MD Antietam National Cemetery History

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Antietam National Cemetery History

Thinking about the upcoming Antietam Muster^ I decided I should reread some of my materials about this vicious struggle along the Potomac River. The battle of Antietam is a personal conflict for me as my GGGrandfather Joseph Pinner with the 3rd North Carolina was wounded in this slugfest.

The Battle of Antietam, despite having occurred 159 years ago, is the bloodiest day in American History. Over 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing after the day long fight between the Potomac River and Antietam Creek. The actual number of casualties is certainly higher considering the lack of accurate Confederate records.

In 1864 Lewis P. Firey, a Maryland state senator began the process to establish a National Cemetery at Antietam which culminated in the purchase of 11 acres. The removal of the bodies from the battlefield to the National Cemetery began in October of 1866. There are 4,776 Federal soldiers from various battlefields are interred of which less than 40% are identified. The National Cemetery was dedicated on September 17, 1867 the 5th​ Anniversary of the battle. The original list of the soldiers buried, both known and unknown, that were buried in 1866 are listed alphabetically by state arranged in a semi circle layout*

A board of Trustees were appointed to oversee the operation to remove the soldiers and interment in the National Cemetery. Below is a report regarding this operation:
The local Trustees did not confine their action to the removal of the dead who fell at the battle of Antietam, but deemed it proper, at the suggestion of the authorities at Washington, to remove all the Federal dead who had been buried in Washington, Alleghany, and Frederick counties, Maryland, believing that course to be in accordance with the patriotic spirit with which the appropriations were made for the establishment of the Cemetery. They were exhumed, placed in coffins, and delivered to the association Superintendent, who buried them at the expense of the association. In the burial of the dead every coffin was numbered, and a corresponding number entered in a book kept for this purpose, with the name, company, regiment and State, when they could be ascertained, so that, at any time, by reference to the records, the location of any grave can at once be found. The dead were buried under the immediate supervision and eye of the President, who held the tape line over every coffin deposited, and entered the name, number and company in his field book, before any earth was replaced. The trenches for the reception of the bodies are six feet in width and three feet in depth, one-third of which are quarried out of solid rock, which, to a great extent, underlies the ground of the Cemetery, and the surrounding country. Two feet are allowed for each body. The coffins containing the bodies were furnished free of charge, through the generosity of the General Government.”**

The operation to inter the Federal soldiers into the National Cemetery is described below
The removal of the dead was commenced in October, 1866 by the United States Burial Corps, detailed by the General Government for the purpose, under the superintendence of Lieutenant Jonx W. Sheere, and they continued their work until January, 1867, when, by reason of the severity of the weather, operations in that department were stopped. They had been removed up to that time about three thousand bodies. They resumed
work in April 1867, and finished their work in August of the same year.”***


Today the natural beauty of the surrounding country embraces this special “field of honor” honoring the sacrifice of these brave men.

The Soldier Monument located in the middle of the cemetery was erected in 1880. The story behind the soldier unfolds like this:
“On September 1, 1871, the executive committee for the board of trustees, comprised of S. Rutledge McNary of Connecticut, George B. Wright of Ohio, Brig. Gen. Erza A. Carman of New Jersey, and Secretary-Treasurer Thomas A. Boullt, entered into a contract with James C. Batterson of Hartford, Connecticut, to within the space of two years from the first of October next, to erect a monument in the Antietam National Cemetery and "finish the same complete entire according to the design hereto annexed and the accompanying specifications for foundations," for the total sum of $30,000.
...The monument was to be of white granite from the granite .works at Westerly, Rhode Island. It was to be 22 feet square at the base and 44 feet 7 inches in height from the foundation to the top of the statue. The statue itself, 21 feet 6 inches high, was to be of a soldier on guard. The $30,000 included the making, delivery, and erection of the monument, except for the underground foundation.”****

The “Private Soldier Monument” has the following inscribed on its base:

