GREENBUSH CEMETERY MONUMENT PROJECT
It was on Sunday, February 23, 1862 that prisoners arrived at Lafayette, Indiana. There were 806 of them according to the newspaper accounts of the time. Several days later, a roll call of the "Secesh", as the Rebels were called, showed 712 prisoners.
Prisoners who died there, were buried in the Greenbush Cemetery, where their graves may still be found in a row, marked by small pointed stones, in the extreme northwest corner along Greenbush Street. There are 28 of these stones. In 1912, the War Department compiled a list of prisoners buried in Greenbush. A copy of this list is on file today in the cemetery's office. The tombstones bear the simple inscription "Unknown C.S.A.". However, these men are known. Most of them were from the 32nd and the 41st Tennessee Regiments, having only served 4 1/2 months.
Sleeping beside the Rebel prisoners in Greenbush Cemetery in an unbroken row are 22 Union soldiers. Their graves are marked by stones with round tops, contrasting to the pointed stones over the Confederates. These Union soldiers were killed in a wreck. On October 31, 1864, a passenger and cattle train collided near Culver, now Crane Station, located eight miles southeast of Lafayette. Thirty were killed. The dead and injured were brought to the Jones House and those unclaimed were buried in Greenbush.
Like the Confederate prisoners, these men were buried under tombstones marked "Unknown U.S.A.". However, this is not correct. The names and units of these soldiers are known.
Thus, today in Greenbush Cemetery there lie fifty boys of the Blue and Gray. Enemies in the Civil War, they sleep side by side. The Coalition plans to place a monument at Greenbush so that their names are preserved for future generations.
If you wish to aid us in this project, contact The Indiana Coalition to Honor Civil War Dead.
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