How were all the bodies disposed of?

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 posted a couple photos I took today in Elmwood Cemetery in the photography forum.
 
I have been recording memorials on findagrave for 9 years now and grouping them into virtual cemeteries by battle, etc. Most VCs I have seen are organized by regiment and company. Maybe a topic better posted under a new thread, but I would like to see a list of the CW VCs which I do not think is available via findagrave. Can anyone point me to VCs by battle, especially the western theater?
Here are links to my VCs:
I got interested in the Civil War battle that took my 2nd great-grandfather and have grown from there. I have several virtual cemeteries on findagrave.com where I have organized grave memorials by battle.
See my Civil War Virtual Cemeteries here:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=47137071&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46573654
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=47052554
From my experience, there is every which way the bodies were "disposed of", including, just leaving them where they fell, mass graves, in line by trenches, well documented burials by hospitals, some original records describe exactly where the bodies were left or found, some (mostly officers, but not all) taken/sent home by comrades/family.

While working the battle of Resaca, I wondered if Mary Greene should have left the CSA where they fell so they could be identified later. I have been to the Resaca Confederate Cem and way too many Unknowns. Many Union Unknowns at Rocky Face Ridge and Resaca, due to many causes including flooding and washing away the headboards.

Great book on the subject, both Union and Confederate:
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War

Drew Gilpin Faust - 2008

from google books.
 
It must have been a massive undertaking. A grueling job. Hard to fathom how they could endure it. Considering also that these battles took place on farm land there must have been conscious efforts to bury them where they wouldn't contaminate the soil.

Okay, this is getting really morbid. Sorry I brought it up.

I saw many descriptions of men buried in Peach Orchards in the Atlanta Campaign.
 
I realize this is an unpleasant subject, but thinking of battles like Gettysburg, with 50,000 killed in three days, it occurs to me to ask how on earth did they bury all those bodies? Plus, it would have to be done quickly to avoid the spread of disease. Who buried them? Did they use prisoners, free slaves, or did they hire locals?

Correction: deleson1 pointed out to me that the 50,000 number I cited above was in error. That total includes wounded and captured.

Here is a breakdown from Military History Online:

Union:
Killed - 3, 155​
Wounded 14, 530​
Missing: 5, 365​
Total: 23,040
Confederate:​
Killed: 2,600 - 4,500​

Wounded: 12,800​

Missing: 5,250​

Total: 20,650 - 25,000

  • Total Confederate casualties have been estimated to be as great as 28,000. It is usually agreed that total Confederate casualties numbered at least 1/3 of Lee's army.
  • Casualties generally included anyone who deserted, was captured, missing, wounded, or killed. In essence, if a soldier was not present during muster, he could likely be counted as a casualty.

I am only familiar with the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns, but the OR describes burial details of different regiments assigned to burial duty. Also QM was also involved in burials. And they paid or hired to have it done.
 
A guide a Gettysburg told me that the smell of death didn't go away until after the first frost had occured.
Side note: Just read in Shelby Foote's "The Civil War" that 569 TONS of ammunition was expended at the
battle of Gettysburg.
 
A guide a Gettysburg told me that the smell of death didn't go away until after the first frost had occured.
Side note: Just read in Shelby Foote's "The Civil War" that 569 TONS of ammunition was expended at the
battle of Gettysburg.

I was told the same thing, it was sometime around thanksgiving.
Just think, the smell of death and decay in the air for 4 months or so, granted the tannery's in the area didnt put the greatest smell into the air but i am sure the stink penetrated every article of clothing you owned and into your house, i am sure you may become numb in a way to the smell but for the first month or so i am sure there were alot of people "emptying the contents of their stomach" daily
 
I was told the same thing, it was sometime around
Just think, the smell of death and decay in the air for 4 months or so, granted the tannery's in the area didnt put the greatest smell into the air but i am sure the stink penetrated every article of clothing you owned and into your house, i am sure you may become numb in a way to the smell but for the first month or so i am sure there were alot of people "emptying the contents of their stomach" daily

Another one of those things that we may not think of, which our tour guide at the Shriver House reminded me of, is that from July 1-3, there were 175,000ish men in Gettysburg. Nature calls...for 175,000ish people over the course of those 3+ days and they all had to go somewhere, outside.

I read in When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg that townspeople in the Seminary Ridge area were inexplicably getting sick in the weeks and months after the battle. They went to the well and found five or so dead, decaying bodies stuffed in the well...their drinking water.
 
Here is how a soldier was buried over 1,000 miles from home in Mississippi by members of his company in 1863.

July 26th.
David Phelan, of our company died today in our regiment hospital. Thus one by one we are cut down. Now have a funeral near every day from some of the regiments. Hospital accommodations are very poor and diseases incident to the heat and the fatigue we have undergone are multiplying among us. Have a rough burying place near our camp. It seems sad to have men buried in such lonely spots where the foot of fellow man for many a year may not tread again. Of our comrade it may be said that in his country’s service he has done what he could. Leaves a wife with no children. Had religious conversation with William J. Wallace. From it felt more my need of simplicity and gentleness and have for my motives the controlling love of Christ and the promotion of holiness and salvation in the hearts of all men.
 
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so do dogs...
Yes, so they do! On the subjects of death, burial, and the merits of human behavior vs. that of other creatures, you're probably familiar with these lines from Byron about our relative regard for men and dogs in death:

"When some proud son of man returns to earth,​
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,​
The sculptor's art exhaust the pomp of woe,​
And storied urns record who rests below;​
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,​
Not what he was, but what he should have been:​
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,​
The first to welcome, the first to defend,​
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,​
Who labors, fights, breathes for him alone,​
Unhonor'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,​
Denied in Heaven the soul he held on earth:​
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,​
And claims himself a sole exclusive Heaven."​

(I apologize if this small observation is slightly off-topic.)
 
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