Confederate "reburials" ?

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Nov 2, 2016
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The Great State of GEORGIA!
I'm sure many posts exist throughout this vast site but, I'm old and impatient. I've always been curious to fascinated regarding the casualties of the soldiers of both sides and particularly the Rebels. I would like to know more of the reburials of the Confederate dead. I've copied a sentence from an article that follows

"The Confederate dead remained buried until the 1870s-1880s when they were disinterred and taken to the Confederate Cemetery named Hollywood, which was located in Richmond, Va."

The above statement from a Gettysburg resident regarding 50 Confederates that were removed from his family's farm sort of is the basis of my inquiry.
1. Were their "commercial" companies or specific businesses that performed the reburials?
2. Any documentation, i.e. advertising, photos, for lack of a better word "inventory or bill of ladings"?
3. Were the soldiers being re-interred identified for the most part and being relocated solely from their families? or, like the case of the Gettysburg family mentioned above, due to reclamation or acquisition of land removed to farm?
4. Re-internment being a grisly task and sometimes including 50 or more soldiers what kind of pay or fee would this take?
Any information is helpful and feel free to add to the post as you see fit concerning this fascinating aspect of the war.
 
Interesting question and I've never given much thought to it. I'm sure someone had to be hired (ergo professional)
but I have no evidence.
 
There are many newspaper accounts of this. The following is from he Columbus Daily Enquirer (Ga.), 10 April 1870:
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I'm sure many posts exist throughout this vast site but, I'm old and impatient. I've always been curious to fascinated regarding the casualties of the soldiers of both sides and particularly the Rebels. I would like to know more of the reburials of the Confederate dead. I've copied a sentence from an article that follows

"The Confederate dead remained buried until the 1870s-1880s when they were disinterred and taken to the Confederate Cemetery named Hollywood, which was located in Richmond, Va."

The above statement from a Gettysburg resident regarding 50 Confederates that were removed from his family's farm sort of is the basis of my inquiry.
1. Were their "commercial" companies or specific businesses that performed the reburials?
2. Any documentation, i.e. advertising, photos, for lack of a better word "inventory or bill of ladings"?
3. Were the soldiers being re-interred identified for the most part and being relocated solely from their families? or, like the case of the Gettysburg family mentioned above, due to reclamation or acquisition of land removed to farm?
4. Re-internment being a grisly task and sometimes including 50 or more soldiers what kind of pay or fee would this take?
Any information is helpful and feel free to add to the post as you see fit concerning this fascinating aspect of the war.


It was called " The Gettysburg Dead " . So odd, this came up recently- just bumped the thread we had on it. Hang on! Sam Weaver, son of the then-late Rufus, left med school to help Southern families. Rufus had been in charge of disinterring Union dead for the National Cemetery- I think using the Elliot Map? Rufus left a record of Confederate burial spots- Sam was able to use those.

I ' think ' most of the further information is here, on other states, although John Hartwell's contribution is new, thank you!

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/th...-widows-and-orphans-1872.124777/#post-1336480
 
If I remember correctly, the job of dis-interment, packing and shipping was put out for bid and the winning bid was something like $1.25 per body. Also, the money raised ran out before the job was completed and the person doing the job in Gettysburg never received his complete payment.
 
What an onerous and unenviable task, making it all the more worthy. The thought of these dead not being buried with the proper respect has troubled me greatly since first I first learnt about it. The fact that it was a deliberate act makes it somewhat incomprehensible to me. The reality they were finding it difficult to raise the funds when there were those willing to do what needed to be done makes me wonder was that due to the effects of the war, and the inability of people/states to contribute, or did people just want to move past the war, preferring not to have to endure the heartache of it all over again by focusing on the losses they had suffered? Finding it hard to make sense of it all...
 
There are two excellent books on the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg with sections on the removal of the Confederate dead: Gregory Coco's Wasted Valor and A Strange and Blighted Land. I believe approximately over 3,000 Confederate bodies were recovered from the battlefield, the person responsible was Dr. Rufus B. Weaver and the remains were packed together in large crates and sent to Richmond. Another aspect to the body recovery/removal was that even the Union dead weren't dis-interred until after the weather turned cold.
 
How about Vicksburg? My ggrandfather Pvt Vernon H. Lockley of Co.A Waul's Texas Legion, CSA died on March 16,1863 of disease(smallpox?)and was buried in Warren County,Miss. but is not listed in any cemeteries in the region....I have never been able to locate his remains......Does anybody have any clues to help me find him?
 
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How about Vicksburg? My ggrandfather Pvt Vernon H. Lockley of Co.A Waul's Texas Legion, CSA died on March 16,1863 of disease(smallpox?)and was buried in Warren County,Miss. but is not listed in any cemeteries in the region....I have never been able to locate his remains......Does anybody have any clues to help me find him?
It's possible he lies in Soldier's Rest as one of the thousands unknown Confederates buried there.
 
I used to visit Hollywood Cemetery a lot, when I lived in Petersburg. It is impressive to see where the unknowns from the various battlefields are buried marked by huge triangular shaped rock memorializing the Confederate unknowns. They number around 11,000. Among them is Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett, killed in Pickett's Charge, moved there in 1872. It is very haunted spot even in daylight.
 
They also have a section of "Gettysburg Dead" which is probably were many of the identified bodies went after their removal.

I used to visit Hollywood Cemetery a lot, when I lived in Petersburg. It is impressive to see where the unknowns from the various battlefields are buried marked by huge triangular shaped rock memorializing the Confederate unknowns. They number around 11,000. Among them is Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett, killed in Pickett's Charge, moved there in 1872. It is very haunted spot even in daylight.
 
Exactly why I posted as soon as I became inquisitive on this subject. I have spent every available minute of the last 4 decades absorbing and studying the innumerable subjects/topics mostly people and sociological aspects of The ACW and I kick myself for arriving late at this party (Civilwartalk.com) but, the kicks heal rapidly due to the enormous amount of true, precise and voluminous amounts of data contributed by the all encompassing historian/members of this site.
 
There are many newspaper accounts of this. The following is from he Columbus Daily Enquirer (Ga.), 10 April 1870:
Good ol' General Lee! By using an inflation calculator app, one truly gets the gist of, not only what an extraordinary amount of money he sent but, another glimpse of just how great a man he truly was. Just another reason why I cherish him so much.
$213 in 1868 → $3,534.88 in 2017
 
On the Federal side, the people hired to do reburials were paid per body, and I wonder if there were some creative reburying , just to pad out the bill a bit. One body might equal two unknowns.
 
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