Union soldier's bones found at Md. Civil War site

Union soldier's bones found at Md. Civil War site

www.chron.com

SHARPSBURG, Md. — Park officials say a visitor has found the remains of a Civil War soldier at the Antietam National Battlefield in western Maryland.

Battlefield Park Superintendent John Howard says a visitor found bone fragments and a uniform button near a groundhog hole in October.

During an excavation last month, workers led by a National Park Service archaeologist found more bone fragments, buttons and a belt buckle establishing that the young man was from New York state.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
voices.washingtonpost.com

I heard about this on the news this morning.

I just find this so interesting. With all the civil war buffs, archeologists, historians, and what have you. That this body is only now being found.
They know from the uniform that the soldier was from New York.
It is being sent to the Smithsonian for analysis.

I wonder if they could possibly figure out who it is? I would love to know.

And I wonder with this new find and modern technology, if they will discover anything new about that era of history.
As silly as this sounds, it was found near a groundhog hole. I wonder if it was underground and the groundhog kicked him out.
Sadly, he was just a teenager.


www.chron.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

And here, to think I thought it was pointless to look around the ground at Gettysburg.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by nixie_nox]

I've been to Antietam and if I remember correctly there are a lot of soldiers buried there from both sides. How to account for the find? A body was inadvertently left unburied in the rush to clean up the battlefield (a tour guide mentioned that soldiers were buried so fast some of them are thought to have been still alive but unconscious)? If that was the case, why haven't these fragments been discovered long ago? A ground hog dug up some of the remains? Can a ground hog dig six feet down? Were some of the hastily dug graves shallower? Remnants left by grave robbers? Paranormal activity? These are some of the possibilities that occur to me.

It is certainly curious. If anyone has further information I hope they post here. My husband and I are both interested in the Civil War, so I'll be looking for more news on this.

I was reading more into the second article and they said what you said. People were intended to be buried and were not. Or it was a shallow grave.
And this person was positioned just so that nobody ever saw him. Apparently it is a corn field and crops have been planted around him all that time.

Kind of nice to see someone finally found though.

reply to post by nixie_nox


i wonder the same thing cuz my want wno the man is and y are the jus finding it