America’s Civil War: Where Does Private Jemison Rest

By Alexandra Filipowski and Hugh T. Harrington | America's Civil War  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

In a quiet cemetery in the center of what was once Georgia’s capital, a monument has stood for more than a hundred years commemorating the life of Private Edwin F. Jemison, a young Confederate soldier killed in battle. To honor his memory, his parents erected the monument at Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia. Most people have long believed this to be Private Jemison’s final resting place. Clues found at the cemetery plot itself, however, as well as in his obituary, seem to indicate that Memory Hill is not actually the burial place of the soldier with the famous youthful face.

Private Jemison came from a long line of distinguished ancestors. His mother, Sarah Stubbs Jemison, was the daughter of a merchant and justice of the peace, and the granddaughter of a Revolutionary War hero. His father, Robert, was a man of means, a landowner, lawyer and newspaper editor. His line included a Revolutionary War hero, a Georgia congressman, and prominent doctors and lawyers. In fact, both the Jemisons and the Stubbs were among Georgia’s founding families. Shortly after the birth of their third child, Robert and Sarah moved their family from Georgia to Monroe, La.

With the secession of Louisiana on Janu-ary 26, 1861, and the subsequent fall of Fort Sumter on April 14, young Edwin enlisted in the 2nd Louisiana. Shortly after he signed on, his regiment was transported from New Orleans to Richmond, where it came under the command of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder. Other than an encounter in April 1862 at the Battle of Dam No. 1 along Virginia’s Warwick River, the 2nd Louisiana did not see action until Malvern Hill.

The July 1, 1862, Battle of Malvern Hill was one of the bloodiest up to that point in the war; 5,500 Confederate soldiers became casualties, nearly twice the Union losses. One of those soldiers was Private Jemison, who lost his life to a cannonball. On July 2, the Confederates buried their dead on the field.

Even though Jemison was undoubtedly buried with his comrades on the field of battle, it was not unusual for Confederate soldiers to be exhumed and sent home for reburial. Milledgeville’s first battle casualty of the war, who had been killed at Pensacola, Fla., was returned to his hometown and buried on November 30, 1861. After the war, more bodies were disinterred and brought back to the town. In March 1866, the remains of a soldier who had been killed at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1863 were returned to Milledgeville. In November 1866, the remains of a soldier killed at Sharpsburg on September 17, 1862, were also returned to the town.

An article titled "Disinterment of Dead Bodies" in the August 13, 1862, issue of the Georgia Journal & Messenger</i> vividly described the problems involved in shipping bodies home during wartime: "Our attention was called particularly to this subject, while on a visit to our Cemetery one day last week. A body had been brought here by railroad, we believe, from Atlanta, on its way to Dooly County, and had become so offensive that further transportation was refused. After remaining at the depot some time, a guard was detailed from Col. Brown’s encampment for that purpose and the body buried."

The article went on to further elaborate on the topic by quoting from the Richmond Dispatch "We daily observe at the railway stations boxes containing the bodies of deceased soldiers, which have been disinterred by their friends, under the belief that they can be sent off without delay either by mail train or express. This, however, is an error. Freight trains only carry them, and the detention frequently causes the bodies to become offensive, when their immediate burial by the wayside is a matter of necessity. It would be better to postpone disinterment until cold weather, when it can be accomplished with less trouble and more certainty of getting the remains of the departed to their destination. Metallic coffins are difficult to obtain, and wooden ones can only be procured by the payment of a large sum. In these the dead bodies are packed with sawdust, and in warm weather their transportation to a distant point is uncertain, if not absolutely impossible."

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Tags: America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts

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