Bodies of Almost 30 Civil War Veterans Discovered in Funeral Home Storage Finally Given Proper Burial

PAWTUCKET, R.I.—For several decades, the cremated remains of more than two dozen American Civil War veterans languished in storage facilities at a funeral home and cemetery in Seattle.

The simple copper and cardboard urns gathering dust on shelves only had the name of each of the 28 soldiers—but nothing linking them to the Civil War. Still, that was enough for an organization dedicated to locating, identifying, and interring the remains of unclaimed veterans to conclude over several years that they were all Union soldiers deserving of a burial service with military honors.

“It’s amazing that they were still there and we found them,” said Tom Keating, the Washington state coordinator for the Missing In America Project, which turned to a team of volunteers to confirm their war service through genealogical research. “It’s something long overdue. These people have been waiting a long time for a burial.”

Most of the veterans were buried in August at Washington’s Tahoma National Cemetery.

In a traditional service offered to Civil War veterans, the historical 4th U.S. Infantry Regiment dressed in Union uniforms fired musket volleys and the crowd sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Names were called out for each veteran and their unit before their remains were brought forward and stories were shared about their exploits. Then, they were buried.

Among them was a veteran held at a Confederate prison known as Andersonville. Several were wounded in combat and others fought in critical battles including Gettysburg, Stones River, and the Atlanta campaign. One man survived being shot thanks to his pocket watch—which he kept until his death—and another deserted the Confederate Army and joined the Union forces.

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“It was something, just the finality of it all,” Keating said, adding they were unable to find any living descendants of the veterans.

While some remains are hidden away in funeral homes, others were found where they fell in battle or by Civil War re-enactors combing old graveyards.