How were all the bodies disposed of?

Embalming was just taking off, too. There are accounts of embalmers following the larger armies and fighting over the bodies of officers, whose families were most likely to pay for embalming services. One overzealous embalmer actually sabotaged his competitor's equipment so he could have the business for himself.

...backs up my belief that the human is the most vile creature that inhabits the Earth
 
My Grandfather was born and raised in the Highlands of Scotland. Although a naturalized US citizen (and proud of it), he never ceased tiring of telling stories of the old country and how much he missed it. A few moths after his passing in the 80's I had a chance to so to Scotland. I brought back a 35mm film canister (remember those?) of soil from his hometown and poured it on his grave. In some small way he will always be buried in his native ground.

Hadn’t thought about that for years until this thread.

Thank you for that. When I find out if Richard P Connell's grave is marked in Elmwood Cemetery in Sheperdstown, I will bring some dirt from the cotton fields of which he was raised to spread atop his final resting place.
 
Freddy--When you visited Fox's Gap you either parked in or drove by this small dirt parking area at the entrance. The picture below shows the location of Wise's farmhouse (the red square) and the location of the well where the bodies were dumped (red X). You can see how close the well was to his house. Although neither the house nor the well are marked today, you can still see a circular depression in the ground where the well once existed. The well has been excavated and sealed and is on park property. I also have a postcard from the early 1900s that shows Wise's house and marks the spot where Reno was shot, but it's in a PDF file.

Reno's monument is the large square area to the right and the 17th Michigan Field is across the street from that. General Gardner's monument is much smaller--it's near the two historical markers across from the parking area (he was taken to South Mountian Inn where he died. It's still operating. I had a nice buffet brunch there not long ago.)

It's hard to visit such places without it invoking some kind of emotional response, knowing what took place there--I sometimes get goose bumps walking the ground up there.

Wisehouseandwell.png

About a decade ago, an Antietam discussion group I was a part of did a walking tour of South Mountain with Tom Clemens. An awesome tour but man was it tiring walking up the mountain. To do it under fire is almost unimaginable.

R
 
About a decade ago, an Antietam discussion group I was a part of did a walking tour of South Mountain with Tom Clemens. An awesome tour but man was it tiring walking up the mountain. To do it under fire is almost unimaginable.R

I can relate to that! We did a preservation march in 2009 for Fox's Tavern, which served as a field hospitial during the battle. We went 5.5 miles from Middletown to Fox's Gap. That last leg up the mountain was tough. One guy didn't make it. I did, but I can't imagine having to fight my way up.

Here we are passing Fox's Tavern on the march, where Dominion Power wants to build a massive industrial gas compressor facility:

InfrontoftheTavern.jpg
 

I don't think I can thank you enough for that sir. I've been wanting to know this whole time if his grave was marked or not. Yesterday I called Elmwood Cemetery to see if they had a list of names of markers in the cemetery, but the man with whom I spoke to sounded as if he was mentally disabled or had a stroke and after the 5th attempt of understanding him, I thanked him kindly and hung up. I'm so happy to know he wasn't buried in an unmarked grave. All the info we have says he died at Sharpsburg, was left wounded on the field and "supposed to have died". I guess they finally pronounced him dead at Boonesboro?

Do those cemeteries allow you to clean the headstone of your ancestor? I'd give anything to clean his tombstone, spread the dirt, and put a CBF in the ground.
 
My Grandfather was born and raised in the Highlands of Scotland. Although a naturalized US citizen (and proud of it), he never ceased tiring of telling stories of the old country and how much he missed it. A few months after his passing in the 80's I had a chance to go to Scotland. I brought back a 35mm film canister (remember those?) of soil from his hometown and poured it on his grave. In some small way he will always be buried in his native ground.

Hadn’t thought about that for years until this thread.

23rd Yahoos,

Interesting story, it has always been my family’s goal to do exactly what you did for your grandfather. Two of my gg great grandparents were natives of Appin, Argyle in the Western Highlands and are buried nearby and I would like to do this for them since I have the same surname and the same first name as one of their grand sons. Laurinburg, my county seat, has a sister city relationship with Oban, a town just south of Appin. Many people here have ancestors from the Appin, Oban and the nearby Isle of. Mull. Perhaps with the yearly exchange of delegations somebody will bring back a sack of soil to spread around –if you can still get something like that through customs.

