"The Gettysburg Dead" Come Home To Richmond Mothers, Widows And Orphans, 1872

Thank you again for adding to my previously unknown knowledge of this historic event. I am still trying to locate my relatives. Some may have been part of this procession.


Genuinely would love to hear whether or not you're able to track him down, at least further? Depending on where he fell, it may be possible to ascertain whether or not those men were part of the Gettysburg Dead? Poster just said Weaver, Jr's records are at Gettysburg. Knowing where your relative's regiment was the day he was killed may help. There were mass graves although that sounds worse than it was? I know it sounds barabaric, it was just such a shambles post battle, burials had to happen swiftly. It did make it less difficult to discover fallen men though, and get them home.
 
Weaver Sr. made copious notes shortly after the battle. The National Cemetery was in progress, Weaver, senior's synopsis of his work is in one of the official reports encompassing the whole. Tough reading, though! He documents what each man's personal effects were and how he was able to do that underlines how gruesome was the work. Confederate graves were marked while Union graves put on the list to rebury in the National Cemetery.

Yes, it wasn't just at Gettysburg, this country must have a staggering amount of war graves dotted around old battlefields and elsewhere. Markers could be obliterated within weeks, frequently pencil on board. Two relatives killed at Gettysburg are unknowns in the National Cemetery, another whose grave had been marked initially at Shiloh is also unknown. Yet another is buried at Goose Creek, I've never been able to get there- a lovely woman tracked us down on Ancestry. She'd been to the Gettysburg College collection exhibit. A fellow soldier's diary is there- amazingly, this man drew a map as to where the regiment stopped to bury my relative. Unmarked, probably beneath a strip mall by now.

O'Neal states he noted some grave locations while the battle was still raging. He said that quite a few years afterwards but there doesn't seem to be a reason to disbelieve him? Like other local docs he was out there, caring for wounded of both sides.

Must get to the NPS records, had no idea they were available. Are Weaver, Sr.'s notes there too?
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Just Junior 's. Be prepared to take some time. The notes are hand written and not well organized, so you have to read everything even if you're just looking for one unit. You might want to bring it magnifying glass, too! There is also a file on disinterments, which has a lot of additional info (newspapers articles, pamphlets etc. There is a typed transcription of O'Neal's records that is much easier to read, but also haphazardly organized.
 
Annie what a great thread dealing with a very somber action of returning the Confederate from Gettysburg. I don't know how I missed this before but glad you brought it back.
Regards
David
 
Annie what a great thread dealing with a very somber action of returning the Confederate from Gettysburg. I don't know how I missed this before but glad you brought it back.
Regards
David


That's kind of you- I'm always hesitant to inflict topics I find personally fascinating on the forum and this is one. May have bumped into it when poking around for information on how many men are still buried in graves we know nothing of at Gettysburg? Remember thinking ' Whoa, what '? when reading how swiftly the battlefield became a tourist spot- with SO many men still buried beneath it. Seemed so cold blooded, you know?
 


Just Junior 's. Be prepared to take some time. The notes are hand written and not well organized, so you have to read everything even if you're just looking for one unit. You might want to bring a magnifying glass, too! There is also a file on disinterments, which has a lot of additional info (newspapers articles, pamphlets etc.). There is a typed transcription of O'Neal's records that is much easier to read, but also haphazardly organized.
 
Just Junior 's. Be prepared to take some time. The notes are hand written and not well organized, so you have to read everything even if you're just looking for one unit. You might want to bring a magnifying glass, too! There is also a file on disinterments, which has a lot of additional info (newspapers articles, pamphlets etc.). There is a typed transcription of O'Neal's records that is much easier to read, but also haphazardly organized.

It's still gold, thank you! Had no idea it was possible to see them! I hate saying anything as fact especially when it's as important as this but there must be quite a bit taken from Samuel's notes anyway? He'd passed away, why the ladies contacted Doc Rufus. Trouble with not being a genuine researcher is not knowing where on earth these old records might be.

Stuff like this blows you away- how MANY men, what a massive undertaking. This is from one of the official reports on the National Cemetery, Samuel's report. And whoa, although thousands made it home it seems each time we go to Gettysburg we're visiting a large, unseen cemetery. @Virginia Dave , I'd forgotten how many men Samuel Weaver estimated were buried on the battlefield- according to him it looks like more than half are still there.Makes a trip there even more sobering, doesn't it?

weaver 1000s.jpg
 
If this doesn't wring tears from a reader a spike through the head will not, either. It's an awful story. I was also incorrect in another thread- it transpires Weaver provided names, thankfully.

A flag is certainly part of this procession It would be wonderful if the fallen soldiers, not the flag remained the main topic, however. That is not snark or a position on my part- it's merely asking that The Gettysburg Dead be allowed to be fallen soldiers, and respected as such.

Pickett, Lane, Imboden- the men who came to escort their fallen men give you chills.

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*** Over 3,000 were recovered, although I have no more knowledge than what I've read. The 700 or so spoken of in this article may have been the men Weaver had been able to recover up until this date?
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Jacob W. Pickett, 13th Alabama died at Camp Letterman, was buried in Letterman's cemetery and finally reinterred in Hollywood, Richmond June, 1872. That would have made him part of the Gettysburg Dead project, home after 9 years.

It's good to have more specific names and stories- this is from a post by @farrargirl , in another thread.Post 401.

Thank you for including Private Pickett. He was my late husband’s great uncle. And, I might add, no relationship to the General :+)).
 
Thank you for including Private Pickett. He was my late husband’s great uncle. And, I might add, no relationship to the General :+)).

I keep meaning to track down individual soldiers and not just names. Names would be great but it gets the point across so much better when we not only see who was Private Pickett but a relative shows up who ' knows ' him, you know?

The other thing is that there are quite a few accounts written by nurses at Letterman who cared for Confederate soldiers.Once in awhile you'll see a name mentioned, probably won't find Jacob actually spoken of but it's possible to see where he was before he died. 99% of the accounts are terrific, if you poke around in accounts try to ignore one or two who cling to ' those darn Rebels ' when they write of patients. Mostly the women write of seeing wounded men so far from home and feeling awful for them.
 

A few references to graves in this Elliot Map thread could be answered here?

Thought I'd bump this? Not claiming it's by any means the result of terrific research- a genuine historian would probably blow it out of the water but it's at least a start.
 
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