The following may be of interest to the many researchers who have civil
war ancestors buried at Woodlawn National Cemetary, Elmira, New York:

  In 1861 Elmira was a training and marshalling center for union
soldiers. There were three camps with two hospitals and a large
warehouse. As the barracks emptied it was decided to make use of the
buildings as a prison camp. Here between July 1864 and August 1865 about
12,000 were confined at different times. Of these, about 2,950 died.Many
were in poor condition when they arrived.The first winter in camp was
unusually severe which added to the large loss of life.
   At first the United States Government made no provisions for the
burial of prisoners so the city officials of Elmira gave the Commanding
Officer permission to use one half acre in the city cemetary, known as
Woodlawn.The half acre was soon filled and before the close of the camp
two and one half acres had been used for the graves of confederate
soldiers.
   As far as the records show, the Federal Government did nothing in
the matter until 1877 when it paid the city of Elmira $1500.00 for the
two and one half acres, and named the plot Woodlawn National Cemetary.
Since then more land has been added and many other veterans of United
States wars are now buried there.
   At the time of the confederate burials, John Jones, an escaped slave
who found freedom in Elmira, was sexton of Woodlawn. He kept a
meticulous record of each confederate burial so that when, in 1907, the
Federal Government erected a small marble marker at each grave, it was
possible to mark each stone with the soldiers name, company, regiment,
date of death, and grave number.
   Among the men whom John Jones buried was one from the household in
which he had lived as a slave in Virginia.
   An excelent book giving a complete history of the Elmira Prison Camp
was written by Clay W.Holmes and is called "The Elmira Prison Camp" and
was published in 1912.


The above was sent to me in 1987 by the Chemung County Historical
Society, Elmira ,New York.

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