Johnson's Island Confederate Stockade Cemetery, Ohio
Johnson's Island is located in the Sandusky Bay area of Lake Erie. It was pressed into service by the Union in 1861 as a stockade for captured Confederate officers. About 15,000 men passed through here, and it closed in September 1865. Not much is left today, but the Confederate Stockade Cemetery is still here. It's a quiet place now, accessed only by a toll road via the Johnson's Island causeway.
About 200 fine Southern gentlemen have been here since 1862 or so.
When day comes, they'll walk through the reeds . . .
. . . heading toward the gate to take up their posts.
A soldier named Moses stands guard as they pass.
He watches over them . . .
. . . as they touch the cross.
These markers cast their shadows first on borrowed land; then their mother
Mary paid the note in full.
Some of these are known but to God. Not everyone here has a stone.
Most men here are officers, but Peter isn't. He stays anyway.
Some of the headstones here are newer than others.
A few living souls tend the earthly needs of these men. They share their
story with all who care to come.
We who come here know the hallowed ground of Johnson's Island. We pay our
toll at the gate where these poor men can't pass.