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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 333
have to saw for themselves after it is brought to their doors—by the way
a very good exercise. The prison consists of thirteen large wooden buildings.
The space of ground sixteen acres of which the prisoners have full
liberty to exercise in, to sing Southern national songs, to hurrah for Jeff
Davis to play ball or any other game they see fit.
'' The rations are exactly the same as are issued to the garrison, consisting
of fresh beef, pork, bakers' bread, sugar, coffee, beans, hominy,
soft soap and candles. Besides these up to the time I left there was a
sutler's store inside the enclosure at which we could obtain any kind of
meat or vegetables or knickknacks if we chose. We could purchase anything
we Avanted. Clothing and eatables were allowed to be sent the
prisoners by their friends in the North in any quantity and money Avithout
stint."
The Register of June 20, 1888, says twenty-five cows were kept and
the milk sold to the prisoners at 6 cents a quart. The number of prisoners
was about 15,000, of whom 206 died over there, most of whom were sick
or wounded on their arrival.
The Register of October 12, 1889, prints the full list of those buried
on the island and states that L. B. Johnson and the Register own the
only tAvo lists in existence. Owing to the visit of a delegation from
Georgia an effort was started to fix up the graves on the island which had
hitherto failed because L. B. Johnson would hot sell the land where the
cemetery was located. For many years since the graves have been
decorated on Decoration Day, the grass moAved and the undergrowth kept
trimmed.
After the Avar the graves of the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's
Island Avere neglected for many years, until finally on March 30, 1890,
the 206 graves were marked with headstones. In 1891 an effort was
made by the Fifth Regiment of Ohio Infantry to buy a camping ground
oh the island but fell through. On January 20,1898, L. B. Johnson died
at the age of 97 and the island passed out of the hands of the Johnson
family.
On November 18, 1904, an option was given the Daughters of the
Confederacy to buy the cemetery, and on March 14,1905, they purchased
a strip of land 100 feet wide by 485 feet long including the cemetery
100 feet wide by 209i/2 feet long. On June 8, 1910, the beautiful monument
now standing was unveiled, and the statue of the Confederate
soldier faces the east waiting for the arising of his brethren.