A third of the way down the road is the following: "Whether in the prison drear, Or in the battle's van, And opposite: "The hopes, the fears, the blood, the tears Are now all crowned by victory Further down stands: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who made it." And its companion: "A thousand battle fields have drank And countless homes are dark and drear Last of all is: 66 Through the rebellion's horrors, Captain James M. Moore, Ass't Quartermaster U. S. A., who was sent by the Government in July, 1865, to mark the graves for future identification, and also to enclose the cemetery, under date of September 20th, 1865, describes the place and his work as follows: * "At the different stations along the route the object of the expedition was well known, and not unfrequently men wearing the garb of rebel soldiers would enter the cars and discuss the treatment of our prisoners at Andersonville; all of whom candidly admitted it was shameful, and a blot on the escutcheon of the south that years would not efface. "On the morning of the 26th of July the work of identifying the graves, painting and lettering of head-boards, laying out walks, and enclosing the cemetery was commenced, and on the evening of August 16th was completed. "The dead were found buried in trenches on a site selected by the rebels, about three hundred yards from the stockade. The trenches varied in length from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards. The bodies in the trenches were from two to three feet below the surface, and in several instances where the rains had washed away the earth, but a few inches. Additional earth was, however, thrown upon the graves, making them of a still greater depth. So close were they buried, without coffins or the ordinary clothing to cover their nakedness, that not more than twelve inches were allowed to each man; in deed, the little tablets marking their resting places, measuring hardly ten inches in width, almost touch each other. "United States soldiers, while prisoners at Andersonville, had been detailed to inter their companions, and by a simple stake at the head of each grave, which bore a number corresponding with a similar numbered name upon the Andersonville hospital record, I was enabled to identify and mark with a neat tablet, similar to those in the cemeteries at Washington, the number, name, rank, regiment, company, and date of death of twelve thousand four hundred and sixty-one graves, there being but four hundred and fifty-one that bore the sad inscription Unknown U. S. Soldiers.' "One hundred and twenty thousand feet of pine lumber were used in these tablets alone. "The cemetery contains fifty acres, and has been divided by one main avenue running through the center and subdivided into blocks and sections in such a manner that with the aid of the record, which I am now having copied for the Superintendent, the visitors will experience no difficulty in finding any grave. "Appropriate inscriptions are placed through the ground, and I have endeavored, as far as my facilities would permit, to transfer this wild, unmarked and unhonored graveyard into a fit place of interment for the nation's gallant dead. At the entrance gate, the words 'National Cemetery, Andersonville, Ga.,' designate this city of the dead. "On the morning of the 17th of August (1865), at sunrise, the stars and stripes were hoisted in the center of the cemetery, when a national salute was fired and several national songs sung by those present. "Andersonville is situated on the Southwestern Railroad, sixty miles from Macon. There is but one house in the place, except those erected by the socalled Confederate government as hospitals, officers quarters, and commissary and quartermaster's buildings. It was formerly known as Anderson, but since the war the 'ville' has been added. "The country is covered mostly with pines and hemlocks, and the soil is sandy. "It is said to be the most unhealthy part of Georgia, and was probably selected as a depot for prisoners on that account. At mid-day the thermometer in the shade reaches frequently one hundred and ten degrees, and in the sun the heat is almost unbearable. "The noted prison pen is fifteen hundred and forty feet long, and seven hundred and fifty feet wide, and contains twenty-seven acres. The dead line is seventeen feet from the stockade, and the sentry boxes are thirty yards apart. The inside stockade is eighteen feet high, the outer one twelve feet, and the distance between the two is one hundred and twenty feet. 66 Nothing has been destroyed; as our exhausted, emaciated and enfeebled soldiers left it, so it stands to-day, as a monument to an inhumanity unparalleled in the annals of war. "How men could survive as well as they did in this pen, exposed to the rays of an almost tropical sun by day and drenching dews by night, without the slightest covering, is wonderful. "The ground is filled with holes where they had burrowed in their efforts to shield themselves from the weather, and many a poor fellow, in endeavoring to protect himself in this manner, was smothered to death by the earth falling in upon him. "The stories told of the sufferings of our men while prisoners here have been substantiated by hundreds, and the sceptic who will visit Andersonville, even now, and examine the stockade, with its black, oozy mud, the cramped and wretched burrows, the dead line and the slaughter house, must be a callous observer, indeed, if he is not convinced that the miseries depicted of this prison pen are no exaggerations.' * "They rose in dark and evil days * "Then here's their memory-may it be To cheer our strife for liberty, * REBEL RAID FROM CANADA. Canada during the war was a convenient rendezvous for rebel refugees and marauders, who there found a cheerful welcome, congenial companions, sympathizing friends, and a safe asylum. But they were not content to remain in peace, consequently the State of Michigan, being on the Canadian border, was continually threatened with invasion by these rebels who were encouraged to raid by the Confederate government at Richmond, while many of them having been sent there under pay for that purpose, were led by its commissioned emissaries in their undertakings, in which they received a hearty encouragement from a very large class of the Canadian people, who seemed to be ever ready to incite and assist rebels, when they thought it advisable to make incursions into border States, to pillage, burn and otherwise destroy. The force in the State during the time of these threatened raids on which reliance was placed to defend its borders against any hostile demonstration consisted of six companies of the 2d regiment veteran reserve corps, three companies of State troops, the "Scott Guard," "Detroit Light Guard," and "Lyon Guard," with a section of light artillery, fully equipped and supplied with suitable ammunition; and in addition there were five hundred stand of arms in the State Armory at Detroit, with complete equipments, and abundance of ammunition at all times in readiness for distribution to citizens, with whom there was an understanding and an arrangement to assist in repelling any attack that might be made upon the city or along the river in the vicinity. There was also a small force guarding the arsenal at Dearborn, in which was stored about thirty-five thousand stand of arms. To guard against any attack or landing being made by steamers or vessels from the Canadian side with a hostile intention, several armed steam tugs were employed by the Government in patrolling the river at various points. In the Adjutant General's report for 1864 is found the following account of a raid made in September of that year, and which is illustrative of the condition of affairs in this respect on the frontier about that time: "In November, 1863, the War Department was officially notified by the British Minister, Lord Lyons, that from a telegraphic dispatch received by him from the Governor General of Canada, there was reason to believe that a plot was on foot, by persons hostile to the United States, who had found an asylum in Canada, to invade the states on that frontier; that they proposed to take possession of some of the steamers on Lake Erie, to surprise Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, and set free the rebel prisoners of war confined there, and proceed with them to attack Buffalo. This information was communicated by the War Department to the governors of the states bordering on Canada and to the military and civil authorities thereof, and urging them to employ all the means in their power to suppress any attempt to carry the plot into effect. That there was such a scheme on foot, and that it was concocted and put in operation in Canada by the rebel government, there can be no doubt, as circumstances have transpired and documentary evidence received during the past year fully confirming it, and that its execution was only prevented at that time by the prompt measures taken by the military authorities in the states referred to, and although their plans were frustrated, their determination was still to carry them into effect, and their execution was only deferred until a more favorable opportunity. During the present year the United States military officers, and also the civil and military authorities of the State, have been almost daily in the receipt of rumors and reports from various sources of contemplated raids to be made on American frontier cities and on the shipping of the lakes to burn and destroy, many of which could not be traced to any reliable origin, yet they served to keep up a continual state of excitement and alarm in the cities and villages on the border of the State, and to require the vigilant attention of the authorities, and all the preparations within their power to successfully meet any attempted invasion of the State were made, which were considered at the time ample to repel any force that might be expected of that description. Yet, notwithstanding, there was a distrust and a nevous foreboding of coming mischief among the people of the frontier cities and villages. This distrust also prevailed among the railroad agencies and those engaged in the shipping on the lakes, which led to the arming of the community generally as individuals, and of railroad trains and lake and river steamers, and to the establishing of safeguards about private dwellings, public places of business, and railroad depots. This condition of affairs continued; no overt act having been committed, and no visible combination of force having been traced to any locality until the 19th day of September, 1864, when they concluded to make the attempt by seizing the steamer Philo Parsons, belonging to Detroit, and running as a passenger boat from that point to Sandusky, in the State of Ohio. On the morning of the day above referred to, four of the raiders, including Bennet G. Burley, one of their apparent leaders, took passage on the said boat at Detroit. On her way down the Detroit river, on her passage to Sandusky, she landed at the Canadian ports of Sandwich and Amherstburg, where the balance of the raiders got on board, the whole, as has since been ascertained, numbering about thirty. "The following condensed depositions of W. O. Ashley and D. C. Nichols, belonging to the steamer, taken as evidence on the extradition trial of Burley, at Toronto, in Canada, give a full account of the occurences on board the Philo Parsons during the time the raiders held possession of her: "These depositions showed that the steamboat 'Philo Parsons' was owned by the informant Ashley, and other citizens of the United States; that this vessel was a licensed passenger and freight boat, and was plying between the city of Detroit, in the State of Michigan, and the city of Sandusky, in the State of Ohio, and was accus |