Grave of Confederate soldier dug up in Georgia

[snakeyes]

I hope they find these A holes


KNOXVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in Georgia say the grave of a Confederate soldier has been dug up and investigators are working to determine whether anything has been stolen.

Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker on Thursday said a grave is at the Old Bethel Church Cemetery in Knoxville and belonged to James Nichols.

WMAZ-TV reports historical records show Nichols was captured in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863, and died Nov. 9, 1866. Crawford told the Telegraph of Macon that Nichols was a first lieutenant in the Confederate Army and the suspects may have been looking for artifacts that were buried with him.

Walker says authorities are trying to locate Nichols' relatives and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to help inspect the grave's contents.

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[Davers]

One of my gggrandfathers was in the 47th Ga and was KIA in the battle of Missionary Ridge. Our family has tried to locate his burial place with no success for several generations. The speculation is that he is in the mass CSA grave at Silverdale with 154 other unknown Confederate soldiers, but my own feelings are that he is still on the ridge near where he fell as I just can't see the Federals expending much energy to move dead Confederates that far, especially during an active combat phase. I feel that a special curse is on those who disturb the dead for their own gain.

Sounds bad but the Union used Freed Blacks to do Such Disturbing Tasks..

I was up on Knolb Hill , (sorry for Incorrect spelling, if so) a couple weeks ago just after Sunrise & got some Great Pictures
Of the city & Missionary Ridge. Crazy There's a National Park in the middle of a Hood like that , but it is what it is.
Also looked like most of Missionary Ridge Has been Developed, as I drove to the top (facing Chattanooga), beautiful homes up there with all the historical Plaques & such right across the street .
Only had a couple hours to look and try to find a place to Detect for an hour or so.
Went up on the bottom side of the ridge Behind a School & not Far from a new looking Hospital.
Did not get any relics but found some nice Sun Glasses on one of the schools Fields + clad.
Had a good time anyway ,hunting new ground.

Hope you find your Grandfathers Resting place . I also thank him for his Service. 'As best I can'
Davers

 

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[Tnmountains]

One of my gggrandfathers was in the 47th Ga and was KIA in the battle of Missionary Ridge. Our family has tried to locate his burial place with no success for several generations. The speculation is that he is in the mass CSA grave at Silverdale with 154 other unknown Confederate soldiers, but my own feelings are that he is still on the ridge near where he fell as I just can't see the Federals expending much energy to move dead Confederates that far, especially during an active combat phase. I feel that a special curse is on those who disturb the dead for their own gain.

I hunt Missionary Ridge all the time and I have only heard of one burial being found in a garden. They did take a lot of them to Silverdale to bury and the people out there are working all the time and getting new Identifications. I do know that the people that followed the army were robbing the dead on the ridge and orders were given to shoot them. If you like we can try to track his burial down as it is a worthy cause. I am still wanting to find all the burials from the train wreck between Cleveland and Chattanooga. I did some work in Ooltewah on a farm a guy bought and in his barn was C.S marker. Said the farmer get hitting it when doing his hay. I would like to go back and see if he might want to try and move that burial to Silverdale with his brothers.

 

[parsonwalker]

So many battlefield burials were dug up unintentionally in the 70s and 80s in Central Virginia. Protocol at the time was to keep the relics (plates, etc) and turn the bones over to the National Park Service. This was done quite often. The Cold harbor cemetery actually has a large crypt for unknowns where the bones were placed back then. Buttons were usually unidentifiable because body acids ate them up. If you dig bones TODAY, you are supposed to call police, they will wrap the place in crime scene tape and treat it as a murder until somebody proves it's old. Then the local paper gets hold of the story, it makes the front page and the poor farmer is inundated with relic hunters both seeking permission and sneaking in at night. The farmer gets angry with the original relic hunter who has inadvertantly caused him so much grief, and stops ALL relic hunting. It's a lose/lose situation. The taxpayers pay for a full investigation, the remaining relics on the farm turn to dust and nobody gains. because of this, I once heard of a relic hunter who keeps quiet, and moves the bones to an unmarked piece of property, reburies them with dignity and thus they are undisturbed. You can despise this guy if you want, but I'm not sure it's so much worse than what the park service does. Unless of course the soldier had a (rare) dog tag. If he can be identified, that's a game changer in my eyes.

 

[ivan salis]

my the good lord bless those who disturbed this poor mans grave , with every disease this poor man suffered from all of his life -- all at once and may they die of the bleeding shits.... nothing lower than a knowingly being a " grave robber" out to loot relics from the dead buried in holy ground.

this is way different that finding random items lost on a battlefield or camp site area -- known "marked" burial sites are "holy ground" and are clearly off limits to anyone that is not a "ghoul" of the worse sort ... anyone who would dig up a "known /marked" civil war vets grave to harvest the buttons ,swords or other items buried with them needs to be shot on sight in my view as the scum they are.

 

[Antje]

Remember last year or so some awful person tried to auction a Civil War soldier's skull he'd found? There was such an uproar ( of course ) he withdrew and was forced to hand it to the proper authorities who gave the poor man a military burial. Who does that? Who even thinks of doing that?

I have a friend whose Native American ancestor's skull is held in some museum. Crazy. Someone is always 'excavating' Native American burial mounds! They're not even that ancient- if someone went to one of our old cemeteries in New England or Virginia and started digging up graves from the early settlers they'd be arrested as grave robbers.

 

[gatordog7]

Was told a story about 15 yrs ago by a guy that ran a detector store in Ft Oglethorpe about a buddy of his that was detecting near Ringgold. Buddy found some shallow buttons and not far away found a shalow grave with a flattened canteen over the face. He notified authorities and did a full excavaton and military burial. Site was very close to the big water tower or whatever that is just above the depot in Ringgold. Touchy subject but some choose to do the right thing.