A forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier, has been buried at Blakeley State Park in Alabama. A ceremony will pay tribute to those in unmarked graves

The gravesite contains a granite marker and memorial plaque (Historic Blakeley State Park)

Whether they rest under cornfields, dense woods or are ensconced in marshes and swamps, the remains of young men who gave their all dot battlefields across the South, their names lost to history.

Many Civil War sites have markers for the unknown buried in mass graves or cemeteries. Historic Blakeley State Park near Mobile, Ala., on Saturday will dedicate a memorial that speaks to those who have never been found, or – as in this unusual case – only a partial remain has been discovered.

The park on Tuesday buried a forearm bone that likely belonged to a Union soldier and it installed a granite marker with the words "Unknown Soldier, Civil War." Several feet away is a new metal plaque that reads:

“Here lie the remains of an unknown soldier who died during the siege of Spanish Fort, about four miles south of Blakeley, in 1865. This stone is a memorial to all of those unidentified soldiers, Federal and Confederate, who perished during the Campaign for Mobile and yet lie in unmarked graves.”

Note and display case that contain the forearm bone (HIstoric Blakeley State Park)

The brief ceremony, which will include a prayer by park director Mike Bunn, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT Saturday during Veterans Day events at the site along the Tensaw and Apalachee rivers..

The relic was sent to the park earlier this year after a Gettysburg, Pa., shop bought a collection of artifacts and discovered the partial remains in the groupings. 

The arm bone is believed to belong to a soldier who was part of the fight for Spanish Fort, just below the Confederacy’s Fort Blakeley. Both sites were captured in April 1865.

Greg Goodell, longtime museum curator at Gettysburg National Military Park, acted as a middle man between the Pennsylvania shop and Bunn, ensuring a proper and respectful resting place for the bone.

Bunn (right) said he believes the forearm piece was found with other artifacts by a relic hunter in or near a Federal trench in Spanish Fort. The park director said he does not know the finder’s name but believes he died several years ago. “He had a pretty big collection.” The items were sold by family members to the Gettysburg business.

With the bone, which was wrapped in bubble wrap, was a note: “Found in Extreme Northern end of Union Army lines at Spanish Fort (near Basin Batteries). December, 1973.”

A water artillery battery near the end of the Yankee line was in swampy ground at a body of water called Bay Minette. “All of that stuff is gone,” Bunn said of this part of the Spanish Fort siege line.

There’s plenty of mystery about the bone remaining, despite a story that appears to have a good ending.

Robert Knox Sneden map showing battle zones in and around Mobile, Ala. (Library of Congress)

Relic hunters frequently pored over the area, which is on private land, as a subdivision was built in stages. “I can’t confirm all the details, but I don’t believe the section this came from was developed at the time. Probably dug as they were clearing land for it, though,” Bunn added.

It’s possible the bone was part of a mass grave. Bunn doesn’t know whether the rest of the skeleton was left intact, scattered by animals or taken by other collectors.

Relic hunters today are more likely to report human remains to authorities or leave them in place, officials said.

Officials see no need for DNA testing of the remains at this point.

A long row of Rebel fortifications at Fort Blakely (Civil War Picket photo)

Bunn wanted to place the grave near a main park road and impressive remnants of Confederate defenses.

“We know not every person in the (Mobile) campaign has been found and marked,” Bunn told the Picket of his aim to honor them.

Other events Saturday include firearms demonstrations, a guided river cruise highlighting the fighting at Fort Blakeley, Spanish Fort and elsewhere in the Mobile area and historian and author Kent Masterson Brown’s lecture on Meade at Gettysburg. That talk will be at the fort’s Redoubt 6, not far from the new grave. Details can be found here. The park charges admission.