Not for themselves, but for their country”
To Be Continued
Regards
David

^https://civilwartalk.com/threads/civilwartalk-antietam-muster-2021-oct-8-10.181040/#post-2380721

Sources:
*History of Antietam National Cemetery
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009611188
Pages 57-202

**ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD AND NATIONAL CEMETERY AN ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY by Charles W, Snell and Sharon A. Brown
http://npshistory.com/publications/anti/adhi.pdf
Page 16

***History of Antietam National Cemetery
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009611188
Pages 17-18

****ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD AND NATIONAL CEMETERY AN ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY by Charles W, Snell and Sharon A. Brown
http://npshistory.com/publications/anti/adhi.pdf
Pages 23-24





****ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD AND NATIONAL CEMETERY AN ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY by Charles W, Snell and Sharon A. Brown
http://npshistory.com/publications/anti/adhi.pdf
Page 220
 
The 2,674 long wall surrounding the cemetery that was built in 1865-1866 was repaired in 1939 by the Works Progressive Administration. During the project a cornerstone was discovered and was described as below:

"In April 1939 workmen had discovered what was probably the cornerstone of the wall that had been laid In 1866, In a letter to the director, Beckenbaugh described these findings as follows: There was no evidence in the wall that it contained a cornerstone and we do not believe that one was ever officially laid, as we find no records. The workmen In tearing down the southwest corner, came upon a crude opening In which was a stone jar with a large but badly disintegrated cork which had been covered with red sealing wax. The jar contained 7 coins which we list as follows:
Half Dime--- 1862
Three cent piece --- 1865
One cent piece --- 1858
One cent piece --- 1866
Three cent piece --- 1865
Two cent piece 1865
One cent piece --- 186 T
Total value - 16¢

There was a newspaper badly disintegrated and so wet that It could scarcely be handled and after drying same to the best of our ability It has been Impossible to find the date or title of the paper, but from some printing which It was possible to read we believe that it was a Baltimore Paper. We have placed the coins In the office safe and have the jar and paper fragments In the Administration Building stock room, and await Instructions as to any disposition that the Service may desire to make of same.

On April 25, 19~0. as the northwest corner of the cemetery stone wall was finished, Superintendent Beckenbaugh held a corner-stone laying ceremony attended "by the entire battlefield staff and the WPA force: The Superintendent made a brief talk complimenting the men on the excellent work accomplished, on the splendid safety record they had made with the dangerous work performed and expressed his deep appreciation for their excellent spirit of loyalty and cooperation.

A glass jar, the top capped and sealed In cement, was placed In the wall, containing
a battlefield pamphlet,
Maryland state road map,
1939 copper pennies,
1939 Jefferson nickel,
a Buffalo nickel
and a typed record of the project,
with the names of the President, Secretary of Interior, Director, Regional Director, Regional Engineer. Resident Landscape Architect, the entire Antietam National Battlefield Site personnel, and all the NYA and WPA who have been employed here since the project has been In operation.*


I am unable to share photos of this beautiful plot of ground as I have not been Antietam in over 20 years, however @LittleMac posted a wonderful thread with pictures that I have listed below,^
I hope to see everyone at this year’s Antietam Muster in October!^^
Regards
David

Sources:
ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD AND NATIONAL CEMETERY AN ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY by Charles W, Snell and Sharon A. Brown
http://npshistory.com/publications/anti/adhi.pdf
Page 220

^https://civilwartalk.com/threads/antietam-national-cemetery.156965/#post-2028953

^^https://civilwartalk.com/threads/antietam-national-cemetery.156965/#post-2028953
 
Thank you for this. I was interested to learn that the bodies were only buried three feet deep. I also noted you mentioned that there was rock directly underneath.
The soldiers and workers who reinterred these brave soldiers do not get enough credits for their work during and after the war.
 
