For several decades, the cremated remains of more than two dozen US civil war veterans languished in storage facilities at a funeral home and cemetery in Seattle.
The simple copper and cardboard urns gathering dust on shelves only had the name of each of the 28 soldiers – but nothing linking them to the civil war. Still, that was enough for an organization dedicated to locating, identifying and interring the remains of unclaimed veterans to conclude over several years that they were all Union soldiers deserving of a burial service with military honors.
“It’s amazing that they were still there and we found them,” said Tom Keating, the Washington state coordinator for the Missing in America Project, which turned to a team of volunteers to confirm their war service through genealogical research. “It’s something long overdue. These people have been waiting a long time for a burial.”
Most of the veterans were buried in August at Washington’s Tahoma national cemetery – along with the remains of some of the 31 civil war spouses also found in the same storage facilities.
In a traditional service offered to civil war veterans, the historical fourth US infantry regiment dressed in Union uniforms fired musket volleys and the crowd sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Names were called out for each veteran and their unit before their remains were brought forward and stories were shared about their exploits. Then, they were buried.
Among them was a veteran held at a Confederate prison known as Andersonville. Several were wounded in combat and others fought in critical battles including Gettysburg, Stones River and the Atlanta campaign. One man survived being shot thanks to his pocket watch – which he kept until his death – and another deserted the Confederate army and joined the Union forces.
“It was something, just the finality of it all,” Keating said, adding they were unable to find any living descendants of the veterans.
Along with those buried at Tahoma, Keating said, several others will be buried at Washington state veterans cemetery and a US navy veteran will be buried at sea. The remains of several more civil war veterans were sent to Maine, Rhode Island and other places where family connections were found.
Among them was Byron Johnson. Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1844, he enlisted at 18 and served as a hospital steward with the Union army. He moved out west after the war and died in Seattle in 1913. After his remains were delivered to Pawtucket city hall, he was buried with military honors at his family’s plot in Oak Grove cemetery.
Donald R Grebien, Pawtucket’s mayor, said Johnson’s burial service was the right thing to do.
“When you have somebody who served in a war but especially this war, we want to honor them,” he said. “It became more intriguing when you think this individual was left out there and not buried in his own community.”
English (US)