Need some help tracking down a grave

Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Location
The Emerald Isle
I was just going through some of my notes. Whenever I discover the burial location of a member of the 4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, I always make a note of where they are buried. Most of the time it is not hard to figure out where I found the information as 90% of the time, it came from findagrave.

Anyway, I came across an entry I made for Private William H. Godard of Company B. The information I have on Private Godard is :
Wounded severely in the left thigh and Captured at the Battle of Hoover’s Gap June 24, 1863. Died at U.S. Army General Hospital in Murfreesboro Tenn. of wounds August 24, 1863. Buried in Union Cemetery in Murfreesboro Tenn., grave 1204.

Now there are only two possibilities on where I got this burial information, findagrave, or the compiled service records. If I got this from findagrave, both the memorial and cemetery have been removed because now I can not find a "Union Cemetery" in Murfressboro or the surrounding county. I figured this is probably referring to McGavock's Cemetery in Murfressboro but I can't find a Private W. H. Godard or Goddard as it is sometimes spelled anywhere.

Does anybody have any ideas on this Union Cemetery? Since I have the grave number, it shouldn't be hard to figure out where he is buried, even if the grave is not marked unless the family went up, collected the body, and bought it back to Georgia which did happen in another case of a soldier who died of wounds in a Union Hospital in Nashville.

Any ideas on this "Union" Cemetery in Murfreesboro?
 
I was just going through some of my notes. Whenever I discover the burial location of a member of the 4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, I always make a note of where they are buried. Most of the time it is not hard to figure out where I found the information as 90% of the time, it came from findagrave.

Anyway, I came across an entry I made for Private William H. Godard of Company B. The information I have on Private Godard is :
Wounded severely in the left thigh and Captured at the Battle of Hoover’s Gap June 24, 1863. Died at U.S. Army General Hospital in Murfreesboro Tenn. of wounds August 24, 1863. Buried in Union Cemetery in Murfreesboro Tenn., grave 1204.

Now there are only two possibilities on where I got this burial information, findagrave, or the compiled service records. If I got this from findagrave, both the memorial and cemetery have been removed because now I can not find a "Union Cemetery" in Murfressboro or the surrounding county. I figured this is probably referring to McGavock's Cemetery in Murfressboro but I can't find a Private W. H. Godard or Goddard as it is sometimes spelled anywhere.

Does anybody have any ideas on this Union Cemetery? Since I have the grave number, it shouldn't be hard to figure out where he is buried, even if the grave is not marked unless the family went up, collected the body, and bought it back to Georgia which did happen in another case of a soldier who died of wounds in a Union Hospital in Nashville.

Any ideas on this "Union" Cemetery in Murfreesboro?
there is a big national cemetery at the battlefield in mufressboro, the graves are very well marked. mcgavock's cemetery is located at the carnton plantation on the franklin battlefield. if he is burried in the national "union cemetery" and you have the grave number, it should be real easy to find. i don't know of a confederate cemetery at murfreesboro.
 
The battlefield cemetery in Murfreesboro is online as Stones River. There are two Goddards. One is a lieutenant who died at Franklin and the other is named Francis. Also a John F Goddart. No William, no WH, no Godard. Sorry.
 
Ugh...sorry didn't mean Mcgavock's...I was referring to the Stones River National Cemetery...I just didn't type that for some reason. Yes I figured the first place to look would be the Stones River Cemetery but as been stated, it is not listed as being there. Does the Stones River Battlefield have any affiliation at all with the Stones River National Cemetery? I have the grave number just am not sure who I should ask.
 
Got him. He's in Kentucky. Must have been moved.

search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=VAcemeteries&h=4364588&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t52574997_p27563467845_kpidz0q3d27563467845z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid
 
Kentucky!:O o:

I probably need to go back and look at his service records...I might have gotten my data from his service record if he is buried in Kentucky...maybe I misread it? Perhaps he died at a US hospital in Louisville? Doesn't make sense to me why they would move him to Kentucky unless his family did it after the war for some reason which I find unlikly. The deat date is close but not an exact match...could this be a different person?
 
Kentucky!:O o:

I probably need to go back and look at his service records...I might have gotten my data from his service record if he is buried in Kentucky...maybe I misread it? Perhaps he died at a US hospital in Louisville? Doesn't make sense to me why they would move him to Kentucky unless his family did it after the war for some reason which I find unlikly.
I'm double-checking the tree I found this with to be sure it's the right guy. There are at least two William H. Godards of about the right age in Georgia with different families in the 1860 census.
 
By the by, this info says his brother Wiley T was also with the 4th Georgia sharpshooters, killed 18 months earlier, and should also be buried at Murfreesboro... So now we have a new mystery.

According to records for Georgia Confederate soldiers killed in war, Wiley T. Godard is buried in cemetery at 3501 Old Nashville Highway, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 in site 3095.
 