Kathy the duty of burying the dead was a horrific experience and a terrible detail. Often it was assigned as a punishment detail as it was a gut wrenching experience.

I am more knowledgeable about the interment of the dead, both Union and Confederate, after the battle of Shiloh. I have listed the link below to a thread about the Missing Confederate Burial Trenches at Shiloh that might provide additional information.

If I can be of further assistance or any questions I would be delighted to respond if possible.
Regards
David

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/th...urial-trenches-at-shiloh.170670/#post-2218096
 
This article from The Washington Times provides additional information
Regards
David


By - The Washington Times - Saturday, March 15, 2003
On the morning after the Battle of Antietam (Sept. 18, 1862), an unseasonably warm sun exposed countless distended Blue and Gray bodies across the rolling fields and woods around Sharpsburg, Md. To the east, the sound of steel picks and shovels echoed from the rugged slopes of South Mountain, where burial details desperately were trying to clear the carnage left from another battle, fought four days earlier.
That night, Gen. Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia safely across the Potomac River to Southern soil. Behind remained the enormous task for Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac to care for the wounded and bury the dead, North and South more than 23,000 total casualties that day.
The bloodiest day of the Civil War was fought on some of the most fertile farmland in Washington County, fortunately making burials a little easier. Immediate burial was necessary because of highly contagious disease, not to mention the horrible smell of thousands of decomposing bodies. A Sharpsburg resident wrote in his journal, “I could hardly sit down for my evening meal without getting sick on the stomach, due to the odor of rotten human flesh.”
On South Mountain, where terrain was so rocky that it was next to impossible to penetrate with a shovel, the dead were buried hastily in rock crevices, stone-fence corners and sinkholes. In one case, 58 Confederate bodies were dumped down an old well.
Federal dead received priority, and, needless to say, Union burial parties didn’t hurt themselves when it came to burying the invading Rebels. Otho Nesbitt of Clear Spring, Md., toured the Antietam battlefield Sept. 19 and noted in his diary, “The Rebels were put in a trench and a board put at one end with the number put on. I saw probably 500 dead and from what others said, I didn’t see more than half of the battle field for some said it extended far below Sharpsburg.”
Residents of Sharpsburg even noticed arms and legs protruding from the earth of shallow graves on nearby farms. After hard rains, hogs and dogs were seen chewing and dragging human bones and carcasses.
During spring plowing, one farmer mentioned that if he noticed a fragment of blue uniform sticking from a shallow grave, he would pull up the wood slat marking the site (if one existed) and stick it back in the soft ground behind him, without stopping the horses. If he saw a trace of butternut or gray, he would plow straight on through.
In 1865, three years after the battles at South Mountain and Antietam, plans were made to move dead from both sides to a new cemetery near Sharpsburg but Northern states refused to appropriate funds for the project if any Confederates were to be placed with the Union soldiers.
By early 1867, in the “strictly Union” National Cemetery at Sharpsburg, 4,695 dead had been reinterred with temporary wooden headboards. On Sept. 17, 1867, the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, that cemetery was officially dedicated. Dignitaries among the crowd of nearly 15,000 included President Andrew Johnson, Gov. Thomas Swann of Maryland and Gens. McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant.
Now came the question of what to do with the Confederate dead, haphazardly buried around Sharpsburg and on South Mountain. One thing was sure: Northern states were not about to contribute “one dime” for reburial of Rebels, and the Southern states were in the process of Reconstruction and still in financial ruin.
Trustees of the National Cemetery received a letter dated Dec. 3, 1867, from Gov. R.E. Fenton of New York, calling attention to the “sad condition of the Confederate dead.” The Antietam trustees contacted Swann and his successor, Gov. Oden Bowie.
Early in 1868, Bowie requested that Thomas Boult make a list of the locations of the Confederate remains at Sharpsburg, South Mountain and Monocacy battlefields and other points throughout Washington and Frederick counties. Moses Poffenburger and Aaron Good of Sharpsburg assisted in locating and preparing the list of the dead.
Entries on the list sent to the governor give examples of the brutal reality of war and its aftermath: “Buried in D.R. Miller’s field near Smoketown Road, 9 trenches, supposed to contain 225 unknown dead; 3 trenches of 30 unknowns, buried in S.E. corner of Mrs. Lucker’s barn field; 6 unknown, below J.C. Grove’s spring; 2 unknown, buried 20 feet north of elm tree in Samuel Bealer’s field, and along the line fence between D. Smith and Bealer’s.”
The list, completed May 1, 1869, contained 758 Confederate identified, while 2,481 were known only to God.
