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el irered itive e of hi* ongress, ell Irom Union, extract inor and 11 -inter-loyalty, if 1 am ol show-*n eflbrInstluotnngs and t of hn. irongTHE BATTLE GROUND OF COLD HARBOR.BURIAL OF THU REMAINS OF UNION SOLDIERS.Ah OFFICIAL REPORT.The undersigned haring, by reqaeJt of the mllittry aulhoriilei, accompanied an expedition of alxty (Sap men, under command of Captaia C. L. Stereos, of the 67'h Ohio Volunteers, ordered to repair to the Battle Ground of Cold Harbor “to bury Ihoreuisini of such of our men as may bo fonnd nnbu. tied, would respectfully present the following report:tVc Irit this city on the 1st instant, and returned on the 6th.We carefully surreyed tho Battle Ground of the first BIX days of June, 18114, com-mcncing near Bcthesda Church and running in a southeasterly direction between Old •ud Now Cold Harbor, for a distance of about six miles.t or most of tho way along tho lino of breastwork' of the Federal army wo idund human bones and carcasses, some entirely uuburiod, others partially exposed. Most of them bore marks of haring been buried and afterwards exhumed, borne had crl-dentlv never been buried.Generally, some portions of the bones 'were still core red, while a hand, arm or foot, or more commonly the ribs and thigh nones, were on the surface.In very many cases the head was lying where it bad beou interred, and tho shoulders and carcass below, drawn or dug up far enough to react tho pockets of tho clothing and there left. Sometimes in a sitting posture, leaning against the mound ut earth, in front, With Which It had been covered.In one Instance, four stakes were lying with one end over the grave, on thrco ol which tho body they had been used to eio-vate, was still lying. Other similar instances were found.lu one case a body was found lying near a niuch-frci|ncnied road, and referred to by persons habitually passing, as a familiar scene, without any apparent thought of lbs propriety of burying it. Only a portion of the libs and smaller bones were still there, the main part having been recently carried atiout two rods and deposited behind some bushes.Near the Bcthesda Church, we wore con-ducted by some boys to a place where they supposed a body lay, and it was nnt there, fbe ground looked Irosli, and the gra-.s had not Started upon tho spot, while all arouud .1 there was a luxuriant growth. We looked over au adjacent fence into the border of a wood lot and found a body recently deposited among aome bashes, and some dry brush thrown over it.A few rials distant were the hones of an-her man, lying in a gutter, and three beads ol cattle thrown over them.There was, very commonly, a hollow in the mound which had been turown over the body, from which the ourtli seemed to have been removed In digging up the client. In such cases the sknll anu hover limbs were frequently lying in their places.In some localities, tho boues were so soat. ter cl about, it was impossible to tell to which bodies they belonged, and in some esses v, e could not tell accurately bow many bodies there were.We searched diligently for the material by which to identify the bodies, but found ■arccly any ou which wo could rely.There were several piles of paper which had been torn into small pieces.lu some Instances small bones were so mixed in '.lie sand by the roadside that it was Impossible to bo certain that we had gathered them all.Some localities presontej appalling proofs of rarnagc audsubsequt'.t barbarity.. commenced our work in the woods near our incampmcnt on the north side ■ I the road leading from New to Old Cold liar -Here we found human skulls, rilis, pliric, and the bones of limbs, hands and lying in ghastly profusion in every direction.In this locality a previous burial party bad already gathered a largo quantity ol bones and deposited them In a common grave on the south side ol the road. Notwithstanding this, we gathered up the remains of (11)0) on.' hundred men. as nearly as we ■ Olid decide, aud deposited them in a com-non grare on the opposite side of the road. This grave i« marked by a walnut tree at the :t end and a cedar at tho cast end. .Southeast ofthla place, orer an o|ien held, in a valley north of a piece of woodland, between the linos of breastworks, we made an. other grave in which we deposited the liouos of ('til thirty-fire bodies found in its vicln. ity.In the woods, about thirty roda south ol this, aud about one-fourth cf n mile southeast of tho New Cold Harbor houso, on the brow of a hill sloping westward, we made a third common grave in which wo deposited the remains or (40) forty soldiers.This grave Is in a little open space among 11 pine trees. About eight rods to the west of it, on the border of some underbrush, in a line of about 50 foot long, lay the bodies of twenty men. About sixty rods south east of this spot, in an open Held neir ilarge Locust tree, we made the. fourth grave, and gathered up from aliout tho foot of the tree and the aurrounding field tho bones ot thirty-six men, and laid them in it. Abont fitly rods stiil south east of this, by the south side of a road called tho Q laker road, and twenty