O.R.--SERIES III--VOLUME IV [S# 125]
CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, REPORTS, AND RETURNS OF THE UNION AUTHORITIES FROM JANUARY 1, 1864, TO APRIL 30, 1865.(*)--#37
(Nativity of those buried at Arlington National Cemetary)
Extensive excerpt
No. 3.
Extract from annual report of Capt. James M. Moore, assistant quartermaster, relating to the National Cemeteries and the burial of deceased soldiers and others dying in the service of the United States in hospitals in and about Washington.
The charge of the National Cemeteries and the burial of deceased soldiers and others dying in the service of the United States in hospitals in and about Washington is under the jurisdiction of this office, and is probably the most important of my specialties.
It was deemed advisable at the expiration of the burial contract, December 31, 1863, for the Government to manufacture all the coffins required for interments in the National Cemeteries, as well as those needed for shipment to distant points. The coffins now issued cost less than one-half the price paid by contract, and are far superior. The hearses used for transportation to the graves are covered ambulances, painted black, and are well suited for the purpose.
The tablets or headboards are principally of white pine, with the exception of some 4,000 of black walnut purchased more than a year ago. They are painted in white and lettered in black, with the name, company, regiment, and date of death. I would here remark that unless the tablets are painted before lettering the wood will absorb the oil in the paint and the rain soon wash off the lead in lettering.
By much pains and labor I have succeeded in preparing a mortuary record for future reference, giving a succinct history of the deceased, every page of which has been compared with the records of hospitals, and up to the present date believed to be the most reliable register of the dead extant.
Information is daily furnished to numerous friends respecting deceased soldiers, and frequently before it can be obtained elsewhere, as the record is always kept up to date, no matter how great may be the mortality.
In May last the ground of the cemetery in the rear of the Old Soldiers' Home having become exhausted, the Secretary of War directed that a new site be selected on Lee's farm, at Arlington, Va. The locality is well adapted for a cemetery, and is being appropriately improved for that object. Intelligent and reliable sextons are placed in charge, who keep a register of all interments made, with the particulars concerning each, for the information of visitors.
The miserable condition of the cemetery in the vicinity of the Old Soldiers' Home, and the frequent complaints of persons respecting it, induced me early in December to commence the painting and lettering of headboards, the few remaining up having become so obliterated by exposure to the weather that it was with difficulty many names could be read. The ground was filled with hollows containing vast pools of water, and the mounds so washed by heavy rains that in some places hardly a trace was left, but for an unsightly stake, to indicate the graves of the departed.
During the winter I manufactured the tablets, and by the 1st of March had 4,000 of them ready to be placed in the ground, and but a few months elapsed until this cemetery presented a new aspect. The ground was refenced, a neat and handsome lodge was erected, a garden laid out, the graves sodded, the walks graveled, choice flowers and trees planted--indeed, so transformed in appearance as to be almost unknown to those who had previously visited it.
Great care and attention have also been paid to the Harmony burial ground, where all soldiers dying of infectious diseases, and contrabands, are interred.
The improvements of the National Cemeteries have been a source of great gratification to all who visit them, and entirely dissipated the prevailing opinion of those living remote from Washington that soldiers were irreverently or carelessly buried.
* * * * * * * * * *
I have appended for your information an abstract of the burial record, showing the number of men who died in hospitals in this vicinity, with the nativities, ages, causes of death, &c., from August 1, 1861, to August 1, 1864.
[extensive excerpt]
W-White
B-Black
Buried.----- Exhumed. --Taken--by friends.
Cemetery. Opened. Closed. W B W B W B
Old Soldiers' Home Aug. 1,1881 May 13, 1864 5,447 529 714 .... 2,159 12
Union Oct. 1, 1862 Feb. 17, 1863 .... 1,012 .... .... .... ....
Harmony Feb. 17 1863 .... 473 2,667 .... .... .... ....
New National, Arlington May 13, 1864 .... 2,619 231 .... .... .... ....
Total .... .... 8,539 4,169 829 .... 2,159 12
Nativity.
United States 4,910
England 142
Ireland 444
Scotland 40
Wales 7
France 22
Russia 1
Austria 2
Sweden 4
Denmark 2
Poland 1
Norway 5
Turkey 1
Spain 1
Persia 1
Prussia 20
Germany 306
Switzerland 18
Italy 5
Canada 108
Bavaria 4
Holland 2
Saxony 2
Nova Scotia 9
Newfoundland 2
New Brunswick 8
West Indies 1
Saint Helena 1
Isle of Man 1
Mexico 1
Contrabands 4,181
State of enlistment and description of service.
Maine 695 Unknown 566
Vermont 368 Quartermaster's Department 253
Rhode Island 86 Ordnance Department 2
New York 3,254 Paymaster's Department 1
Pennsylvania 2,377 Engineer Corps 1
Maryland 112 Sappers and miners 1
Virginia 144 Independent corps 3
South Carolina 25 Page's battalion 3
Florida 2 Colum's [sic] cavalry 1
Mississippi 15 Harlan's cavalry 1
California 6 McClellan Dragoons 1
Kentucky 2 Regan's artillery 1
Ohio 319 Deserter 1
Illinois 66 Soldiers' wives 5
Wisconsin 219 Nurses 7
United States 423 Commissary Department 7
New Hampshire 263 Telegraph department 2
Massachusetts 678 Veteran Reserve Corps 192
Connecticut 162 Signal Corps 1
New Jersey 404 General Halleck's headquarters 2
Delaware 54 Rocket battery 1
District of Columbia 66 Citizen prisoners 16
North Carolina 106 Railroad employés 1
Georgia 44 Scout 1
Alabama. 15 Sailors 2
Louisiana 8 Conscripts 4
Missouri 8 Servants 5
Tennessee 3 Soldiers' children 4
Michigan 616 Contrabands 4,181
Indiana 164 Total 15,708
Minnesota 3
Places of death.
Armory Hospital 1,158 Kalorama Hospital 572
Ascension Hospital 69 Lincoln Hospital 655
Baptist Hospital 8 Mount Pleasant Hospital 667
Camp and post hospitals 975 Nurses' Home 1
Campbell Hospital 349 Odd Fellows' Hall Hospital (Navy Yard) 24
Carver Hospital 627 Old Capitol Prison 62
Casparis Hospital 26 Park Hospital 9
Circle Hospital 66 Patent Hospital 201
Cliffburne Hospital 176 Potomac River 51
Columbian Hospital 511 Presbyterian Hospital 27
Contrabands 4,181 Providence Hospital 1
Cranch Hospital 26 Quartermaster's Hospital 150
Desmares Hospital 4 Ryland Chapel and Grace Church Hospital 24
District of Columbia 261 Seminary Hospital 194
Douglas Hospital 522 Soldiers' Rest 32
Dumbarton Hospital 13 Stanton Hospital 387
Ebenezer Hospital 37 Saint Aloysius Hospital 50
Eckington Hospital 91 Saint Elizabeth Hospital 88
Emory Hospital 773 Steamers 65
Epiphany Hospital 31 Stone Hospital 56
E Street Hospital 56 Thirteenth Street Hospital 1
Finley Hospital 444 Trinity Hospital, Georgetown 15
Forrest Hall Prison 3 Trinity Hospital, Washington 70
Georgetown College Hospital 103 Union Hospital, Georgetown 165
Giesborough Hospital 196 Union Hospital, Washington 12
Harewood Hospital 760 Waters' Warehouse Hospital 27
Home Sanitary Commission 114 Total 15,708
Island Hall Hospital 11
Judiciary Hospital 470
M. E. Wolf