Now it became necessary to find a piece of ground suitable for reinterment.
On April 4, 1870, the Maryland legislature provided $5,000 for the final resting place for the Southern remains. The cemetery, it said, “should be located within one mile of Hagerstown,” the county seat, 12 miles north of Sharpsburg. To secure the ground, Bowie appointed a board of trustees that included James Gambrill of Frederick County, Maj. George Freaner and Col. Henry Kyd Douglas of Washington County. (Douglas had served as Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s youngest staff member.)
After several sites were considered, the trustees purchased a 23/4-acre parcel for $2,400 within the boundaries of Rose Hill Cemetery in the southern end of Hagerstown. Establishing a cemetery within a cemetery had the advantage of eliminating the need for a separate fence or enclosure, and maintenance could be handled by the caretaker of the existing cemetery.
Having spent nearly half the state funds, the trustees had to be very conservative in order to pay for the reburial of more than 3,000 Rebel soldiers. To purchase lumber, build coffins, exhume and rebury, they hired Henry Mumma of Sharpsburg. Mumma would be paid “one dollar” per head or, to be more precise, per skull.
In September 1872, 10 years after the battle, Mumma began, with an unknown number of laborers and Bowie’s list, to remove the Confederate skeletal remains from around Sharpsburg. It was said that the workers were “black men” who, when opening the shallow graves, would grab the skull, rib cage and maybe several longer bones. After the bones were placed in one of the wooden boxes or coffins, any smaller bones were covered quickly and left behind. About 1 foot square and 3 feet long, the boxes each contained the remains of two soldiers and were loaded on a two-horse wagon for the journey north toward Hagerstown.
Legend has it that as wagon after wagon entered the cemetery, they were driven in a semicircle, laying out the actual grave sites the small 3-foot coffins were fitted between the ruts created by the heavy wagon wheels. The unknown were buried in rows listed in plots; for example, “27 boxes 54 bodies unknown; 34 boxes 68 bodies unknown.” The identified were placed in sections according to their states of origin Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia having the largest areas.
The removal of the Southern soldiers from Antietam was completed by the end of 1872; however, about 500 bodies remained on South Mountain and scattered throughout Washington County. As the original fund was almost exhausted, Maryland provided another $5,000, and Virginia and West Virginia each contributed $500 for the project. Henry Mumma and his workers started again, this time to remove the dead from South Mountain.
By fall of 1874, Mumma had completed the grim chore and the Hagerstown Mail reported that the Confederate remains “have been taken from the historic well on South Mountain battle field, where they were thrown by Gen. [Jesse Lee] Reno’s command.”
With the remaining money, a monument was purchased for $1,440. On Feb. 28, 1877, the 19-foot granite-and-marble statue representing “Hope” was erected at what originally was called Washington Cemetery Confederate. That official name eventually gave way to simply Washington Confederate Cemetery.
Directly behind the monument is a large-scale map illustrating the layout. Drawn in 1888 by the custodian of Rose Hill Cemetery, Joseph Coxon, it gives the name and approximate location of each identified Confederate soldier’s grave.
There is only one individual grave marker, and that belongs to Col. Samuel P. Lumpkin, 44th Georgia Infantry. Lumpkin was mortally wounded at Gettysburg and died in Hagerstown on Sept. 18, 1863. The Georgia officer was first buried in a church cemetery in Hagerstown but was removed to Washington Cemetery in 1913.
The Washington Confederate Cemetery was dedicated June 15, 1877. The guest speaker was Confederate Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and presiding at the solemn ceremony was Douglas. More than 6,000 people attended. The Rev. Levi Keller from nearby Funkstown gave the opening prayer, in which he thanked “almighty God for the restoration of love and unity between the late contending armies.”
On Sept. 3, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower came from his farm near Gettysburg for the rededication of Washington Confederate Cemetery. The former president and five-star general flew to Hagerstown in an Army helicopter for the ceremony, attended by a host of Maryland dignitaries.
Was Henry Mumma successful in removing all Confederate remains from Antietam? Hardly. In 1902, the bodies of two Confederates were unearthed while repairs were being made to the C&O Canal near Sharpsburg. In 1907, the remains of several were “plowed up” on the Smith farm just west of Sharpsburg. Other Confederate dead doubtless remain where they were buried quickly on the day of battle.
While in command of troops at the Sunken Road at Antietam, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon sent a message to Lee: “These men are going to stay here, General, till the sun goes down or victory is won!” Gordon recalled those words 28 years later in his wartime memoirs, and wrote, “Alas! Many of the brave fellows are there now.”

