Note by George Perkins
Comrade McCommon in his wonderful record states that he does not know the dates on which his comrades died. The records show that James Ghormley died December 24th, 1864, so counting back, Armstrong must have died about December 17th.
Our boys are sleeping in unknown graves, but the government for which they died is not unmindful of them. Among the most noteworthy mementoes of the war is the memorial obelisk erected at Salisbury, N. C. to mark the burial place of the Union soldiers who perished in the adjacent prison pen. It has been estimated that eighteen trenches contain no fewer than 11,700 men, buried promiscuously, without the possibility of identification, from which circumstance this ground is known as the cemetery of the unknown dead. It lies about a half mile from the town of Salisbury on a sloping ground, and has an extent of about seven acres, surrounded by a massive stone wall. The cemetery proper contains about two acres, the other five being a lawn covered with trees. A neat lodge has been erected at the entrance over which our flag floats continually. The monument itself, a plain obelisk of New Hampshire granite, thirty-six feet in height, was erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars. The unknown names of the dead are poetically symbolized by a veiled shield. A sword and helmet typify the conflict, and a pair of broken fetters the bursting of prison bonds by death. Over all, surrounded by a laurel wreath is the inscription “Pro Patria.” The monument, standing on the highest point of the slope, forms a picturesque feature of the local landscape.