Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery is located on Sullivant Avenue in Columbus Ohio the states capital. Camp Chase had many different uses during the Civil War period. Initially the camp was used as a training post and later as a mustering out station for Federal troops.
As the war dragged on Camp Chase was turned into a Confederate prisoner of war camp. At one time the prison held almost 9,000 confederates. In 1865 many worn out and ill prisoners were sent to Camp Chase. Nearly one quarter of these men died, some shortly after arriving at the prison. 1,400 prisoners died at Camp Chase during 1865 with a total of 2,200 dead during the entire war. Many of these prisoners were buried in the camp cemetery.
The "Lady in Gray" haunts Camp Chase Cemetery and still leaves flowers at the cemetery. She is a young woman who while dressed completely in gray searched for the grave of her husband in the years after the Civil War. The young woman would come day after day searching for any clue of her husband but many of the wooden markers had rotted away. Northerners and Southerners alike neglected the cemetery and it deteriorated badly. The Gray Lady would be seen using a white handkerchief to wipe away her tears and sorrow. Eventually she never returned to the cemetery.
In the early 1900's a Confederate veteran took to the task of cleaning up the cemetery grounds and cutting down the weeds. Once the cemetery was restored people began to see the Lady in Gray still searching for the grave of her husband. When someone would approach her she would vanish. The Lady in Gray still walks the cemetery to this day. In the late1980's during a Civil War reenactment many people heard the crying of a woman when no woman was in the area.
