Archaeologists test potential gravesite (National Park Service) |
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) |
“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) |
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) |
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 14th 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) |
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.”
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