"For that is the mark of the Scots of all classes: that he stands in an attitude towards the past unthinkable to Englishmen, and remembers and cherishes the memory of his forebears, good or bad; and there burns alive in him a sense of identity with the dead even to the twentieth generation."
Robert Louis Stevenson
 
23rd Yahoos,

Interesting story, it has always been my family’s goal to do exactly what you did for your grandfather. Two of my gg great grandparents were natives of Appin, Argyle in the Western Highlands and are buried nearby and I would like to do this for them since I have the same surname and the same first name as one of their grand sons. Laurinburg, my county seat, has a sister city relationship with Oban, a town just south of Appin. Many people here have ancestors from the Appin, Oban and the nearby Isle of. Mull. Perhaps with the yearly exchange of delegations somebody will bring back a sack of soil to spread around –if you can still get something like that through customs.

"For that is the mark of the Scots of all classes: that he stands in an attitude towards the past unthinkable to Englishmen, and remembers and cherishes the memory of his forebears, good or bad; and there burns alive in him a sense of identity with the dead even to the twentieth generation."
Robert Louis Stevenson

CSA Today,

The soil is a great idea, but have them bring you a bottle, too. The Oban distillery makes a great single malt, as you're surely aware. I wouldn't mind having a "wee dram" about now!
 
I don't think I can thank you enough for that sir. I've been wanting to know this whole time if his grave was marked or not. Yesterday I called Elmwood Cemetery to see if they had a list of names of markers in the cemetery, but the man with whom I spoke to sounded as if he was mentally disabled or had a stroke and after the 5th attempt of understanding him, I thanked him kindly and hung up. I'm so happy to know he wasn't buried in an unmarked grave. All the info we have says he died at Sharpsburg, was left wounded on the field and "supposed to have died". I guess they finally pronounced him dead at Boonesboro?

Do those cemeteries allow you to clean the headstone of your ancestor? I'd give anything to clean his tombstone, spread the dirt, and put a CBF in the ground.

I don't know but if I get the chance I will go over in the next week or so and see what I can find out (I'm a female BTW). It could be they have volunteers who tend the cemetery - the stone looks like it's in pretty good shape from that photo.
 
I don't think I can thank you enough for that sir. I've been wanting to know this whole time if his grave was marked or not. Yesterday I called Elmwood Cemetery to see if they had a list of names of markers in the cemetery, but the man with whom I spoke to sounded as if he was mentally disabled or had a stroke and after the 5th attempt of understanding him, I thanked him kindly and hung up. I'm so happy to know he wasn't buried in an unmarked grave. All the info we have says he died at Sharpsburg, was left wounded on the field and "supposed to have died". I guess they finally pronounced him dead at Boonesboro?

Do those cemeteries allow you to clean the headstone of your ancestor? I'd give anything to clean his tombstone, spread the dirt, and put a CBF in the ground.

Now you can work on getting him a SCV Cross. http://www.scv674.org/scvcross.htm
 
Freddy--When you visited Fox's Gap you either parked in or drove by this small dirt parking area at the entrance. The picture below shows the location of Wise's farmhouse (the red square) and the location of the well where the bodies were dumped (red X). You can see how close the well was to his house. Although neither the house nor the well are marked today, you can still see a circular depression in the ground where the well once existed. The well has been excavated and sealed and is on park property. I also have a postcard from the early 1900s that shows Wise's house and marks the spot where Reno was shot, but it's in a PDF file.

Reno's monument is the large square area to the right and the 17th Michigan Field is across the street from that. General Gardner's monument is much smaller--it's near the two historical markers across from the parking area (he was taken to South Mountian Inn where he died. It's still operating. I had a nice buffet brunch there not long ago.)

It's hard to visit such places without it invoking some kind of emotional response, knowing what took place there--I sometimes get goose bumps walking the ground up there.
Yes, I have some photos of the field, Reno Monument, 17th Michigan plaque, and up the ridge line path leading up to the field's end. That is where my GGF walked into the woods and was shot in the left leg. I knew where the Wise house stood, but not the well, thanks! I have seen the Wise house photo in books.
 
Yes, I have some photos of the field, Reno Monument, 17th Michigan plaque, and up the ridge line path leading up to the field's end. That is where my GGF walked into the woods and was shot in the left leg. I knew where the Wise house stood, but not the well, thanks! I have seen the Wise house photo in books.

That path is the Appalachian Trail BTW. If you go to Turner's Gap, you have the unique experience of standing where four historic things occur - the old National Road crosses the Appalachian Trail precisely where the Battle of South Mountain took place at the Stone House where John Brown did part of his planning for his raid on Harper's Ferry.
 
