Following the Battle of Island Number Ten, 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 in Madison, Wisconsin, which was found to be unsuitable,[3] resulting in the deaths of 140 prisoners before the remaining survivors were sent to Camp Douglas (Chicago) at the end of May 1862.[4]
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.[5] Later, each deceased was given his own tombstone.[6]
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.[7]
References
^Editorial Board Wisconsin State Journal (August 29, 2018). "Landmarks Commission right to keep Confederate marker in Madison". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2018. Some of the individual headstones of the Southern soldiers who died here are so worn they are unreadable. So the 4-foot stone monument helps identify who is buried at the "Confederate Rest," the northernmost Confederate graveyard in the nation.
^Office of School Services. "Confederate Prisoners at Camp Randall as Seen in Newspaper Articles". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved October 9, 2018. the camp hospital appeared unable to handle the sick Confederate patients. Due to the results of the inspection, the prisoners were transferred to Camp Douglas, Chicago, on the last day of May
