Numbering all the Bones

Originally published in 2002, Numbering All the Bones is historical fiction for middle-grade readers. The novel is written by New York author Ann Rinaldi, who died at age 86 in July 2021. The novel tells the story of the changes in Eulinda’s life as the Civil War ends in the mid-1860s and she is no longer enslaved. Pond Bluff, the plantation where Eulinda lives, is adjacent to Andersonville Confederate Prison.

During the last 18 months of the Civil War, 13,000 captive Union soldiers died in Andersonville. Rinaldi stated that her curiosity about how residents could know what was happening at the prison and not intervene was what prompted her to write the book. The narrative discusses topics including slavery, racism, imprisonment, pestilence, and death. The version of the book summarized here is the Disney Book Jump at the Sun, 2005 edition.

Plot Summary

The prologue begins with Eulinda Kellogg as a freedwoman living in Washington, D.C. and working as an assistant to Clara Barton. Passing by a pawnshop window, Eulinda sees a ring that played a pivotal role in the history of her family. This coincidence causes her to reflect on her life as an enslaved person on the Pond Bluff plantation in South Georgia adjacent to Andersonville Confederate Prison. Eulinda mentions the one question people have asked her frequently after the conclusion of the war: How could nearby residents have known about the conditions at the prison and done nothing to rectify them?

Eulinda thinks back to February 1864, when she was 13 years old. Her father, Hampton Kellogg, is the owner of the Pond Bluff plantation. Eulinda is his daughter by Mama, who was also enslaved by Kellogg and is now deceased. As the story begins, the number of enslaved people at the plantation has dwindled, as some ran away to join the Union army and fight in the ongoing Civil War. Others were taken by the Confederate government to help build the Andersonville prison. One of the runaway slaves is Neddy, Eulinda’s beloved older brother. Prior to leaving the plantation, Neddy steals an expensive gold and ruby ring. His intention is to keep the ring until the war is over, then take Eulinda west with him to start a new life.

Eulinda tells how her younger brother, Zeke, was sold into slavery by Miz Gertrude, the first wife of Hampton. When Zeke found the ring that Gertrude lost and returned it to her, she claimed that he stole the ring. Gertrude sells Zeke in retaliation. After Zeke has been sold, Mama becomes ill. Sickened with virulent cholera, Mama exposes Gertrude as she apologizes for being unable to work while hugging and slobbering on her. Mama dies the same night on the day she apologized to Gertrude, and Gertrude passes away a week later. Afterward, Hampton marries Mistis Jennie Ambrose, from Massachusetts, whom the enslaved people quickly decide is devious and wicked.

While checking her rabbit traps, Eulinda sees a group of Yankee soldiers, guarded by abusive Confederate troops, as they march toward the garish prison camp, which she sees for the first time. She is confronted by a scrawny Confederate soldier who tells her to stay away. He confiscates her little dog, Otis, intending to sell him to the prisoners for food. Eulinda runs back to Pond Bluff and convinces Hampton to rescue Otis.

Captain Wirz, the superintendent of the prison camp, comes to visit Pond Bluff. He threatens to use his authority to take Eulinda as his family’s servant and implies that Neddy is a prisoner in the camp. Mistis uses Wirz’s visit to convince Hampton that he must take steps to protect his property from confiscation by the Confederacy. Eulinda does not understand Mistis’s ploy, but knows that she is duplicitous, and that she works with her brother to profit from both the Confederate and Union armies. Hampton receives a letter from his son Julian, a Confederate soldier, who is imprisoned in a camp in Elmyra, New York. Eulinda asks Hampton for a pass to visit Andersonville hoping to find out whether Neddy is there.

At the prison, Eulinda learns there are women prisoners, including a young wife who has just given birth. She is also able to deduce that prisoners from Neddy’s regiment are in Andersonville. Returning to Pond Bluff, she tells Hampton about Neddy, that a mother and newborn child are there, and that Wirz wants a local family to take care of the mother and child. Mistis overhears and recognizes that bringing in the mother will gain her credit with officials in the North and South.

Eulinda goes with Hampton and Mistis to the prison and brings home Janie Hunt and her infant. Hampton tells Eulinda that Neddy refused to leave the prison, claiming himself a freedman, and denying that he knew Hampton.

Eulinda learns that Hampton has signed ownership of his property, including the slaves, over to Mistis. Hampton’s competency, Eulinda notes, has been gradually slipping. He begins to have spells that require a physician and that leave him incapacitated.

Janie Hunt tells Eulinda she has a plan to escape to the North and asks if Eulinda will go with her. Eulinda declines, believing she needs to learn how to become “true”—an authentic person—before she can leave the area. Janie asks if Eulinda will help spirit her husband to a rendezvous site from which they can embark on their escape plan. Eulinda agrees. At the appointed time she meets Captain Hunt and leads him successfully to the rendezvous.

When Atlanta falls to General Sherman, Hampton’s daughter Annalee must come home from the Female Academy to live at Pond Bluff. Mistis tells Eulinda to move from the main house of the plantation to the slave quarters so Annalee can have two rooms. The pace of the war picks up dramatically and deserting Confederate soldiers return to Georgia in large numbers. In April 1865, Hampton has Eulinda summon the enslaved Black residents and tells them they are free.

When Neddy does not show up at Pond Bluff after the war, Eulinda decides he must have died in the camp. Walking near the prison, which lies in ruins, Eulinda meets William Griffin, a Confederate officer who heard about the atrocities committed at Andersonville. Griffin explains that he intends to rebury the dead properly in a suitable cemetery. Eulinda agrees to assist and bring other helpers.

William tells Eulinda that Clara Barton, the nurse who started many hospitals during the war to care for the wounded, is coming to Andersonville to assist with its renovation. Eulinda meets Clara, who has heard of Eulinda and asks her to become her assistant. Clara invites Eulinda to leave Pond Bluff and move to the worksite. Eulinda also meets Dorence Atwater, the former Andersonville prisoner who secretly kept a record of the soldiers who died in the prison. Eulinda goes to Pond Bluff, serves dinner, and tells Hampton she is leaving for good.

Eulinda, who at last hopes to find her brother’s grave, explains to Dorence that Neddy may still have the stolen ring with his body. He agrees to help Eulinda find Neddy and, when he does, he returns the ring to her. Eulinda begins to paint wooden markers for the soldiers’ graves. Impressed by the work Eulinda has accomplished, Clara invites her to return to Washington with her as her permanent assistant.

On a trip to the town of Andersonville, Clara and Eulinda encounter Mistis, who invites Clara to meet some of the area’s leading women at Pond Bluff for tea. Clara accepts the invitation. At the gathering, Clara makes certain Eulinda is seated with her amid the white socialites. As they are leaving, Mistis threatens Eulinda with arrest if the ring is not returned. Clara learns of the conversation and confronts Mistis. Clara tells Mistis it is known that she was a war profiteer, something the other ladies who are present all hear.

After a closing ceremony at the memorial, Eulinda takes Clara into her confidence, giving her the ring and asking that it be used to provide a new beginning for a Black family of freedmen. Eulinda at last feels satisfied, acknowledging to herself that she has “come true.”