Their bones were found during work on a riverfront park. Now Union soldiers may be interred at Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Archaeologists test potential gravesite (National Park Service)

Scores of bone fragments found near the site of a hospital used during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., are expected to be interred at a federal cemetery that holds the remains of more than 15,000 soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park this week posted a Facebook update on the city’s request that the unidentified remains find a final resting place at Fredericksburg National Cemetery, which has not had a soldier or veteran buried there since 1945.

Park officials are trying to find a suitable spot for the burial. They posted  photographs of a National Park Service team at the cemetery testing the proposed location.

“Ground-penetrating radar (done earlier) indicates that the proposed location at the end of this row would work for a new gravesite,” the post says. “However, in this part of the process, the archaeologists need to make sure that the location of the proposed grave is clear of any other burials or archaeologically significant material.”

Wartime image of the town, shows Rowe-Goolrick home at right foreground, 
facing the Eliza Eubank home at left (Library of Congress)

John Hennessy, chief historian and chief of interpretation at the park, told the Picket in an email that the remains were found on city property – the site of the downtown Riverfront Park along the Rappahannock River – by a cultural resources firm working with the city.

“Any analysis of the remains has been done by them and to my knowledge has not been made public,” said Hennessy.

Hennessy said officials have made no decisions about the timing or nature of any ceremony that may attend the reinterment of the soldiers’ remains

The Picket reached out to Dovetail Cultural Resource Group but received no immediately reply.

Recent testing at the national cemetery (NPS photo)

A November 2015 article by The Free Lance-Star newspaper detailed the find near the Rowe-Goolrick house, which served as a hospital during the December 1862 battle. A report said the bones were found mixed in with buttons and bits of fabric from Union infantry uniforms and other items in what may have been a root cellar.

The discovery was made after a Masonic hall next to the Rowe-Goolrick house site was torn down and officials called the company in to study the site. Presumably, remains of soldiers who died at the hospital were buried in the adjoining parcel.

The Rowe-Goolrick house was among several on Sophia Street. It was demolished in 1973 to make room for a parking lot that is now part of the park development. The Picket reached out to the city for a status report on the park project, but received no reply.

A 2019 blog post on the Dovetail website details the discovery of several building foundations and artifacts in the historic area after excavations for the park. It describes the Rowe-Goolrick house:

The now-gone Rowe-Goolrick house in the 1930s (Library of Congress)

“Built in the mid-eighteenth century, this two-story, three-bay home did not face today’s street grid but rather the original town ferry lane, which ceased use shortly after the home was constructed. The foundation of the house was fashioned of local Aquia sandstone.”

As at other battle sites, temporary hospitals were established in Fredericksburg.

According to the Free Lance-Star, there are written accounts from several individuals, including some serving in the 14^th Connecticut Infantry, that describe convalescing on the house’s grounds. Park officials in 2019 said graves were often overlooked in the years following the war.

Sophia Street fronts the Rappahannock River and was home to some of the earliest structures in Fredericksburg, Hennessy has written on his blog. A few survive.

A fascinating circa 1863 photograph of the city shows the Rowe-Goolrick house. It was then the home of Absalom Rowe, a cattleman and future mayor of the town. Near it was the Eliza Eubank home, also shown in the picture. It still survives and may be the oldest building in Fredericksburg (circa 1746).

The Eubank home (By Bradley Owen, HMdb.org)

In recent years, the Eubank home was renovated into office space and a sign outside uses the name Thornton’s Tavern to mark a pre-Civil War establishment in the building.

The Historical Marker Database’s page on the home includes this description on the marker:

“In December 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed violently in the city's streets during the First Battle of Fredericksburg. The Tavern's owner … one of Fredericksburg's few female property owners at the time … returned after the fighting to find that her home had miraculously survived the battle with only minor damage.”

The park visitor center, about a mile from Sophia Street, interprets the story of several Civil War campaigns and battles in the area over a three-year period.

“Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania -- this is America's battleground, where the Civil War roared to its bloody climax,” its website says. “No place more vividly reflects the War's tragic cost in all its forms. A town bombarded and looted. Farms large and small ruined. Refugees by the thousands forced into the countryside. More than 85,000 men wounded; 15,000 killed -- most in graves unknown.”