the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, for any information relative to the measure in possession of the War Department. In response thereto I respectfully report that according to a report made February 6, 1869, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. Alex. J. Perry, quartermaster, U. S. Army, there were buried, in 89 localities throughout the country, 30,152 Confederate prisoners of war, viz: Officers, 455; enlisted men, 28,490; unknown, 726, and citizens, 481. Many of these having been buried in trenches (as in the case of the removal of the Confederate remains from Fort Delaware and Pea Patch Island, Pennsylvania, to the Finns Point, New Jersey, National Cemetery), it would be impracticable to identify individual graves, notwithstanding the fact that the names of the persons may be found of record. Approximately 9,300 Confederates were buried in national cemeteries. Were it possible to locate all such graves, the amount appropriated by the bill would be totally inadequate for the purposes stated, as at the present contract price for headstones, $2.13 each at the place of manufacture, 30,000 headstones would cost $63,900, to which should be added the cost of transportation, handling, and setting, approximately $1.25 each ($37,500), making a total of $101,400 for headstones, irrespective of the cost of purchase of ground, and for care, maintenance, and fencing the same; and for compensation and traveling expenses of the commissioner provided for in the bill. From the foregoing it will appear that the sum named is not sufficient to carry out the provisions of this bill; it will probably require about $200,000. At the close of the civil war the Quartermaster's Department took up the matter of locating the graves of the dead Confederate prisoners of war, since which time some changes have been made by removals of remains to other places, etc. Attention is invited to House Report No. 45, Fortieth Congress, third session, page 775. Respectfully, The SECRETARY OF WAR. M. I. LUDINGTON, Quartermaster-General U. S. Army. [Extract from Senate Document No. 93, second session Forty-fifth Congress. Accompanying reports from the Quartermaster-General, Surgeon-General, and Čommissary-General of Subsistence, U. S. Army.] The following is a copy of a report compiled in the office of the QuartermasterGeneral U. S. Army, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. A. J. Perry and forwarded to this office by the Quartermaster-General: QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, GENERAL: I have the honor to submit, with report, a communication of the honorable Secretary of War of the 5th of January, 1869, requesting information relative to deceased prisoners of war, prisons, etc., for the use of the Congressional Committee on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, etc., and to inclose the following statements, viz: 1. List marked "A," showing the locality of the different Confederate prisons used for the confinement of Union prisoners of war, as required in paragraph 15 of the inclosed letter of the committee; also showing the number of Union prisoners, known and unknown, officers, enlisted men, and citizens who died and were buried at these prisons, as required in paragraphs 9 and 21 of the letter of the committee. From this list it will appear that the number of deceased Union prisoners of war as reported is 36,401. They were originally buried in the sixty-eight localities mentioned in the list, but many of them have been removed from these places and are now resting in the various national cemeteries throughout the South. These data are obtained from the rolls of honor published by this office and from the annual reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, furnished by officers of the Quartermaster's Department. It is believed, however, that the actual number of Union prisoners who suffered martyrdom in the rebel prisons far exceeds the number given above, as the records furnished this office are not complete. It is well known that at many places, as, for instance, at Salisbury, N. C., and at Florence, S. C., etc., the bodies were buried in trenches, often two, three, sometimes even four deep, so that the accurate number of bodies interred at these places can not be determined. 2. List marked "B," showing localities of the different prisons used by the Federal authorities for the confinement of rebel prisoners of war, as required by paragraph 16 of the letter of the committee, with the number of deceased rebel prisoners, known and unknown, officers, enlisted men, and citizens interred at these localities as required by paragraph 22 of that letter. The number of rebel prisoners of war reported to be buried at eighty-nine localities throughout the country is 31,152. This list has been prepared in part from copies of the mortuary records of prisoners, obained from the late office of the commissary-general of prisoners, and in part from reports received at this office from officers of the Quartermaster's Department. It is therefore not unlikely that there are a good