John C. Carter
Appomattox Confederate Cemetery
Fri Jul 20 11:52:12 2001


Jim...

Very nice post...Makes me wonder what the other seven soldiers' stories were. As many times as I have been to Appomattox, and having Fulton's book, I never made the connection.

I'm afraid the large number of unknowns at the Appomattox Cemetery is probably close to what you would find elsewhere. I'm thinking of the many burial sites in Virginia where the names are on a plaque on an obelisk (usually taken from hospital records) or where they are just listed as unknown. So many were just buried where they fell, like J.H. Hutchins. At least they identified him and somebody remembered him. I think even more heartbreaking were the soldiers who were buried with wooden markers over their graves that later deteriorated and left an "unmarked" grave to be found by others. I live close to the site of the Confederate camp at Centreville, Virginia and from time to time, they dig up the remains of Civil War soldiers- not only can they not identify them by name, but they have a hard time telling if they were Confederate or Union soldiers.

John

I ran across the poem below which seems to fit:

Only a Soldier's Grave (by S.A. Jones)

Only a soldier's grave? Pass by
For soldiers, like other mortals die.
Parents had he- they are far away;
No sister weeps o'er the soldier's clay;
No brother comes, with tearful eye;
It's only a soldier's grave- pass by.

True, he was loving, and young, and brave,
Though no glowing epitaph honors his grave;
No proud recital of virtues known,
Of griefs endured, or triumphs won;
No tablet of marble, or obelsik high;
Only a soldier's grave- pass by.

Yet bravely he wielded his sword in fight,
And he gave his life in the cause of right!
When his hope was high, and his youthful dream
As warm as the sunlight on yonder stream;
His heart unvexed by sorrow or sigh;
Yet, 'tis only a soldier's grave- pass by.

Yet, we should mark it- the soldier's grave
Some one may seek him in hope to save!
Some of the dear ones, far away.
Would bear him home to his native clay:
'Twere sad, indeed, should they wander nigh,
Find not the hillock, and pass him by.