Numbering all the Bones

Eulinda makes her third trip to the prison in May, a month after the war ends. The gates are open, and the facility is deserted, but the appearance of the inside is so daunting she cannot bring herself to enter. Because Neddy did not come to find her after the war, she concludes he is dead. Her hope, which she realizes is unattainable, is to find his body.

She encounters a tall stranger wearing the uniform of a Confederate officer but with no “furberlows” to indicate his rank. He introduces himself as William Griffin, a former soldier from Fort Valley, Georgia, who has come to the prison camp to see if the conditions are truly as desperate as he heard, only to conclude the situation is worse. Standing beside him, looking through the prison gates, Eulinda explains that her brother died there. Griffin tells her that he has come to give her brother and the other deceased prisoners a proper burial. The two forge a partnership to restore propriety to the prison and create a cemetery. Eulinda agrees to speak to other freedmen about helping them. Griffin tells her he will pay her for her work out of his own funds.