- Joined
- May 3, 2013
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Much depended on the specific battlefield and who won. Many bodies from the Overland Campaign were unburied or hastily buried by the men's comrades since Grant chose to move on quickly to the next battle and Lee followed. At Gettysburg initial burials occurred in the immediate aftermath of the battle with reburial occurring a few months later beginning in October. In the case of Antietam the land was not acquired until 1865 with reburials occurring over a 2+ year period before the dedication ceremony in September, 1867, five years after the battle. I've attached a link to the NPS Antietam National Cemetery website which gives some background for that site. If you can obtain a copy of Gregory Coco's A Strange and Blighted Land, he provides a lot of detail on the procedures.
https://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/historyculture/antietam-national-cemetery.htm
https://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/historyculture/antietam-national-cemetery.htm