies-The Confederates Present the Stranger with a Fine Gold Badge-Eloquent Speech of Captain Dinkins -- An Editorial-Going to Nashville -- A Fourth of July Event-Meeting Friends Both Blue and Gray-Guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Toney-A Remarkable Camp Fire-Well Repaid.
I WOULD be ungrateful and unworthy of the high honor paid me by my Southern friends at various times and places did I not make public recognition of their cordial greetings and unstinted hospitality. I regret exceedingly that I could not accept many invitations to visit the homes of friends whom I have never met. .I shall mention an invitation that I accepted for myself and wife- to spend the 4th of July, 1902, in Nashville, Tenn. I had made a visit to New Orleans, the quaint old metropolis of Louisiana, in February, 1902. I did not anticipate the reception I met ; it was overwhelming. There is a foolish song that most of us have heard that runs : "There are moments when we wish to be alone." There were moments at New Orleans on the evening of February 13 when I wished to be alone-alone until I could find voice, which somehow had left me; alone until I could see without blind - ing tears. Not until I leave earth will I forget that night, and not then if I am permitted to think of things terrestrial. How could I be expected to forget such a night as that, at Memorial Hall, when eloquent words laden with affection, when armfuls of magnificent roses and other fragrant flowers, were showered upon me, a stranger within their gates?
Registered at the St. Charles, I met General Moorman just as he was leaving the city ; but he had evidently posted a number of his comrades, for it was not long until inquiries were being made at the hotel for "the man from Columbus, Ohio." At dinner a gentleman informed me that a crowd of both ladies and gentle- men were waiting to meet me. I explained that I was weary, but that I would be pleased to meet them the next day.
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I hesitate to tell of that next evening at Memorial Hall. To the plain business man, plodding on in the usual prosaic way, ovations are rare. I may be forgiven, then, for the seeming vanity of telling the story. It is also due the splendid men and glorious women of New Orleans, and I desire that those who live after me shail know of that eventful evening which is as indelible with me as is the event of the bloody battle of. Fredericksburg ( where I was shot down). And this is the part of it so beautiful- ly strange : it was men of the South who put a bullet through my face that marked me for life, and it was Southern men and women who forty years after wove garlands for me and made a night of hand-clasps, of flowers, and of welcoming words. Such is the character of this nation of ours; such is this land of ours.
It was Mardi Gras week, and the city was full of joyous people watching the ever-shifting but ever-brilliant pageant. In every city there is a trust, a close corporation, known as society, and in New Orleans this unincorporated corporation was busy about Mardi Gras time. In that proud old city there were none nearer the throne of that mystical monarch, the ruler of society, than the majority of those in Memorial Hall. They had turned aside, however, from courtly gayeties to visit for an hour with a plain old "Yank." What is written is written; if to my confusion, it is for their glory. Even in the midst of that crowded, joyous time the New Orleans Daily Picayune gave, on the morning of the 14th, nearly one entire page to the event at Memorial Hall.
With the egotism of love-love for these warm-hearted stran- gers-I copy the headline of the Picayune that morning :
CONFEDERATES HONOR A HERO WHO FOUGHT THEM
But Who Recognized His Foes as Americans Who Became His Brethren Again, and Made the Care of the
Graves of Southern Soldiers in Neglected Places His Special Care Until Others Rallied to the Cause of Proper Protection. Colonel Knauss, of Columbus, Ohio, Given a Reception at Memo- rial Hall and Presented with a Medal.
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Mrs. W. J. Behan, President of the Ladies' Confederated Me- morial Association, called the meeting to order. The hall was filled with ladies and ex-Confederate soldiers when one of the ladies asked Capt. J. C. Dinkins to escort me to the platform. As we walked up the aisle the audience applauded heartily. The Captain presented me to Mrs. Behan, Mrs. Aldin Mclellan, and Mrs. J. Pinckney Smith. On the platform with the ladies were Gen. W. L. Cabell, of Texas, and others.
MRS. W. J. BEHAN.
Mrs. Behan delivered a brief and most generous address. She concluded by saying : "He did this work, and now we feel that he is one of us." Taking me by the hand and turning to the audience, she continued : "I now take pleasure in introducing to you William H. Knauss, of Ohio." I was about to reply when she placed in my hand a magnificent bunch of flowers, at the same time alluding to the flowers placed on the graves of the dead at Camp Chase.
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MRS. J. PINCKNEY SMITH.
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The proceedings had reached that point where I began to feel that there was something the matter with my throat when, hap- pily, Mrs. J. Pinckney Smith arose and claimed the right to ad- dress me, as she was the first woman in New Orleans to send flowers from that city to me for the Camp Chase Cemetery. Then she presented me with a large bunch of American beauties.
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