Richard E. Clem is a cabinetmaker in Hagerstown and a frequent contributor to this page.
 
Kathy the duty of burying the dead was a horrific experience and a terrible detail. Often it was assigned as a punishment detail as it was a gut wrenching experience.

I am more knowledgeable about the interment of the dead, both Union and Confederate, after the battle of Shiloh. I have listed the link below to a thread about the Missing Confederate Burial Trenches at Shiloh that might provide additional information.

If I can be of further assistance or any questions I would be delighted to respond if possible.
Regards
David

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/th...urial-trenches-at-shiloh.170670/#post-2218096
Thank you. I have also read that US Colored Troops were frequently assigned this duty. I have read "This Republic of Suffering" so I have a clue.. I'll post my questions. This might be more of a source of PTSD than the actual battles.
 
At Shiloh the white soldiers buried the dead days after the battle.
In 1866-1867 USCT soldiers reburied the Union soldiers in the National cemetery
I believe the USCT were used more in the Eastern Theater but I could mistaken
Regards
David
 
This article from The Washington Times provides additional information
Regards
David


By - The Washington Times - Saturday, March 15, 2003
On the morning after the Battle of Antietam (Sept. 18, 1862), an unseasonably warm sun exposed countless distended Blue and Gray bodies across the rolling fields and woods around Sharpsburg, Md. To the east, the sound of steel picks and shovels echoed from the rugged slopes of South Mountain, where burial details desperately were trying to clear the carnage left from another battle, fought four days earlier.
That night, Gen. Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia safely across the Potomac River to Southern soil. Behind remained the enormous task for Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac to care for the wounded and bury the dead, North and South more than 23,000 total casualties that day.
The bloodiest day of the Civil War was fought on some of the most fertile farmland in Washington County, fortunately making burials a little easier. Immediate burial was necessary because of highly contagious disease, not to mention the horrible smell of thousands of decomposing bodies. A Sharpsburg resident wrote in his journal, “I could hardly sit down for my evening meal without getting sick on the stomach, due to the odor of rotten human flesh.”
On South Mountain, where terrain was so rocky that it was next to impossible to penetrate with a shovel, the dead were buried hastily in rock crevices, stone-fence corners and sinkholes. In one case, 58 Confederate bodies were dumped down an old well.
Federal dead received priority, and, needless to say, Union burial parties didn’t hurt themselves when it came to burying the invading Rebels. Otho Nesbitt of Clear Spring, Md., toured the Antietam battlefield Sept. 19 and noted in his diary, “The Rebels were put in a trench and a board put at one end with the number put on. I saw probably 500 dead and from what others said, I didn’t see more than half of the battle field for some said it extended far below Sharpsburg.”
Residents of Sharpsburg even noticed arms and legs protruding from the earth of shallow graves on nearby farms. After hard rains, hogs and dogs were seen chewing and dragging human bones and carcasses.
During spring plowing, one farmer mentioned that if he noticed a fragment of blue uniform sticking from a shallow grave, he would pull up the wood slat marking the site (if one existed) and stick it back in the soft ground behind him, without stopping the horses. If he saw a trace of butternut or gray, he would plow straight on through.
In 1865, three years after the battles at South Mountain and Antietam, plans were made to move dead from both sides to a new cemetery near Sharpsburg but Northern states refused to appropriate funds for the project if any Confederates were to be placed with the Union soldiers.
