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Only Confederate Soldier Buried at Andersonville National Cemetery

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Camp Sumter, more commonly known simply as Andersonville, was one of the largest Confederate military prisons of the Civil War. More than 45,000 Union soldiers were held there, of which about 13,000 perished. Those 13,000 graves were eventually provided headstones, largely due to the efforts of Clara Barton, and a national cemetery was established. Today, upwards of 20,000 veterans and family members rest at Andersonville.

S. B. Kitchens' military tombstone bears the Southern Cross of Honor
and a pointed top.
Yet one individual stands out as being the only Confederate veteran buried at the national historic site: Sampson Boze Kitchens.

He was a private in Company C of the 10th Georgia Regiment, enlisting in 1862 at the age of 17. Despite the (obvious) constant dangers of soldiering during a war (including at least two stints in the hospital), Boze survived and was present for the surrender of Confederate troops at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

Sampson Boze Kitchens lived til the ripe age of 90 years, leaving behind 9 children, 25 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren (according to a transcript of his obituary).

I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, as I've wondered why Pvt. Kitchens was buried at Andersonville. I found out recently his remains were actually moved there. He was originally buried at Kelly-Kitchens Cemetery near Oglethorpe, Georgia, where his grave remained unmarked for at least five months. Soon after, a headstone at that location was provided by the US military via Mrs. Chas. A. Greer, president of the Oglethorpe Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans,
 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2012.  National Archives and Records
Administration cited.

According to this Macon County, Georgia message board post, Sampson B. Kitchens was "moved and re-buried with honor" at Andersonville National Cemetery 24 March 1995.

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Comments

Unknown said…
I still can not find an explanation as to why his remains were allowed to be moved and buried there. It's not like I'm reading where he did what he could so many prisoners could live. I don't even see anything that he was stationed there.
August 2, 2017 at 11:40 AM
Anonymous said…
Interesting indeed. Makes one wonder if perhaps he did something to tarnish the family name during the war that warranted burial with the "enemy"?
February 18, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Anonymous said…
My brother in law is a Kitchens Andersonville is in Macon County home to the Kitchens family. My niece just named her son after this historical family member. My brother inlaws father and other military family members are buried there. They live on the original Kitchens family farm not far from there.

June 21, 2021 at 2:09 PM
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The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

So I answered, "O Lord God, You know."

Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live...'" (Ezekiel 37:1-5, NKJV)