rods wost ol the road which runs south from old Cild Harbor, near a largo cedar tree, we made the fiitli ramon grave. Hero wo deposited the re. mains of thirty-live soldiers. In a ravine about ten rods south east ol this grave, wo found a trench about one hundred tcet long, which bodies bad been deposilod, and on which the covering was mostly washed away. We found it impracticable to remove theso bodies to a more desirable locality, and proceeded to turn the water course and arrango tho grave as decently as ci onmitances would allow.The sixth common grave wo made is in the woods by the sonth side of the Qaakcr road, and about three-fourths of a mile west of the fifth. It contains the bones of eight men. Wc Judge that they had been takon prisoners and carried to a Rebel hospital.— The graves of Confederate soldiers in this vicinity were undisturbed, while the bones ol Union soldiers were scattered abont as in other places.The inscriptions on the head-hoards of Confederate soluiers and the clothing still partly enveloping the bones ot Uulon soldiers’, designated the army to which they respectively belonged.Tho aeventb a.id last common grave we made, except those which contained but two or three bodies each, U located about three-fourths of a mile North-west of the first. It is near the Western border of a piece of woodland, sloping North, and about tour rods East of an old road on the border ol the woods, by which an earthwork bad beenbuilt.A large pine tree, riddled with bullets, marks the South eud of the grave and bears our brief inscription.On a apa. e of about one fourth of an acre, near tho centre of which it tbis grave, lying between two lines of breastworks, con verging to an angle near the top of the hill, wero the remains of forty-five (45) bodies, which had evidentlv once been hniied, bat wero now lying in every direotion end every position. Somo were crowing each other.— Sknlls and limbs were acaltered thickly over the ground, so that we could not tell to which bodies they belonged.We gathered them np and placed them In the grave. We also collected several from the lntrenchments Sontb, and placed with them i so that this grave contains, as nearly as we conld jodge, the bonea ol sixty-four (64) men, four uf them officer*.Besides those placed In common graves, we re-buried many separately by tho spot where we founa them, placing a hesd-board to each such grave. The number of bead-boards we erected was sixty-one (61).We fonnd a considerable number of gravesscattered along the rear of onr intrenoh. monta undisturbed, and with head -boarda etlU standing. There wero some where the head, boards bad been pulled up, which we reset by tho graves wbere they lay. And tbcro were some of which wo could not decide the locality, which we placed around the common graves.We took a list of the Inscriptions which came under our notice. We also lisve a very small list of names found upon tho clothes and upon paper in the pockets, which may, perhaps, serve as a guide to anxious friend] at home. We searched diligently for the necessary data fpr Identifying the bodies, but were pained to find them so few. We fonnd piles of paper torn in small pieces, to that the writing was quite illegible Fur the purpose of maxing oar work thorough, we left the first four graves we open-ed, uncovered till near the close ofthcthlrd day ef onr expedition.We then gathered onr little hand of men around each grave consocullvoly, and reverently and suuly performed our funeral rites and buried the collected remnants of our noble braves.At each of the othors the funeral service was performed immediately after wo bad completed the work of gathering and depo. siting tho bodies.The number of common graves we made is 7Number of bodies buried in them, 318 Number of bodies burled separately, tilTotal number of bodiea of Union aol. diers, 39Beside, we buried such bodies of Confod-orate soldiers as we found in nny degree exposed. These amounted to abont (20) twenty-making the whole number of our burials about (400) four hundred. In addition to t hose, niiracrons graves were repaired.A more detailed account of onr work can lie furnished if desired.The above summary account of our expedition is respectfully submitted byW«l. H. GH.BS.RT,Richmond, VK. F. Wi bus us, Field Agent U. S. C. V. ., May S, 1805.A Prophecy Fclpili.kd.—Too Philadelphia Sunday Transcript republishes an edito-rial which appeared In that paper December 23d, I860. The laat paragraph Is snbjoined. The spoecli referred to was delivered in the United States Senate in support of the enforcement of the constitution and the laws : The speech of Andrew Johnson, by-the. by, is a most remarkable production of a most remarkable man. Beginning life In obscurity and poverty, ho has risen, by the sheer force of Ins talents, probity, and on. ergy, to tho leadership of his own State.