By early 1867, in the “strictly Union” National Cemetery at Sharpsburg, 4,695 dead had been reinterred with temporary wooden headboards. On Sept. 17, 1867, the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, that cemetery was officially dedicated. Dignitaries among the crowd of nearly 15,000 included President Andrew Johnson, Gov. Thomas Swann of Maryland and Gens. McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant.
Now came the question of what to do with the Confederate dead, haphazardly buried around Sharpsburg and on South Mountain. One thing was sure: Northern states were not about to contribute “one dime” for reburial of Rebels, and the Southern states were in the process of Reconstruction and still in financial ruin.
Trustees of the National Cemetery received a letter dated Dec. 3, 1867, from Gov. R.E. Fenton of New York, calling attention to the “sad condition of the Confederate dead.” The Antietam trustees contacted Swann and his successor, Gov. Oden Bowie.
Early in 1868, Bowie requested that Thomas Boult make a list of the locations of the Confederate remains at Sharpsburg, South Mountain and Monocacy battlefields and other points throughout Washington and Frederick counties. Moses Poffenburger and Aaron Good of Sharpsburg assisted in locating and preparing the list of the dead.
Entries on the list sent to the governor give examples of the brutal reality of war and its aftermath: “Buried in D.R. Miller’s field near Smoketown Road, 9 trenches, supposed to contain 225 unknown dead; 3 trenches of 30 unknowns, buried in S.E. corner of Mrs. Lucker’s barn field; 6 unknown, below J.C. Grove’s spring; 2 unknown, buried 20 feet north of elm tree in Samuel Bealer’s field, and along the line fence between D. Smith and Bealer’s.”
The list, completed May 1, 1869, contained 758 Confederate identified, while 2,481 were known only to God.
Now it became necessary to find a piece of ground suitable for reinterment.
On April 4, 1870, the Maryland legislature provided $5,000 for the final resting place for the Southern remains. The cemetery, it said, “should be located within one mile of Hagerstown,” the county seat, 12 miles north of Sharpsburg. To secure the ground, Bowie appointed a board of trustees that included James Gambrill of Frederick County, Maj. George Freaner and Col. Henry Kyd Douglas of Washington County. (Douglas had served as Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s youngest staff member.)
After several sites were considered, the trustees purchased a 23/4-acre parcel for $2,400 within the boundaries of Rose Hill Cemetery in the southern end of Hagerstown. Establishing a cemetery within a cemetery had the advantage of eliminating the need for a separate fence or enclosure, and maintenance could be handled by the caretaker of the existing cemetery.
Having spent nearly half the state funds, the trustees had to be very conservative in order to pay for the reburial of more than 3,000 Rebel soldiers. To purchase lumber, build coffins, exhume and rebury, they hired Henry Mumma of Sharpsburg. Mumma would be paid “one dollar” per head or, to be more precise, per skull.
In September 1872, 10 years after the battle, Mumma began, with an unknown number of laborers and Bowie’s list, to remove the Confederate skeletal remains from around Sharpsburg. It was said that the workers were “black men” who, when opening the shallow graves, would grab the skull, rib cage and maybe several longer bones. After the bones were placed in one of the wooden boxes or coffins, any smaller bones were covered quickly and left behind. About 1 foot square and 3 feet long, the boxes each contained the remains of two soldiers and were loaded on a two-horse wagon for the journey north toward Hagerstown.
Legend has it that as wagon after wagon entered the cemetery, they were driven in a semicircle, laying out the actual grave sites the small 3-foot coffins were fitted between the ruts created by the heavy wagon wheels. The unknown were buried in rows listed in plots; for example, “27 boxes 54 bodies unknown; 34 boxes 68 bodies unknown.” The identified were placed in sections according to their states of origin Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia having the largest areas.
