Today, marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Florena Budwin. Residents of Philadelphia, she and her husband, John, enlisted in an unknown unit. One account says he was killed in an engagement in South Carolina. Another says that they were both captured in South Carolina and sent to Andersonville where her alleged husband, a captain, was said to have been killed by a guard. She remained at Andersonville until September 1864, when she was sent with a group of other prisoners to Florence, South Carolina, in the wake of Sherman's operations in close proximity to Andersonville. While at Florence, she contracted pneumonia and died January 25th, 1865, at the age of 21. She lies in a mass grave in section D and is believed to be the first woman buried in a national cemetery. However, this not entirely correct. Chalmette National Cemetery was established a year before Florence and serves as the resting place of Rosetta Wakeman who was buried over six months before Budwin. But Wakeman is buried under her male alias, “Lyons Wakeman,” whereas Budwin’s feminine name appears on her headstone. Other female soldiers died before Budwin and removed to national cemeteries established after Florence. Budwin is the first woman to be buried under her
entire feminine name in a
national cemetery, and it is more than likely an alias.
Fanny Wilson died about four months before Budwin and was re-buried as F. Wilson in what would become Memphis National Cemetery in 1866.
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Florena is the only one in section D with a marked grave.
There are over 2000 unknown soldiers buried around her.
Someone had placed artificial flowers at her grave.
Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh |
Click [
HERE] to view an album from my visit to Florence National Cemetery.
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| Ancestry.com |
