Final rest on foreign fields

Today we bring our soldiers home no matter the cost. This seems to be a result of the Vietnam war. It was not popular at home and the idea of leaving our boys behind on foreign fields didn't sit well with the public. Not only the expense of equipment and resources but many lives are lost trying to retrieve soldiers who have died on foreign fields.

That was not always the case. We have several relatives who gave their life in armed conflict on foreign fields and their final rest is where they died. The first one I know of was Micajah C. Hogan. He was the brother of my Great Great Grandfather, James Henderson Hogan.

Micajah was born in Stewart County Georgia in 1845 and died at the Camp Douglas POW camp in Illinois on November 24, 1864. Micajah enlisted originally in the 17th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, CSA. On February 5, 1864 he enlisted in Company F of the Georgia 46th Infantry Regiment.

Micajah had been all over Virginia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania with the 17th Infantry. When he joined the 46th the battles were closer to home. At this point in the war they were defending Georgia from invading Union troops.

They started fighting almost every day sometimes several times a day. A list of their after battle reports shows the following engagements:
Fought on 15 May 1864 at Resaca, GA.

Fought on 15 May 1864 at New Hope Church, GA.

Fought on 16 May 1864.

Fought on 17 May 1864 at Calhoun, GA.

Fought on 17 May 1864 at Adairsville, GA.

Fought on 19 May 1864 at Kingston, GA.

Fought on 19 May 1864 at Calhoun, GA.

Fought on 20 May 1864 at Resaca, GA.

Fought on 28 May 1864 at New Hope Church, GA.

Fought on 28 May 1864 at Dallas, GA.

Fought on 30 May 1864 at New Hope Church, GA.

Fought on 5 Jun 1864 at Pumpkin Vine Creek, GA.

Fought on 14 Jun 1864 at Pine Mountain, GA.

Fought on 15 Jun 1864 at Pine Mountain, GA.

Fought on 15 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.

Fought on 17 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.

Fought on 18 Jun 1864 at Pine Mountain, GA.

Fought on 19 Jun 1864 at Marietta, GA.

Fought on 19 Jun 1864 at Peach Tree Creek, GA.

Fought on 19 Jun 1864 at Atlanta, GA.

Fought on 19 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.

Fought on 20 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.

Fought on 20 Jun 1864 at Marietta, GA.

Fought on 20 Jun 1864 at Atlanta, GA.

Micajah was taken prisoner on June 20, 1864 in a battle outside Atlanta, Georgia. He was eventually transferred to Camp Douglas. He contracted smallpox while in the prison camp and was one of approximately 7500 to die there. One in five prisoners of war died while at Camp Douglas. It was called the Andersonville of the North.

The final resting place for Micajah and over six thousand others is a mass grave called "Confederate Mound" in the Chicago, Illinois Oak Woods Cemetery.