Confederate Prison at Rock Island, Illinois-- Part 2: George Fowlkes, 19

Union guards were also susceptible to the diseases plaguing their Confederate prisoners.

Of some 12,000 Confederates interred at Rock island Prison, just less than 2,000 died.and are buried at the Arsenal's Confederate Cemetery,.  Their bodies were placed in wooden boxes and a wooden slab used to mark their final resting place.

George Fowlkes, 3 Arkansas Cav., Co. B,  arrived shortly after the prison opened and died three months later of illness, just a couple days shy of his 19th birthday.

Sgt. Martin Sims, Co. E (Russell) Alabama Cavalry,was  transferred to Rock island from another cam and died a month later of small pox.

"They did not live to see their country reunited.  Still, they are American soldiers.  Each with their own story, and in row after row, they are respectfully remembered."

That last remark rings hard in these days of dishonoring everything Confederate.

--Old Secesh