Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Many cemetery mysteries still are not laid to rest Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE B;LIFE;THE CIVIL WAR \SS (WS) \HD Many cemetery mysteries still are not laid to rest \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT HAGERSTOWN, Md. HAGERSTOWN, Md. - With scores of books on the Civil War, Steven R. Stotelmyer found it odd that nobody had written much about the cemeteries where thousands of soldiers were laid to rest. His interest was piqued about three years ago when he began investigating the fate of 58 Confederate soldiers whose bodies were thrown down a 60-foot well after the 1862 Battle of South Mountain. Soon he was digging up letters, journals and period newspapers to find long-forgotten stories of how thousands of Civil War soldiers were buried after battles at Antietam and South Mountain. "You do walk a narrow line between informing and offending people," says Mr. Stotelmyer, whose 160-page paperback book, "The Bivouacs of the Dead," hit bookstores this month. "But if you're going to talk about war in total, you have to talk about the aftermath, which is where the real horror is. War is excitement and panic. The aftermath, dealing with all the casualties, is the horror." Mr. Stotelmyer's book is filled with histories and burial rosters of local Civil War cemeteries, including Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, Md.; Washington Confederate Cemetery in Hagerstown, Md.; Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Md.; and Elmwood Cemetery in Shepherdstown, W.Va. It includes the first-of-its-kind alphabetized roster of the dead buried at Antietam National Cemetery. Typing the more than 3,000 names of soldiers interred there took Mr. Stotelmyer four months. Mr. Stotelmyer, of Washington County, Md., is donating all proceeds from his book to the Central Maryland Heritage League, which is trying to preserve land at the site of the Battle of South Mountain between Boonsboro and Middletown. Scattered throughout the book are human-interest stories and facts about the cemeteries. Even though 2,500 Confederate soldiers are buried at Washington Confederate Cemetery, only one grave is marked. The marker belonging to a Georgia officer lies flush with the ground so a person can't see it until almost stepping on it. Also, the officer's name, Col. Samuel E. Lumpkin, is misspelled as "Lumkins," and Georgia is misspelled to read "Georgie." "It's the only stone marker in the whole cemetery, and the guy's name is misspelled," says Mr. Stotelmyer, who learned the story from an article written years ago by local relic hunter Richard Clem. One corner of the same cemetery is the resting place of nine Texans who have been the source of one of the cemetery's ongoing mysteries. An unidentified person has been placing the Texas state flag at the grave site for years, Mr. Stotelmyer says. He says he recently noticed the flag was coming apart, so he took it home to fix it. Three days later when he returned the flag to the grave, a new one already had been stuck in its place. "It means something to somebody," Mr. Stotelmyer says. "I've nicknamed it the 'Texas Corner.' " ****BOX UPCOMING EVENTS District, Through June 1993: The museum at the Washington Navy Yard presents "Reporting the War: Newspaper Illustrations of the Civil War." The Navy Yard is at Ninth and M streets SE. Use the Southeast-Southwest Freeway's Sixth Street SE exit or take Metro's Green Line to the Navy Yard stop. Further information, 202/433-4882. Virginia, Today and tomorrow: The 12th annual Capital of the Confederacy Civil War Show will be held at the Virginia State Fairgrounds in Richmond. Today , 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; tomorrow, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 804/273-2358. Through February: The Manassas Museum, at 9101 Prince William St., presents the "Return of Stonewall," with displays of his pocket watch, funeral flag and a lock of his hair. Call 703/368-1873. Maryland, Nov. 24: Historian Susan Soderberg gives a slide presentation on Confederate monuments and Decoration Day ceremonies in Maryland from 1870 to 1915; 7:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Upcounty Government Center, 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown. Free. Further information, Rick Griffin, 301/869-8969. Through March 30: "Occupied Baltimore: Civil War Prints from the Robert G. Merrick Collection" is sponsored by the Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument St., Baltimore. Call 410/685-3750. Information excerpted in part from the Civil War News, Arlington, Mass. 02174, by permission. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM