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Confederate cemetery gets cleaning

COLUMBUS — Over 2,000 headstones will have the chance be cleaned, straightened and made level thanks to approximately $120,000 of tax payer money being used by the federal government to help Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus.

There are estimated to be as many as 2,260 bodies, almost all Confederate soldiers, buried in the area, with a mass grave known to be located in the southeastern part of the cemetery. There are also burials under what is now Sullivant Avenue and a nearby ball field.

Camp Chase, named after President Abraham Lincoln’s treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, operated as a prisoner-of-war camp from 1861 to 1865. Over 150,000 Union soldiers were also trained there.

The 2,133 headstones at the 1.8-acre site were installed in 1936.

Administrators are hoping that after the cleanup, young people often found smoking or drinking in the cemetery will respect the work that has been done.

The project, which began in June, is expected to be completed by early November.

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Information taken from: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/01/camp_chase.ART_ART_09-01-09_B1_NJEUB9M.html?sid=101