Confederate P.O.W.’s: Soldiers & Sailors Who Died in Federal Prisons and Military Hospitals in the North

In 1984 Frances Ingmire and Carolyn Ericson compiled into a book the names, rank, regiment, death dates, and burial location of Confederate soldiers and sailors who died in federal prisons and military hospitals in the North, during the Civil War. The records were compiled from the Office of the Commissioner for Marker Graves of Confederate Dead. The main text is compiled by the names of each prison, but an index of servicemen is found in the back of this volume, listing the former Confederate sailors and soldiers alphabetically by surname.

Soldiers and sailors who died at Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio are listed on pages 50 through 93. The names of four soldiers who died while prisoners of war in Gallipolis, Ohio are found on page 175. Of particular interest is the section of the book with the names of several soldiers and Confederate officers who died during the Civil War at Johnson’s Island. Their names are provided on pages 178 through 182. You can view this book at the Sandusky Library, where it is shelved with the genealogical and local history books in the library’s lower level.

Many items relating to the Civil War can be found at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center and the Follett House Museum. The original wooden tombstone of D.L. Scott, 2nd Lieutenant, Co. I, of the Third Missouri Cavalry, is on display at the Follett House. In the late 1880s, a group of Georgia businessmen raised funds to provide marble tombstones for those soldiers and officers interred at Johnson’s Island.

Over one thousand people witnessed the unveiling of the Confederate Cemetery Monument at Johnson’s Island on June 8, 1910, an event sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The Unveiling of the Confederate Cemetery Monument at Johnson’s Island

On June 8, 1910 over one thousand people witnessed the unveiling of the Confederate Cemetery Monument at Johnson’s Island. Several prominent former officers of the Confederacy attended the ceremonies. The dedicatory address was delivered by General George W. Gordon of Memphis, commander of the Army of Tennessee United Confederate Veterans. The monument was created by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a Jewish sculptor who had attended the Virginia Military Institute and fought for the Confederacy. The Robert Patton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy had commissioned the monument, which was funded by donations from members of the Masons across the nation as well as by members of military organizations. Fund raising efforts were led by Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson, whose brother Oliver A. Patton had been a prisoner at Johnson’s Island during the Civil War. According to a report in the June 9, 1910 issue of the Newark Advocate, “The veterans of both armies without exception were moved to tears and some fairly shook with emotion when the strings drawn by Mrs. Mary Patton Hudson, of Cincinnati, the big American flag that screened it from the public gaze was lowered and the statue designed and executed by Sir Moses Ezekiel was revealed.” After the unveiling ceremony, several former Confederate officers were escorted to dinner at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home where they inspected the grounds and were entertained at dinner. John T. Mack of Sandusky was the marshal of the parade, in which soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies participated.