Confederate's headstone at Woodlawn to be fixed

• Pvt. Franklin Cauble died at Elmira's Civil War prison camp but is buried here under wrong surname
• Cauble's great-great-grandson contacts Star-Gazette%3B story published%3B federal investigation launched
• After investigation%2C National Cemetery Administration confirms error%2C orders new headstone this week

A Confederate soldier's gravestone in Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira that is inscribed with the wrong name will be replaced, the National Cemetery Administration said Friday.

Pvt. Franklin Cauble died at Elmira's Civil War prison camp but is buried under the name of his friend Pvt. Franklin Cooper, who survived, Cauble's great-great-grandson Tom Fagart of Concord, N.C., told the Star-Gazette in a story published in late September.

Within days after the article appeared, the cemetery administration — part of the Department of Veterans Affairs — informed Fagart and the Star-Gazette that the issue was going to be reviewed.

On Friday, Kristen Parker, a spokeswoman for the cemetery administration, wrote in an email that a replacement headstone was ordered Wednesday.

"After a thorough investigation into claims regarding the error on the headstone, it will be replaced with an in-kind headstone bearing the correct surname of 'Cauble,'" she wrote.

In an email to the Star-Gazette, Fagart said he was informed Friday of the new headstone by Orin Hatton of the cemetery administration in Washington, D.C.

"Thank you a thousand times over," he wrote. "This is a great day!"

Hatton said it may be about two weeks before the headstone will be delivered to Woodlawn National Cemetery, Fagart said.

"I also asked about what will happen to the marker with Pvt. Franklin Cooper's name on it. He said that it is historical marker and will be destroyed so that it may not be used for any other type purpose," he wrote.

The error on the headstone was not made by John W. Jones, the escaped slave who kept meticulous records when he buried or supervised the burial of almost 3,000 Confederate soldiers in Elmira. Instead, the error occurred in 1907, when the federal government replaced the original wooden markers with marble headstones.

Cemetery association historians reviewed Fagart's documents as well as others that include the combined military service records for both Cauble and Cooper, plus the Records of the Commissary General of Prisons, Parker explained. The cemetery commission was able to determine there was an error and that the wrong surname was inscribed on Cauble's headstone.

"(The National Cemetery Administration) found the error occurred in 1907 as a result of consultation between the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead and the State of North Carolina," she wrote. "The state auditor changed the listing of Franklin Cauble to Cooper, resulting in the inaccurate inscription on the headstone at Woodlawn National Cemetery."

According to information posted online by Fagart, 71, Cauble died of dysentery on Oct. 28, 1864, while Cooper was released July 3, 1865.

Cauble was about 39 years old when captured on June 3, 1864, and sent to Point Lookout, Md., Fagart said. He was moved July 12, 1864, to the Elmira prison camp and subsequently died there. He is buried in plot No. 718 in the cemetery's Confederate section.

Cooper, who died Oct. 2, 1924, is not buried in Elmira but in Silver Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in Norwood, N.C., Fagart said, Cooper applied for and received a military pension, he said.

Fagart's research turned up another historical tidbit involving the two Confederate soldiers: Cauble and Cooper were on the prisoner train that wrecked in Shohola, Pa., on July 15, 1864, en route to the Elmira Prison Camp, he said.

"NCA would like to thank Mr. Tom Fagart and the Star-Gazette for bringing this matter to our attention," Parker said. "It is our goal to ensure proper recognition and remembrance in our nation's national cemeteries, and we appreciate the combined efforts to correct this error."

The prison camp operated from July 6, 1864, until July 11, 1865, incarcerating a total of 12,121 Confederates. Insufficient food, extreme bouts of dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia, smallpox, inadequate medical care and flooding of the Chemung River resulted in the deaths of 2,963 prisoners, a mortality rate of about 25 percent. Prisoners dubbed the camp "Hellmira."

The Confederate section of Woodlawn Cemetery, where prisoners who died at the prison camp were buried, became Woodlawn National Cemetery on Dec. 7, 1877.

Follow Ray Finger on Twitter: @SGRayFinger.