By Rose Morgan

Even if you are just slightly interested in the Civil War, you will enjoy this well kept federal cemetery on a tiny residential island in northwest Ohio. To get there, travel on the perimeter road east of Port Clinton on the Sandusky Bay side. Watch for a very small marker to herald the entrance to the causeway leading to Johnson's Island (cost is currently two dollars/car to cross the causeway). There will be a sign directing you to the cemetery.

Once there, you will be surprised by the fenced in rows of white grave markers symmetrically placed that are almost all in very good condition. This area is listed as "Ohio's most significant Civil War site". This Confederate Prisoner of War Depot was rapidly built at early on in the conflict labeled the Civil War. The first prisoners arrived in April of 1862. Twenty-six Confederate generals and future generals were imprisoned on the island.

History has it that they were treated very fairly at the beginning of the war but later on rations were greatly decreased and the facilities were overcrowded. There is a museum dedicated to preserving the history and artifacts located in Sandusky at the Ohio Veteran's Home.

Archeological studies continue and there is a chart showing marked graves and those burial sites that are unmarked but verified as remains.

There is a large handsome monument erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1910 serving as a memorial to honor the service of these men.