Dorence Atwater
American diplomat and American Civil War prisoner
Died when: 65 years 296 days (789 months)Star Sign: Aquarius
Dorence Atwater (February 2 November 26, 1910) was a Union Army soldier and later a businessman and diplomat who served as the United States Consul to Tahiti.
In July 1863, during the American Civil War, Atwater was captured by the Confederate Army and found himself among the first batch of prisoners at the notorious Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp.
He is notable for having created the Andersonville Death Register while imprisoned there, which recorded the identities of his fellow prisoners.
He secretly made a copy of his list of the dead and missing which later allowed him, in cooperation with Clara Barton, to mark the graves of otherwise unknown soldiers.
After the war, Atwater was sent to the Seychelles and later Tahiti as a United States Consul.He was a proficient businessman who worked with lepers and other charities and was beloved by the Tahitian people, who called him "Tupuuataroa" (Wise Man).
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