NATHAN WASHBURN118th NY INFANTRY and 59th MA INFANTRYDIED IN DANVILLE, VA - When he was young, Dr. Lewis Washburn, fromVermont, ran away from home to become a drummer boy in the War of 1812.He married Harriet Longley in Shefford, Quebec, in August 1822, andtheir first son, Nathan Longley Washburn, was born there in February1823.Nathan came to the United States and married Eliza Hatch in Wilmingtonin 1843. By the time he left to enlist in the 118th Infantry as alieutenant in August 1862, he and Eliza had five children. When he wasstill in Washington with the regiment when he resigned in February 1863.In February 1864, Nathan enlisted in the newly-formed 59thMassachusetts Infantry which was a "veteran regiment" in which recruitshad to have prior service. The regiment served in the Petersburg areaand on May 24, 1864, Nathan was captured at North Anna River and takento Danville Prison.Nathan died in early 1865, and as was the case for Union soldiers in theprison, he died of some infectious disease and malnutrition. Thesoldiers were initially buried in poorly marked, mass graves and laterwere exhumed and reinterred with individual markers in the DanvilleNational Cemetery. Although Nathan is buried there, he is buried in oneof the mass graves, so has no individual stone.Almost all of the original interments in Danville National Cemeterywere [Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_(American_Civil_War)) prisonersof war who had been held in the city of Danville's tobacco warehouseswhich were convertedinto [Confederate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_of_America) internmentfacilities for this purpose. Soldiers were from numerous states,including Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, NewJersey, and Wisconsin. In February 1864, the residents of Danville wrote to Secretary of WarJames Seddon to petition for the removal of the Yankee prisoners to"some other place" because the hospitals for the prisoners were locatedin the heart of the town and they were afraid the populace would beinfected because the whole atmosphere of the town was filled with thesmallpox and fever now raging within the limits of the corporation. Thegovernment paid them no heed.