many repetitions. There being no authority to publish in general orders the names of deceased rebel prisoners of war, the arrangement of the records and comparison of the reports, giving their names, has been postponed until the publication of the names of Union soldiers who died in defense of the country shall have been completed. With the present reduced clerical force in the cemeterial branch of this office, it would take so long a time to make a comparison of the different reports as to make it impracticable to ascertain within any reasonable period of time the desired information relative to the number of known and unknown rebel prisoners who died at the Federal prisons at the North. I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brevet Brig. Gen. M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. SOME DATA RELATING TO THE LOCATIONS AND CONDITION OF THE GRAVES OF CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN FEDERAL PRISONS AND MILITARY HOSPITALS AND WERE BURIED NEAR THEIR PLACES OF CONFINEMENT; ALSO SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE NECESSARY CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE FOR REMEDIAL MEASURES. [Prepared by Samuel E. Lewis, M. D., late assistant surgeon, C. S. A., of Washington, D. C., commander of the Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, No. 1191, United Confederate Veterans; first vicepresident of the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy.] WASHINGTON, D. C., December 6, 1902. DEAR SIR: I beg leave respectfully to transmit herewith for your consideration a paper prepared by me, prompted by the resolution of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, passed by the United Confederate Veterans, in session at Memphis May 28-30, 1901, requesting "that Congress take appropriate action looking to the care and preservation of the graves of the Confederate dead now in the various cemeteries in the Northern States." This paper has been read by General Lee and meets with his full approval, and it is in compliance with his wish that I bring the matter to your attention and request your kind offices in securing the necessary Congressional legislation as suggested by the draft of a bill for enactment embodied in the paper. Inclosed you will also please find a letter from Gen. Marcus J. Wright, transmitting copy of letter from General Lee bearing upon the subject. I also hand you copy of letter of the Secretary of War, George W. McClary, to President of the United States Senate, June 3, 1878, transmitting report of Q. M. Gen. M. C. Meigs relating to purchase of Confederate burial grounds by the Government. May I say that I have been greatly encouraged to request your aid by your thoughtful action in caring for the graves of Confederate dead at Camp Chase and Johnsons Island when you were the governor of the State of Ohio. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, Hon. J. B. FORAKER, SAMUEL E. LEWIS, M. D., Commander. United States Senate. WASHINGTON, D. C., December 5, 1902. MY DEAR SIR: I inclose you a letter from Gen. Stephen D. Lee to accompany the paper prepared by you relating to "the locations and condition of the graves of the Confederate soldiers who died in Federal prisons and military hospitals and were buried near their places of confinement." I am very glad of this action of the United Confederate Veterans. There is nothing that the surviving Confederate soldiers and their families more desire than the proper care of the graves of those of their comrades who fell in action or died from disease. The graves of those who are buried in the South receive proper attention, but those in the North are neglected. General Lee has expressed the wish that Senator Foraker, of Ohio, who is a broad-minded and liberal man, be asked to take charge of the matter and endeavor to secure the necessary legislation by Congress. I fully agree with him in this suggestion, and think it would be well for you to call on the Senator and lay the whole matter before him and ask him to take charge of it. MARCUS J. WRIGHT. Very truly, yours, SAMUEL E. LEWIS, M. D., Washington, D. C. [Headquarters Army of Tennessee Department, United Confederate Veterans. Adjutant-general's office. Stephen D. Lee, lieutenant-general commanding. E. T. Sykes, adjutant-general and chief of staff.] COLUMBUS, MISS., December 9, 1901. MY DEAR GENERAL: I had the honor to introduce the resolution at Memphis at our last reunion requesting Congress to take appropriate action looking to the care and preservation of the graves of the Confederate dead, now in the various cemeteries in the Northern States. The resolution was passed without a dissenting vote. I believe this was done in full appreciation of the noble and humane sentiments expressed by our late lamented President in his speech at Atlanta, Ga., December 14, 1898. There was no object so near his patriotic heart as that to obliterate sectional feeling incident to our unhappy civil strife. He seemed to take advantage of every incident in his administration of public affairs to cause it to bear in