REPORT OF THE TRUSTEE

ANTIETAM

OF THE

NATIONAL CEMETERY.

To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island.

The State of Rhode Island having contributed to the fund of the Antietam National Cemetery, a corporation chartered by the State of Maryland, for the purpose of associating all the loyal States who were represented on that memorable and hard contested battle-field by their loyal soldiers who fell, and to commemorate that great battle by the formation of a suitable cemetery and the erection of a noble monument to the memory of our fallen braves, it is proper that an account of the progress of the work should be made known to the General Assembly.

Since my former report, the work has been pressed steadily on, the grounds have been enclosed with a substantial stone wall caped with heavy limestone coping and secured in a substantial manner. On the front side facing the Sharpsburg and Boonsboro' Turnpike, where the entrance is, the wall is lower, about eighteen inches above the ground, caped with heavy coping and surmounted with a substantial iron fence. The entrance gates are made of iron in a very substantial manner, at a cost by contract of $880. I think it can be said in truth, that a more solid and durable wall has not been erected as an

enclosure for any other cemetery in the country. The grounds have been properly graded, and suitable grainage prepared to prevent the grounds from washing, suitable drives and walks have been laid out and the earth has been excavated to the depth of twenty inches and filled with stone, and the top covered with broken stone and gravel so as to be always dry and not affected by frost.

A Keeper's Lodge has been erected near the entrance gate, built of stone, roof covered with slate, with suitable rooms and appointments to accommodate the Keeper's family, and a public room for the accommodation of visitors.

The ground plan forming a semi-elipse is divided into segments of circles, sections and parallelograms, each division is designated by a letter, and each section of graves is numbered in order. In the burial of the dead every coffin is numbered, and a corresponding number entered in a book kept for the purpose, with the name, company and State when they can be ascertained, so that at any time by reference to the records the location of any grave can at once be found. The dead were buried under the immediate supervision and eye of the President, who saw every coffin deposited, and entered the name, number and company in his field book before any earth was replaced; therefore, his record will be correct beyond a doubt as to the identify of any body which might be called for, or to which friends may desire at any time to pay a tribute of respect.

The Rhode Island soldiers buried in this cemetery are twenty-three in number, twenty-two identified by name, company, and regiment, and one unknown, as follows:

The amount apportioned to the State of Rhode Island by the local Trustees of the State of Maryland, by their report of the estimated cost of the cemetery and the apportionment, among all the States interested in this cemetery, as will appear in my former report, was eleyen hundred and fourteen dollars and ninety-six cents.

The State appropriated twelve hundred dollars, and one thousand dollars has been paid in two installments of five hundred dollars each.

The whole amount thus far expended has been sixty-two thousand six hundred twenty-nine dollars and seventy-seven cents, as appears from the Treasurer's report.

This has been for the purchase of the grounds, the erection of the stone wall and iron fence, the iron gates, the grading and laying out of the grounds, the exhuming and burying of the loyal dead, the planting of trees, and the erection of a Keeper's Lodge.

The original plan contemplated the erection of a monument on the elevated ground near the centre of the Cemetery.

The design for this work has been adopted, being one submitted by Mr. Batterson, of Hartford, Connecticut, the cost of which was not to exceed thirty thousand dollars. The contracting for the work was entrusted to the Executive Committee of the Board, but for want of funds the work has not been given out.

The Cemetery was dedicated on the 17th of September, A. D. 1867, on the fifth anniversary of the battle, with appropriate ceremonies. Ex-Governor Bradford, of Maryland, delivered the oration. Speeches were made by Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania, and Governor Fenton, of New York. Several of the cabinet ministers and foreign consuls were present, and a large number of citizens from the several States. The corner-stone for the monument was laid at this time, by the President of the United States, with the usual ceremonies on such occasions.

The Antietam National Cemetery would have been completed before this time, the monument erected and the cemetery turned over to the care of the United States government, had it not been for an attempt to bury the rebel dead within the grounds of this loyal Cemetery.

As I have steadily and persistently opposed this movement, I feel called upon to state to the General Assembly as briefly as I can the circumstances attending it.

The Treasurer, Mr. Thomas A. Boullt, one of the Maryland trustees, in his first report, says :

:

"In pursuance of the act passed by the General Assembly of Maryland at its January session, 1865, the first meeting of the Trustees named in said act, was held in Hagerstown, on the 25th day of May, 1865, and an organization effected by electing Dr. Augustine A. Baggs, President, and Thomas A. Boullt, Secretary and Treasurer, after which the Board was divided by lot into three classes, according to the sixth section of the law. Aaron Good, Esq., a citizen of Sharpsburg, having in his possession a valuable list containing the names of a large number of the dead, and a carefully kept register of the location of the graves, the President was authorized to employ Mr. Good to complete the list, by going over the battle field, and making careful notes of all the information he could obtain; with the view of having the list of dead published in pamphlet form. The pamphlets were printed and copies sent to the Executives of each State having dead on the battle field."

In that pamphlet, which was the first document sent to the States, they say "The number of loyal dead on the field is between 7,000 and 8,000, and thus far, as will be seen by the subjoined list, over 2,000 have been identified; 1,706 by name and regiment and State, and 918 by their respective States."

Eighteen loyal States are named in this pamphlet, and not one rebel State is named and not one rebel soldier is enumerated in this list, and in their estimate of the cost of the Cemetery and the apportionment of the same to the several States "interested," made August 22d, 1865, in which none but loyal States were included, a copy of which was sent to each State, and which you will find in my former report.

At the next meeting of the Board, which I attended, held at

Sharpsburg, August 1st, 1866, I called the attention of the Maryland Trustees, a majority of whom were present, to that clause in the charter referring to the burial of the rebel dead, and they all told me that the State of Maryland would not require its enforcement, and they did not wish the question agitated at all.

In all action of the Antietam Board, both by the local Trustees of the State of Maryland, and in connection with the Trustees of the other States, this question has been treated as an absolute nulity, from their first meeting, May 25th, 1865, to the meeting of the Board in the city of Washington, D. C., December 5th, 1867. (Rhode Island was not represented at this meeting.) At this meeting a resolution to bury the confederate dead "within the grounds of the Antietam Cemetery was introduced by Mr. John Jay, Trustee for State of New York. There not being but one or two Trustees present, outside of the State of Maryland, who knew the history of this question, the resolution passed.

At the next meeting of the Board, held in the City of Washington, D. C., May 6th, 1868, the resolution passed December 5th, 1867, was repealed, and a Southern compromit resolution passed, providing for the purchase of land adjoining the Antietam grounds for the burial of the confederate dead, and the Southern States were invited to make the necessary appropriations in aid of the proposed object, (which they never have done.)

At the next meeting of the Board, held in the Lodge House at the Cemetery, June 17th, 1868, nothing having been done in regard to the burial of the confederate dead, a resolution was passed, that all action under the resolutions of December 5th, 1867, and May 6th and 7th, 1868, in reference to the burial of the confederate dead be suspended. This question still stands suspended, awaiting the action of the State of Maryland to repeal this obnoxious clause in the charter.

In consequence of this attempt to bury the confederate dead in the Cemetery, several of the States have refused to make appropriations, and some of those who have made appropriations have refused to pay the money until this question is settled finally. And if it should finally be determined to bury the rebel dead within the grounds of the Antietam Cemetery, they shall remove the remains of their dead soldiers to their own States, where their sacred remains may rest in