JOHNSON ISLAND, Ohio - After discovering at least 50 unmarked Confederate graves, a historical group is trying to raise $20,000 to erect two white marble monuments honoring Civil War soldiers who died while imprisoned on this Lake Erie island.
“Our group feels it's very important to honor veterans of all wars, and not to let the names be lost in time ... and forgotten by others,'' said Gail Robinson, chairwoman of the Johnson Island Committee.
The group, composed of United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans, has raised about $4,000 for the monuments that will list the names of the nearly 300 Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War prison between 1862 and 1865.
Next summer, the group plans to erect the two monuments in the Johnson Island Confederate Cemetery on the northeast tip of the Sandusky Bay isle.
The monuments will be placed behind a 1910 statue of a Confederate soldier that overlooks Lake Erie. The design will complement the white marble headstones that mark 206 graves and will include the names of recently identified soldiers.
About two years ago, the committee, using thermal-imaging devices, discovered at least 50 unmarked graves are scattered in and around the one-acre cemetery. The soldiers' names were tracked by matching prison records with state and national records, said Joy Dingman, a committee spokeswoman.
The serene cemetery is filled with “lovely Victorian rows of these upright markers, but that does not reflect the locations of the graves,” Mrs. Robinson said. “They're not all in nice, neat rows.''
Ms. Dingman agreed. “There are some [graves] under the fence, some in the parking lot, some out near the road,'' she said.
When the federal government originally marked the graves with pine boards, many were overlooked. Fifty-four were listed as unknown. At least one soldier ended up with markers on two graves.
Mrs. Robinson believes there could even be more unmarked graves. The group is waiting for results from a ground-penetrating radar scan conducted in April. Radar images will show whether there are more graves.
More than 10,000 Confederate troops, mostly officers, were imprisoned in 13 prison blocks on the island during the Civil War. The U.S. government leased the island in 1861 to build Fort Johnson and the officers' prison. The buildings are gone - they were torn down years ago - but the archeological remains of the prison are intact.
In 1904, a Cincinnati chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy bought the cemetery. In 1932, the chapter deeded the cemetery to the federal government to preserve and protect the graves. The national cemetery is administered by the Veterans Administration.
Yearly, local heritage organizations and the United Daughters of the Confederacy have conducted memorial services at the cemetery. The Sons of Confederate Veterans has a 24-hour vigil every April on Confederate Memorial Day.
Two weeks ago, the Friends and Descendants of Johnson's Island, a historic preservation group, announced that it had raised $40,000 - enough money for a down payment to buy what's left of Fort Johnson and the prison.
The group hopes to raise enough money to buy and preserve 16.5 acres of the island where Confederate officers and Union guards lived during the Civil War.
Developer Carl Zipfel agreed to sell half the land to the group for $355,000 and donate the rest once the deal is completed.
First Published July 1, 2002, 11:55 a.m.
