Confederate Rest, in Forest Hill Cemetery,

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, is the northernmost

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

graveyard in the nation. 140 Confederate prisoners of war who died under Union captivity lie in it.

History

Origins

Following the

Battle of Island Number Ten The Battle of Island Number Ten was an engagement at the New Madrid or Kentucky Bend on the Mississippi Riverforming the border between Missouri and Tennesseeduring the American Civil War, lasting from February 28 to April 8, 1862. Island Numbe ...

, about 1400 Confederate soldiers who surrendered there, many from the 1st Regiment Alabama Infantry, were taken at the end of April, 1862, to the Union training field

Camp Randall Camp Randall was a United States Army base in Madison, Wisconsin, the largest staging point for Wisconsin troops entering the American Civil War. At this camp fresh volunteers received quick training before heading off to join the Union Army. Al ...

in Madison, Wisconsin, which was found to be unsuitable, resulting in the deaths of 140 prisoners before the remaining survivors were sent to

Camp Douglas (Chicago) Camp Douglas, in Chicago, Illinois was one of the largest Union Army prisoner-of-war camps for Confederate soldiers taken prisoner during the American Civil War. Although not alone in this distinction, it is sometimes described as "The North' ...

at the end of May 1862.

Mass grave and reorganization

The dead prisoners were interred in a mass grave. In the early years, Alice Waterman, a Madison resident who lived near the cemetery, cared for the burial grounds using her own funds. Later, each deceased was given his own tombstone.

Confederate cenotaph removed

In January 2019, after a year-long debate, a stone cenotaph etched with the names of the 140 Confederate prisoners of war was removed from the cemetery by the Madison Parks Department and transferred to storage at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

References

{{coord, 43, 03, 54, N, 89, 25, 44, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title Confederate States of America cemeteries Geography of Madison, Wisconsin Cemeteries in Wisconsin Protected areas of Dane County, Wisconsin