ohn W. Jones, a former slave who arrived in Elmira via the Underground Railroad, was the sexton of Woodlawn Cemetery. He was in charge of the burial of each and every Confederate soldier that died during the existence of the Elmira Prison Camp.

He meticulously recorded and carefully attached to the lid of their coffin the name, rank, company and regiment, grave number and date of death of every prisoner he and his staff buried. Also evidence has been found that he had the date of death written on a peice of paper and inserted in a tightly sealed bottle and deposited with the remains. Of the 2,963 prisoners buried by Jones, only seven are listed as unknown.

Sexton Jones was a very busy man, especially between September 1864 and May 1865 during which time the least number of burials a month was 208, and the greatest was 495. Jones employed and supervised as many as twelve men in digging the trenches which contained the graves of the dead. To his immense credit sexton Jones was always present to personally see that the burials were properly and reverently conducted.
Thanks to his conscientious and humane efforts on behalf of these dead Confederate prisoners their resting places were known to their grieving families and are to future generations. Thanks to Mr. Jones they are not forgotten.

Woodlawn National Cemetery        ~ Elmira, New York ~ Woodlawn Cemetery at first had only wooden grave markers. On December 7, 1877, the federal government declared the burial site a national cemetery. After becoming a national cemetery the wooden markers were finially replaced with marble markers in 1907.