Glad I figured out the find a grave thing. I had no clue there were over 79 million records. I always thought it was just for famous people. Then I found this gem and was able to send the uploader some information to help fill in missing info. My other great, great, great grandfather:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53016543
Granted the birth years differ from what information I have, but that's bound to happen with old records. So good to see how the SCV cleaned the place up and honoured him!

Ok sorry for threadjackin!
 
A couple of first hand accounts from the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines:



The men had witnessed the cruel depredations and carnage of the day but it had not yet ended. The Brigade fell back about a half mile where they would camp for the night amongst the dead and wounded. In fact, most of the night was spent by large details of the Brigade in nursing the wounded that the surgeons had been unable to remove. We are given the following account by Private Purifoy of the Artillery: “As the smoke cleared away, and there was a lull in the firing, the picture that presented itself to this writer was awe inspiring. This field and its carnage were more vividly impressed on his mind than any other he saw during his service. ...He had seen pictures on canvas and paper that were intended to present battle fields as they appeared. No picture previously seen by him came near showing what he gazed on here and now. Spread out before him were the bodies of nearly four thousand men, dead, no picture men, but men of real flesh and blood. Several thousand wounded Confederates were being taken from the field. As many as were hobbling away on one foot, the other leg or foot dangling by their side, a gun or stick being used as an improvised crutch. Others were carrying broken arms, tenderly held with the sound hand. And still others, though whole of limb, were making their way to a place of safety and comfort, their pallid faces indicating that they received severe wounds in some part of their body. The harrowing picture completed a scene that no language can describe.” Another witness gives us the following: “It was a night of drizzling rain and inky darkness. All were wet to the hips, many had lost their shoes in the mud and the bodies of the dead and wounded were lying on every side. You could not move without falling over them - the air was filled with shrieks and groans.” Everywhere one looked there were also dead horses in various states of mutilation, many with their legs or head completely blown off.

The rain had washed away the earth over many of the makeshift graves, “and here and there a leg or hand or head could be seen protruding in all its ghastliness...”. Worst of all were the maggots. It took several days to bury the dead and those that were left unburied became a feast for the chalky white parasite. “Myriads of maggots were feasting upon the putrid forms,” wrote Captain Blake of the 11th Massachusetts, “and swarmed upon the earth, so that it was difficult to walk without crushing them beneath the feet.”
 
Great pictures! I esp. like the staute in the rain.


The rain is perfect, makes it look like she's wiping sweat from her brow.

I'm still trying to piece things together. Where were the bodies? I mean, were they strewn about the cemetery, or were they gathered from the battle fields and delivered to the cemetery? Did this cemetery have any relation to "Cemetery Hill?" And assuming this cemetery became the official "Gettysburg National Cemetery" did her husband receive payment in excess of his salary of $15o a year? Lincoln must have known about Elizabeth. Did he provide some compensation for heroic work?
 
The rain is perfect, makes it look like she's wiping sweat from her brow.

I'm still trying to piece things together. Where were the bodies? I mean, were they strewn about the cemetery, or were they gathered from the battle fields and delivered to the cemetery? Did this cemetery have any relation to "Cemetery Hill?" And assuming this cemetery became the official "Gettysburg National Cemetery" did her husband receive payment in excess of his salary of $15o a year? Lincoln must have known about Elizabeth. Did he provide some compensation for heroic work?

There was a cemetery atop Cemetery Hill named "Evergreen Cemetery". (where Elizabeth resided). The bodies that could be located (Union) were relocated to the National Cemetery - though - quite a few were never found (both sides) - On the Union side, those who had the finances, came from near and far to claim the bodies, or at least see to a proper resting place. After the war - the United Daughters of the Confederacy (mostly well to do women), had the bidies of the fallen at Gettysburg (CSA), reinterred to mainly Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. They are still finding remains at Gettysburg - in fact - we were at the infamous Railroad Cut a week before other tourists found bones, etc. at that location - the rains had been going on for about a week, and I guess the rain washed that much soil off the enbankment, thus uncovering the burial site. Part of the tragedy was the soldiers were either buried in shallow graves, and a headboard made of, say, an ammo chest - was used for a headboard for the location, carved crudely by knife for the identification, which did not hold up very well, or the ID faded. Another gruesome fact of the dead - during the battle, many hogs escaped from their pens, etc. - and as feral animals, well, they had to eat. Some of the photos shwing the dead in grotesque ways, were not from wounds, but from the hogs getting at them. Below are some sites that may interest you in regards to Elizabeth and probably explain better than I could:

http://communities.washingtontimes....2010/jan/23/elizabeth-thorn-angel-gettysburg/

http://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/2007/05/elizabeth-masser-thorn.html

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=151

Enjoy :smile:
 
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