By the by, this info says his brother Wiley T was also with the 4th Georgia sharpshooters, killed 18 months earlier, and should also be buried at Murfreesboro... So now we have a new mystery.
I think Wiley T. Godard is buried in the Beechgrove Confederate Cemetery in Beechgrove Tennessee...but I'll check...his grave is marked.
 
I think Wiley T. Godard is buried in the Beechgrove Confederate Cemetery in Beechgrove Tennessee...but I'll check...his grave is marked.
Yeah, I'm thinking the Godard family have the wrong man on their tree - I see no evidence beyond them saying so that this grave goes with this record. I think they just found a William H Goddard and assumed it was the right one. False alarm, sorry. I'm seeing no family who moved to Kentucky or anything.

Is he by any chance with his brother?
 
Yeah, I'm thinking the Godard family have the wrong man on their tree - I see no evidence beyond them saying so that this grave goes with this record. I think they just found a William H Goddard and assumed it was the right one. False alarm, sorry. I'm seeing no family who moved to Kentucky or anything.

Is he by any chance with his brother?
Well I was mistaken as well.. Wiley T. Godard may very well be buried at the Beechgrove Confederate Cemetery but his grave is unmarked if he is. He was listed as "Killed in Action" at Hoover's Gap so he is likely either buried at Beechgrove or Murfreesboro.


.
 
They've got all kinds of records with this guy that I can't tell if they're with the right person... confederate casualty record for a W H Goddard killed on field. That doesn't seem right either. It is company B though.
 
I am not sure if they are together. There is no indication that Wiley was captured by the Union army alive. All records I have seen list him as "killed in Action" He was likely buried by the union army after Hoover's Gap...which was fought almost right on top of the Beechgrove Confederate Cemetery...this is one member of the 4th Batt'n Ga SS buried there in a marked grave but he is not a Godard. Unless the family came up and got them and reburied them in a family plot in Georgia. Still curious because I have the "union" cemetery and a grave number for William H. Godard. I did have a member of Company A, who was wounded and captured at Nashville. The union doctors amputated his leg and he died in the hospital of infection. They buried him in the Cemetery in Nashville, listed his gave number and everything...but he is buried in a marked grave in Montgomery County Georgia...great story about it too! Hist father went up and got his body and bought it home but he couldn't bare to bury it. He kept it in a metal coffin in a shed for months until he had a dream that his shed burned down and destroyed the body...that made him decide to bury it in the family plot.
 
Maybe someone with fold3 can look up his service record and tell us for sure. I made my notes from the service record but I could have made a mistake....there were two William Godard's in Company B, William H., and William T. Godard. William T. Godard survived the war. He was originally a bugler. I have a picture of him in his musician uniform and also a post war picture of him as an old man...he certainly lived so I couldn't have gotten them two confused.
 
They've got all kinds of records with this guy that I can't tell if they're with the right person... confederate casualty record for a W H Goddard killed on field. That doesn't seem right either. It is company B though.
The Confederate's may not have known for sure...Hoover's Gap was a union victory and the Confederate left many dead and wounded on the field when they retreated...they may not have known if he was killed or just wounded...but I am 99.9 percent sure his service record has Union Hospital documents in it.
 
I am not sure if they are together. There is no indication that Wiley was captured by the Union army alive. All records I have seen list him as "killed in Action" He was likely buried by the union army after Hoover's Gap...which was fought almost right on top of the Beechgrove Confederate Cemetery...this is one member of the 4th Batt'n Ga SS buried there in a marked grave but he is not a Godard. Unless the family came up and got them and reburied them in a family plot in Georgia. Still curious because I have the "union" cemetery and a grave number for William H. Godard. I did have a member of Company A, who was wounded and captured at Nashville. The union doctors amputated his leg and he died in the hospital of infection. They buried him in the Cemetery in Nashville, listed his gave number and everything...but he is buried in a marked grave in Montgomery County Georgia...great story about it too! Hist father went up and got his body and bought it home but he couldn't bare to bury it. He kept it in a metal coffin in a shed for months until he had a dream that his shed burned down and destroyed the body...that made him decide to bury it in the family plot.
How terribly sad.

I have a family member who was buried on the field at Brice's Crossroads and apparently reburied in the family plot in Durhamville - at least there is a marker with his name on it. Local diary mentions the original burial and a family slave coming for his effects, but nothing about the reburial.

The fact that both brothers are missing may mean they have both been moved. I'm not seeing anything obvious in Georgia though.
 
The Confederate's may not have known for sure...Hoover's Gap was a union victory and the Confederate left many dead and wounded on the field when they retreated...they may not have known if he was killed or just wounded...but I am 99.9 percent sure his service record has Union Hospital documents in it.
Huh. There are actually two William H's as well as William T. Hang on, I gotta look at these.
 
Dear god. Letter from their father:

image.jpg
 
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