Honoring Soldiers

Honoring Soldiers. Woodland Cemetery. , Inscription - North Side of Monument, How sleep the brave, who sink to rest , By all their country's wishes blest! , When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, , Returns to deck their hallow'd mold, , She there shall dress a sweeter sod , Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. , By fairy hands their knell is rung, , By forms unseen their dirge is sung, , There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, , To bless the turf that wraps their clay; , And Freedom shall awhile repair, , To dwell, a weeping hermit, there!, Ode Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746 , English Poet - William Taylor Collins 1721-1759, By the time this Civil War monument was dedicated in 1867, at least 250 brave souls who had perished as a result of that conflict had been buried throughout Woodland Cemetery - so many that in 1868 the northwest edge of the cemetery was designated a United States Military Cemetery. In 1899, the U.S. Government purchased land near 38th and Maine in what was then Graceland Cemetery. Shortly thereafter, remains of 309 soldiers were moved to that site, which today is still known as Quincy National Cemetery. Many other Civil War veterans are buried in private family plots in Woodland Cemetery., Notable among Civil War veterans buried in private plots in Woodland are two whose gravesites are frequently sought by visitors to the cemetery - Brig. General James D. Morgan and Corporal Martin Jones Hawkins., Brig. General James D. Morgan , Block 11, Lot 60 , 1810 - 1896 , Brig. General Morgan, an early Quincy pioneer who also fought in the Mexican War, volunteered in 1861 for the Civil War - with a broken leg - and served without furlough until the War ended. He participated in major campaigns including the Battle of Chickamauga and Sherman's March to the Sea. Morgan returned to Quincy, married in 1869, and became president of the Quincy Gas and Light Company., Corporal Martin Jones Hawkins , Block 13, Lot 115 , 1830 - 1886 , Corporal Hawkins, an Andrews' Raider with the Ohio infantry, was one of the recipients of the very first Congressional Medals of Honor given after Congress had approved awarding the Medal to soldiers. Hawkins accepted his Honor in September, 1863. The Citation read: "One of 19 of 22 men who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell, penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta." After the war, Hawkins resumed his career as train engineer and died in Quincy.