History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf

a portion of the ground separate from that in which the bodies of the soldiers of the Union army were interred. To carry out this scheme the sum of fifteen thousand dollars was appropriated and expended in the purchase of the grounds, etc., near Sharpsburg, now the National Cemetery. Many thousands of dollars were contributed by fourteen other States, but, in violation of the law, the remains of the Confederate soldiers were not reinterred, but were permitted to remain where they had been hastily buried. In many instances the trenches were so washed by the rain that their bones were laid bare and were turned over by the plow.

      In a letter dated Dec. 3, 1867, Governor Fenton, of New York, called the attention of the trustees of the Antietam National Cemetery to the sad condition of these Confederate dead, and to the requirement of the Maryland acts of Assembly, which they had disregarded, viz., that the remains of Confederate as well as Federal soldiers should be removed to their cemetery. In this connection. Governor Fenton said. " The hostility of the generous and heroic ends with death, and brief as our history is, it has furnished an early example. The British and Americans who fell at Plattsburgh sleep side by side, and a common monument on the Plains of Abraham attests the heroism of Wolfe and Montcalm." Influenced probably by this appeal and the earnest entreaties of Thomas A. Boullt, secretary and treasurer of the board, the trustees passed a resolution designating and setting apart for the burial of the Confederate dead who fell in the battle of Antietam, in the first invasion of Lee, the southern portion of the grounds, not occupied, and separate from the ground devoted to the burial of the Union dead. At the next session of the Maryland Legislature five thousand dollars was appropriated to the cemetery, presumably for the reinterment of the Confederate dead. But the trustees in 1868 finally postponed any further action towards the removal of these remains. The five thousand dollars appropriated by Maryland still remained in the State treasury, and at the January session of the Legislature of 1870 an act was passed organizing the Washington Cemetery and appropriating the five thousand dollars to its use. The charter provides for the burial of the dead of both armies remaining unburied at the date of that instrument, and for the appointment of three trustees from Maryland and one from any State which may join the corporation. It gives the trustees full power to accomplish the work entrusted to them, and enables them to receive and hold all contributions by way of gift, devise, bequest, etc.

      During the summer of 1870, Governor Bowie appointed as trustees on behalf of the State of Maryland Col. H. K. Douglas and Maj. George Freaner, of Washington County, and James T. Gambrill, of Frederick County. The first meeting of the trustees was held in the fall of 1870, and Col. Douglas was elected president. The summer of 1871 was consumed in seeking sites for the cemetery. The charter required that it should be located within one mile of Hagerstown, and the trustees finally purchased two and a half acres and ten perches of land from the Rose Hill Cemetery Company for two thousand four hundred dollars. The Rose Hill Cemetery Company agreed, in making the sale, to keep the grounds in the same condition as their own. After securing the ground, the trustees commenced the removal of the dead, first from the fields of Antietam. about twelve miles south of Hagerstown. With the aid of H. C. Mumma, of Sharpsburg, the trustees disinterred and removed from the battle-fields of Antietam seventeen hundred and twenty-one bodies. The remains when known were placed in single boxes, and when unknown were deposited two in a box. They were moved to Washington Cemetery and buried at an average cost of one dollar and a half per head. This closed the work for 1872 and nearly exhausted the money appropriated, leaving the dead of South Mountain and in isolated parts of the county unburied.

      A further appropriation of five thousand dollars, however, was made by the Legislature of Maryland at its January session in 1874, and the Legislatures of Virginia and West Virginia each appropriated five hundred dollars. On receiving these appropriations, the trustees elected Col. W. A. Morgan, of West Virginia, and Maj. R. W. Hunter, of Virginia, to represent their respective States in the board of trustees. In 1874 the trustees resumed work, and buried two thousand four hundred and forty-seven dead, of whom two hundred and eighty-one were identified. The graves were sodded and the grounds decorated as far as the funds of the trustees permitted, after they had set apart a sum (two thousand dollars) which, invested, would yield an income sufficient to keep the cemetery in good repair. A monument was also erected, the work of A. Steinmetz, of Philadelphia, at a cost of fourteen hundred and forty dollars. At the close of his remarks Maj. Freaner said, "It is our intention to make this cemetery a beautiful spot, worthy of an annual pilgrimage from those whose friends and kindred lie here buried, as well as all those who may wish to render homage to a race of men who were willing to die rather than submit to humiliation."

      The dedication dirge (words by Col. H. Kyd Douglas, music by F. J. Halm) was then sung by the choir, led by Prof Halm, with organ accompaniment by Mrs. John Cretin. During the singing Capt. Faulkner's company stood at " present arms." The dirge and music were dedicated to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. Gen. Lee, the orator of the day, was then introduced, and delivered an eloquent address, in which, after giving rapid sketches of the conspicuous Southern generals, he said that the people of the two sections now had a common country, and that it behooved his hearers to love and cherish it, and to banish discord and strife. After Gen. Lee's address there was music by the Martinsburg Band, which was followed by a poem delivered by its author, Hon. Daniel B. Lucas; then music by the Keedysville Band, after which a letter was read from Brevet Maj. Gen. J. W. Crawford, of the Federal army, then living at Chambersburg, Pa., in which he said that he would most willingly add his testimony to the bravery and devotion of the gallant men who rest at Washington Cemetery. " In their devotion to principle," said he, " and in those high qualities which enabled them to die for it, they have the respect of every true American." After the reading of this letter the graves were strewn with flowers, the monument was decorated with roses and evergreens, and a handsome magnolia was placed at the base. On the mound whereon the monument stands and in front of the monument stood a shield, with the ground in white roses and a St. Andrew's cross in red roses; and on the three remaining sides the words, in large letters, Gettysburg, Antietam, South Mountain, in red, white, and pink roses respectively. Besides these there was a great profusion of flowers and of floral decorations placed on the green turf near the monument. During the ceremony of strewing the graves with flowers the different bands played funeral marches and requiems. When the decoration was finished Harry Greenwood, of Shepherdstown, aged five years, performed a "solo" on the drum, accompanied by his father with the fife. The choir then sang " Farewell," with the words as arranged by A. D. Merrick, and the long meter doxology, with accompaniment by the Hagerstown Band, after which the Rev. Walter A. Mitchell, rector of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, pronounced the benediction. The Berkeley Light Infantry then discharged three volleys over the graves of the dead soldiers, after which the procession formed again and marched back to Hagerstown, and the visiting delegations took the trains for their respective homes.