The removal of the Southern soldiers from Antietam was completed by the end of 1872; however, about 500 bodies remained on South Mountain and scattered throughout Washington County. As the original fund was almost exhausted, Maryland provided another $5,000, and Virginia and West Virginia each contributed $500 for the project. Henry Mumma and his workers started again, this time to remove the dead from South Mountain.
By fall of 1874, Mumma had completed the grim chore and the Hagerstown Mail reported that the Confederate remains “have been taken from the historic well on South Mountain battle field, where they were thrown by Gen. [Jesse Lee] Reno’s command.”
With the remaining money, a monument was purchased for $1,440. On Feb. 28, 1877, the 19-foot granite-and-marble statue representing “Hope” was erected at what originally was called Washington Cemetery Confederate. That official name eventually gave way to simply Washington Confederate Cemetery.
Directly behind the monument is a large-scale map illustrating the layout. Drawn in 1888 by the custodian of Rose Hill Cemetery, Joseph Coxon, it gives the name and approximate location of each identified Confederate soldier’s grave.
There is only one individual grave marker, and that belongs to Col. Samuel P. Lumpkin, 44th Georgia Infantry. Lumpkin was mortally wounded at Gettysburg and died in Hagerstown on Sept. 18, 1863. The Georgia officer was first buried in a church cemetery in Hagerstown but was removed to Washington Cemetery in 1913.
The Washington Confederate Cemetery was dedicated June 15, 1877. The guest speaker was Confederate Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and presiding at the solemn ceremony was Douglas. More than 6,000 people attended. The Rev. Levi Keller from nearby Funkstown gave the opening prayer, in which he thanked “almighty God for the restoration of love and unity between the late contending armies.”
On Sept. 3, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower came from his farm near Gettysburg for the rededication of Washington Confederate Cemetery. The former president and five-star general flew to Hagerstown in an Army helicopter for the ceremony, attended by a host of Maryland dignitaries.
Was Henry Mumma successful in removing all Confederate remains from Antietam? Hardly. In 1902, the bodies of two Confederates were unearthed while repairs were being made to the C&O Canal near Sharpsburg. In 1907, the remains of several were “plowed up” on the Smith farm just west of Sharpsburg. Other Confederate dead doubtless remain where they were buried quickly on the day of battle.
While in command of troops at the Sunken Road at Antietam, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon sent a message to Lee: “These men are going to stay here, General, till the sun goes down or victory is won!” Gordon recalled those words 28 years later in his wartime memoirs, and wrote, “Alas! Many of the brave fellows are there now.”

Richard E. Clem is a cabinetmaker in Hagerstown and a frequent contributor to this page.
Great article, thank you. "This Republic of Suffering" is probably the book that brought the situation of Confederate soldiers needing separate burial to my attention. I can understand the bitterness after the war on the part of the north, but the government could have done better. This article is a great example of an effort being made.
The treatment of the dead is why I think Confederate monuments should remain and be respected. So many thrown into trenches unknown. If the monuments go how will people that don't study the war know of their sacrifice? I don't want to start a controversial thread, and I understand that municipalities are entitled to do as they please. I'm grateful for the efforts of the National Park Service to preserve the history under it's protection.
 
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