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This was in the Tennessean today. I thought it was interesting. One of my ancestors was captured at the Battle of Nashville and taken P.O.W. to Camp Chase in Ohio where he remained until the end of the war. Most of my ancestors are buried in Confederate Cemeteries in Virginia. After reading this article I wondered if any were unaccounted for that I am not aware of.
FRANKLIN - Back in May, the shovels of archaeologists revealed the bones of a soldier buried alone one day sometime in 1864 along Columbia Avenue.
On Saturday, he'll return to the earth still a mystery man. But he won't go without fanfare.
Re-enactors will give him a full military burial, lay him to rest under a marker made of limestone columns and scatter the soil of other Civil War battlefields into his grave.
Those soil samples come from 18 states that have significant sites represented by Union or Confederate troops in the Battle of Franklin. They were collected by volunteers who want to mark the occasion by remembering the lives and homes of all the soldiers who fought in the battle, as well as Franklin's mystery man.
"The point is to include soil from the unknown soldier's native state in his burial. By covering all 18, we will include his home soil," said Jay Sheridan, Franklin Battle Field Task Force member. "His remains never made it back home, and this is one small way we can honor his service and sacrifice - as well as the sacrifice of his family - even though we will never know who he was or for which side he fought."
Based on the federal insignia decorating the brass buttons found with the skeleton, historians believe the man likely fought for the Union. Historians are divided about whether the soldier died during the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864, or later, around Dec. 17, 1864, during the pursuit of Confederate soldiers back through Franklin after the Battle of Nashville.
Ceremony not unprecedented
Adding the various soils from other battlefields is a tradition found in other modern burials of Civil War soldiers. Union and Confederate re-enactors will perform the ceremony for the respective states.
"In a sense, symbolically they will be filling the grave," said Sam Gant, task force member and a descendant of a Union soldier.
Among the sites where soil has been gathered are the Confederate Memorial Hall in Louisiana, Camp Chase military prison in Ohio and the battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
The idea of bringing the home soil of a dead soldier who was not buried in his homeland is one that's been passed down through the ages.
David Fraley, interim executive director of the Carter House, recounted how the family of a Georgia soldier brought soil from their garden in Georgia to lay over his grave.
Talk of the reburial ceremony left Fraley feeling humbled by the experience.
"It's a chance to refocus on literally the flesh and blood and the lives that made this country the one that we've come to know and love," Fraley said.
FRANKLIN - Back in May, the shovels of archaeologists revealed the bones of a soldier buried alone one day sometime in 1864 along Columbia Avenue.
On Saturday, he'll return to the earth still a mystery man. But he won't go without fanfare.
Re-enactors will give him a full military burial, lay him to rest under a marker made of limestone columns and scatter the soil of other Civil War battlefields into his grave.
Those soil samples come from 18 states that have significant sites represented by Union or Confederate troops in the Battle of Franklin. They were collected by volunteers who want to mark the occasion by remembering the lives and homes of all the soldiers who fought in the battle, as well as Franklin's mystery man.
"The point is to include soil from the unknown soldier's native state in his burial. By covering all 18, we will include his home soil," said Jay Sheridan, Franklin Battle Field Task Force member. "His remains never made it back home, and this is one small way we can honor his service and sacrifice - as well as the sacrifice of his family - even though we will never know who he was or for which side he fought."
Based on the federal insignia decorating the brass buttons found with the skeleton, historians believe the man likely fought for the Union. Historians are divided about whether the soldier died during the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864, or later, around Dec. 17, 1864, during the pursuit of Confederate soldiers back through Franklin after the Battle of Nashville.
Ceremony not unprecedented
Adding the various soils from other battlefields is a tradition found in other modern burials of Civil War soldiers. Union and Confederate re-enactors will perform the ceremony for the respective states.
"In a sense, symbolically they will be filling the grave," said Sam Gant, task force member and a descendant of a Union soldier.
Among the sites where soil has been gathered are the Confederate Memorial Hall in Louisiana, Camp Chase military prison in Ohio and the battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
The idea of bringing the home soil of a dead soldier who was not buried in his homeland is one that's been passed down through the ages.
David Fraley, interim executive director of the Carter House, recounted how the family of a Georgia soldier brought soil from their garden in Georgia to lay over his grave.
Talk of the reburial ceremony left Fraley feeling humbled by the experience.
"It's a chance to refocus on literally the flesh and blood and the lives that made this country the one that we've come to know and love," Fraley said.
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