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Bodies of Six Confederate POW's Stolen From Camp Chase Cemetery on Nov. 24, 1864

This story was forwarded by our good friend Scott Morris. Please take the time to read about yet another atrocity inflicted upon our valiant Southern heroes. Congratulations and kudos to Dennis Ranney and all the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 1535, and apologies to the families of these brave men.
 
Patrick Marquis


Confederate soldier gets his peace
Tuesday,  May 26, 2009 3:06 AM
By Meredith Heagney

THE COLUMBUS (OHIO) DISPATCH

Bland was a Confederate soldier whose body was stolen hours after it was buried at Camp Chase Cemetery on Nov. 24, 1864, said his great-great-granddaughter, Ann Hartman of Griffin, Ga. Hartman was at the Hilltop cemetery yesterday to accept a memorial stone in Bland's honor. It was part of a Memorial Day service hosted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 1535. They sang Dixie and sprinkled Southern soil on the cemetery ground. The bodies of more than 2,000 Confederate prisoners of war are buried in the cemetery.

The stone was the idea of Dennis Ranney, a member of the Sons group and an amateur historian who has researched the grave-robbing incident for five years. Hartman said she has spent 30 years trying to piece together her family history, but Bland's story always proved perplexing.

Here's what she and Ranney have figured out about what happened to him: Bland was captured during the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864 and taken to Camp Chase, where he died Nov. 24. He would've been about 40 years old. His body was at rest for just a few hours in grave No. 513, just steps from Sullivant Avenue. A team of three grave robbers, led by Columbus Dr. Joab Flowers, stole six bodies with the intention of selling them to a Cleveland medical school for dissection and research. Flowers would have received $20 for each body, Ranney said.

The bodies were to have been transported by train, but it's unclear howfar they got because the three robbers were arrested two days later. Even now, no one knows what happened to the bodies. Jincy, Bland's wife, waited on the porch after the war ended for a homecoming that would never be, Hartman said.

Hartman is grateful that she could provide that reunion, no matter how belatedly, even with the disappearance of Bland's body still unsolved. "We can't take him home, but we can honor him," she said. After all, Jincy waited a long time.

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article ©Columbus Dispatch 2009, presentation  ©Quantrillsguerrillas.com 2009, "Permission should be requested and agreed to before using this copyrighted essay and or image."

Next is an image of three unknown Quantrill men after being taken prisoner. If they lived long engough they may have been sent to a warm fuzzy place like Camp Chase.                                                                          

 

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