— Sneered at and snnbood by his more ailsto-cratic compeers, he has compelled the respect of the most fastidious, aud has tho unlimited confidence of tba masses. He haa always stood by the interests of labor und the laboring classes. He has long been noted lor his proverbial and Arlltioes-llke straight-forwardue s and honesty , aud he is a Democrat ol the Jackson school. Ilia politics are exactly those ol Andrew Jack--on ; and bis lato able apcecli in the Senate bin tho glorious tono and ring of an Old Hickory proclamation. Andrew Johnson has struck and swept tho chords of the National heart. He responds to this crisis in tho words of a trite man ; and tbis crisis will prove him to be a great man. Prom tho hour of his speech Andrew Johnson became one of the leaders of this Union; and we venture to predict that its highest honors are in store for him. The next Southern President of the United Slates will be— ma~k our words—Andrew Johnson.A Confederate Jocrsal os tiie Ass as-si nation.—Tho Meridian Clarion, of 22d ult., has tho following in relerence to the murder of the President .We hop* that the crime was not perpetrated by a Southerner, whom its Tory bar. barity would diagram. Such deeds could never do honor to the cause we esponsed, nor to those who make thomiclvcs martyrs is madness. Wo urn not his apologists; but men have been as insane, as we deemed Lin-coin, and yet history has attested their virtues. He deemed slavery a continental sin, and the Union a continental necessity. His monomania wax steadily pursued, even to the death ol his enemies. We cannot, in view of the laat that Johnson must be his snc. cess'T, approve tho sentiments of those who make a crime, at the hare recital of which ehlvalrous courage shudders, the subject matter of rejoicing.A previous number ot the same paper says;Wilkes Booth, we are told, was an actor in the Richmond Theatre. He is said to be an illegitimate son of the great tragedian.— We regret the truth of this story, If It be truth. We deem the independence of the Sonth eminently desirable, but never dream-ed that it was to he achieved by assassins. Providence rarely rewards crimes agalust which humanity revolts with the groatest blessings of which humanity dreams.A THOtornnnoiNn Reformer —Mr. John Stuart Mill, the distinguished author, haring Imen proposed as n candidate for Parliament, has given s summary of Ida political opinions. The following is his position on two leading points:“1 would open the siifl'rago to all grown persons, both men and women, who can read, write aud perform a snm in the rule of three, and who have not, within some small number of yrara, received parish relief.'• lteipectlng the disabilities of dissenters,my answer may be brief. Thoro ought to'be un disabilities whatever on account of religion.PUBLIC SENTIMENT IS FRANCE, AND ENGLAND.The PAris correspondent nl the Naw York Times, uader date of the 25th nit., referring to the termination of tli: war In this country, aaysWhether the Emperor rejolcei-at this fact or not. It is certain that the rage herein certain Imperialist and Legitimist quarters is almost equal to that exhibited in the clubs and newspaper offices of London, which are said at this moment to be perfectly blue with the oathe of disap.olnted men. It is true that the Flench hare more confidence In being nhle o maintain peace* Ith America than the English hare.— But then. a« an off et to ihla. they fear more in France the example of the great and suc-ceasfol republic than they do in Eagland. ho far a- 1 can learn the English and Kre-ch. bat particularly the former, take the downfall of the rebellion harder thin the Southern peopleand thus missed the opportunity of breaking up the Union. They were esanrod by the organs of the government and of the rebels that the rehellion could not he p it down, and tbit it was the best policy of the government to allow both parties to exhnusl themselves, and then America would no longer be a menace or a rival lo anybody But now ths contrary la the result. end the Imprecations ol the clnhs against the Government is said to be something appalling. even in the history of English profanity.— They see England bumbled, her judgment pnt it naught, her statesmanship at fault, all America her natural sod nnp.scthie enemy, the menace of a wer constantly held over her. to that. In fact, her position Is rnnl y worse thin that of the rebels. who have been In the Union, who know Its advantages, and are not ifrnld to return to it. In other words wl lie the rebels have beforo them the prospective of prosperity and future happiness, the Englieh have that of n war. or whit is worse, constant insults and humllia-SioNiFiCAKT Smns. — a Indy, who has paid some .ttontion to small mature, asya aha always wa Chet with mnoh interest the ingreea and egrets of husbands and wires to end from the dining room or fsehionnble houln. “If. laid she. --the wives ontee sad depart a little in advance of their hotbnnds. be sure they wear the Hh-ao-we-never-moetlon-'ems. If, on the contrary, the hnibnnda take the lead, you may real nssored they take tho lead In everything elao.— This idea to ua la perfectly ongiosl. and we thill he somewhat particular hereafter In satiefylng
Newspaper Details
Daily Richmond Whig
Richmond, Virginia, US
Thu, May 11, 1865
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
WV, USA 13 Mar 2024
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