The Telegraph - Sunday - April 28, 2001 SMALLPOX ISLAND MONUMENT IS DEDICATED The playing of "Dixie", the flying of Confederate flags and the laying of wreaths highlighted a ceremony Saturday honoring Confederate prisoners of war who died in Alton. The event was the dedication of the Civil War Monument to remember the Confederate inmates of the Alton Federal Prison who died of smallpox and other contagious diseases. It was held on a rainy, chilly morning in the Lincoln Shields Recreation Area in the Riverlands Environmental Demonstration Area in West Alton. Guests were shielded from the cold wind and rain by a tent. "This is our pledge to the Southern patriots," said Terry Norris, archaeologist/historian of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District, which funded the granite monument. The monument is engraved with the names of 233 Confederate soldiers who died of smallpox after they were transferred from the prison to an island in the Mississippi River, which became known as Smallpox Island, including one woman, also are on the monument. The soldiers and others who died on the island were buried in trench graves. Smallpox Island later washed away, but the graves were discovered in 1935, when workers digging for the original Alton Dam unearthed them. The five-sided monument was erected last year in West Alton, across the Mississippi from Alton, and its surrounding stone platform was completed during the winter. Alton Township Supervisor Don Huber, master of ceremonies said the Confederate POWs "died for what they believed in at the time." Civil War re-enactors, represented by the 9th Missouri Volunteer Infantry and the Sons of the Confederate Veterans of Granite City, took part in the ceremony. They acted as color guards and placed wreaths at the monument in honor of the dead soldiers. Confederate re-enactors fired a salute. Nine members of the Roxana High School Band, led by music teacher Nancy Sabaj played "The Star Spangled Banner", "God Bless America", and the Confederacy's theme song of "Dixie." A trombonist played taps. Col. Michael R. Morrow, St. Louis District engineer, delivered a brief talk, reminding the audience that America recently suffered the loss of more than 3000 citizens "in a bloody terrorist strike, and we grieve for them and their families" "Today we are gathered to remember some of the more than 618,000 who died in the Civil War, the War Between the States", Morrow said, "Some historians say that number should be as high as 700,000. Union losses totaled 360,000. 250,000 of those to disease, like the cause of death of those whose names are on this monument. Confederate forces lost 258,000 - 164,000 to disease. Morrow said the fighting in the Civil War was "savage". He said that at Wilson's Creek, MO, a little-known battle, Northern and Southern forces lost 1200 men in a single day, a family from Christianburg, VA, lost 18 members and the lst Main Heavy Artillery lost 635 of its 900 men in seven minutes. He said the Civil War pitted not just states against states, but families who fought among themselves, brothers against brothers. " But we as a people, north and south of a line that divided us for four brutal years survived as these United States of America," Morrow said, "So today we gather not just to mourn the loss of these victims of war, but to celebrate each of their lives. In the end, neither the Union nor the Confederacy prevailed; rather, our nation outlasted the divisiveness of men for the future of mankind. God Bless these men who gave their lives and God Bless the United States of America.".... One descendant of a Confederate soldier who died of smallpox in Alton was present at the ceremony. Rex Cash, 43, of Choctaw, Okla, said his grand-uncle, Alfred Cash of Arkansas, enlisted in May 1862 and served in the 37th Arkansas Infantry, fighting in two battles. He was captured in 1863 and brought to the Alton prison. "He died less than three months after he was captured," Cash said. "This ceremony today was good, and it was important for me to be here. Alfred was only 19 years old when he enlisted and his family had no grave to grieve on, no closing, no funeral rite." "I felt it was a family obligation for me to be here. I grew up with his story. Those men endured the weather, so I didn't want to let a little bit of rain stop me. It's my way of giving something back to them."