Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/270

 262 Southern Historical Society Papers.

He was finally pardoned by the President, returned to the United States, and at last accounts was an honored citizen of Texas.

So the great conspiracy ended, and John Holt died a prisoner on Johnson's Island.

HISTORIC INTEREST.

Aside from its natural beauty and choice location, Johnson's Island has an historic interest that makes it dear to patriotic Americans. The island is about one mile in length and half a mile in breadth, and rises to a height of fifty feet above the lake level, containing about 300 acres. In its original state it was covered with a heavy growth of oaks, and is said to have been a favorite resort of the In- dians. It was formerly owned by a man named Bull, and was then known as Bull's Island, and was the site of the old custom-house of the port, removed here from Port Marblehead. L. B. Johnson, of Sandusky, purchased the property in 1852, and rented it to the gov- ernment in 1 86 1 as a depot for Confederate prisoners, Company A, Hoffman Battalion, taking possession January i, 1862. Companies B, C, and D were shortly after added, and in 1863 six more all known as the One Hundred and Twenty-eight Regiment, Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry. The first prisoners were brought here in April, 1862. The prison was eventually used almost exclusively for Con- federate officers, the number varying from 2,000 to 3,000. During the full period of its occupancy about 15,000 prisoners were confined here, nearly all of whom were at one time or another exchanged. Two were shot in retaliation for executions in the South, one was hanged as a spy, and one was shot in an attempt to escape. One was also shot by a guard for getting over the " dead line." On Sep- tember 7, 1865, the last prisoners on the island were sent to Fort Lafayette by order of the War Department, and the place was aban- doned as a military post.

The most striking memento of these sad days is the little cemetery on the north shore, where 206 Confederates were buried. Twenty of the bodies have been removed, and doubtless many others would be taken away if friends and relatives knew the resting place of the missing ones. A complete and correct list of the 4 prisoners burietl at Johnson's Island has never been published, and for the purpose of assisting friends in the South to locate dead comrades, the follow- ing, compiled from the report of the commissary-general of prisoners, is herewith subjoined. Several of the graves are marked ' ' unknown, ' '