the welding together of sections of his country once estranged. Had he lived, he no doubt would have brought about his cherished project, in causing the Government to share in the expense of the care and preservation of the graves of the Confederate dead, whose valor, with that of the Union dead, is now the valor of the American soldier, a sacred heritage of the American people. I think that Mr. McKinley's speech at Atlanta, Ga., touched the Southern heart more than any other act of any President, and the South mourned his death as sincerely as any part of our great Republic. I believe Congress could do no wiser act than to carry out the spirit and object of the resolution so unanimously passed by the large assembly of surviving ex-Confederate soldiers at their great gathering in the city of Memphis, Tenn., May 30, 1901. Yours, truly, Gen. MARCUS J. WRIGHT, STEPHEN D. LEE. Washington, D. C. [Senate Ex. Doc. No. 93. Forty-fifth Congress, second session.] WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, June 3, 1878. The Secretary of War has the honor to transmit to the United States Senate, for the information of the Committee on Military Affairs, a communication from the Quartermaster-General, dated the 31st ultimo, submitting estimate of the cost of acquiring title to and inclosing lands in which Confederate prisoners of war are buried and of erecting headstones over their graves. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. GEO. W. MCCRARY, WAR DEPARTMENT, QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 31, 1878. SIR: On the 14th instant I had the honor to report, in reference to the proposed sale to the War Department of a lot of ground near Columbus, Ohio, on which were buried prisoners of war who died at Camp Chase, that the question submitted was one to be decided only by Congress and that the War Department could only execute the laws when enacted. I have seen the report of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate of the United States upon this subject, and I find that the committee is of opinion that the United States, being charged with the sepulture of those who died prisoners in its hands, is required to provide not only suitable place of sepulture, but to protect the title to their graves against all adverse claimants, so that the dead may not be disturbed; that the laws of humanity are not fulfilled by laying them in the earth without securing their resting place from molestation, and that as the matter now stands, the United States being lessee, not owner in fee simple of the land, no such security exists, and that, "should there be other deceased Confederate prisoners of war who died under similar circumstances, lying buried upon private lands, it is the duty of the Government to make reasonable outlay to secure title to the narrow earth in which their remains do rest." In furtherance of this object, I have the honor to submit a list of places at which, according to information in this office, prisoners of war were buried by the United States authorities during the late struggle. It is extracted from House Document, Fortieth Congress, third session, Report 45, page 768. The number of prisoners dying in captivity is stated at nearly 27,000, the number of places at 110. On page 771 of same document I find a list of Federal prisons, twenty in number. The greater number of those reported to have died in captivity were buried by the United States near the prisons; those who died in this city were buried at national military cemeteries; others near the place of decease. The care of prisoners of war was laid upon a special officer of the War Department (the commissary-general of prisoners), and his report will doubtless give fuller information than the records of this office supply. But as the termination of the session of Congress approaches, it is proper to submit at least an approximate estimate of the quantity of land to be purchased, and the number of graves to be cared for, and of the cost of preserving and inclosing them. It is not possible at this time to make an exact estimate of the cost of purchasing those prison cemeteries not now owned by the United States, but the estimate below is as nearly correct as can now be made: For purchase of prison cemeteries used during the late war. For inclosing the same.. $10,000 100,000 For 27,000 stones and blocks to be placed at graves of deceased prisoners.. 94,500 Total ...... 204, 500 As no existing law authorizes the War Department to purchase land for this purpose, a special enactment will be necessary, which may probably be made most conveniently by an amendment extending the law of February 22, 1867, relating to national military cemeteries, so as to embrace lands on which prisoners of war are buried. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General, Brevet Major-General, U. S. Ármy. The honorable SECRETARY OF WAR. Detailed statement of the number of Confederate prisoners of war who died in the hands of the United States authorities during the rebellion of 1861-1865, with locality of prison and the number of graves. |