Wisconsin at Vicksburg: report of the Wisconsin-Vicksburg Monument Commission, including the story of the campaign and siege of Vicksburg in 1865 with especial reference to the activities therein of Wisconsin troops

              VICKSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY.
203
terial, proceeded to those places, and as the remains were taken up they
were cased, described, marked and shipped to this cemetery, where they were
re-interred.    Copies of all original Field Sheets are on file at the cemetery.
"The national cemetery here Avas established in 1865, and so the removal
of bodies began not long after some of them Avere buried. This Avork was
continued several years. Even at this late day a body is noAV and then found.
The expenditure of the government upon the cemetery up to June 30, 1874,
was $289,461.03 ; and this practically completed the work. A small allotment for maintenance has since been alloAved annually,—just about Avhat is
necessary for the actual requirements of the place.
ONE   OF THE   DRIVES
"Colored people come in large numbers on Memorial Day to hold services
and streAV floAvers over the graves. After they -have gone a goodly number
of the citizens of Vicksburg come up in carriages and hold services near the
lodge of the superintendent."
At the time when Comrade Thornton wrote to me there had been 17,014
burials in the cemetery. Of these, 12,909 graves are those of the unknown,
while 4,105 haA7e names on the markers.  More than three-fourths are unknown.
I do not suppose that a much more unfavorable spot could be found than
that Vicksburg hillside to transform into so beautiful a spot. Great things
have been accomplished there. The view from the vicinity of the Indian
mound is indeed a noble one. One can look from there down upon the lower
lands along the Yazoo, where the battle of ChickasaAv bayou w-as fought, away