The gravesite contains a granite marker and memorial plaque (Historic Blakeley State Park)
Whether resting under cornfields, dense woods or are ensconced in marshes and swamps, the
remains of young men who gave 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. Cannon will fire as a salute to the fallen.
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.
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.
Note and display case holding the forearm bone, field that will hold grave (Historic Blakeley State Park) and Robert Knox Sneden map showing battle zones in and around Mobile (Library of Congress)
Early this
year, employees at a shop in Gettysburg pored through relics it purchased from
the family of a collector. Normally, such merchants in the Pennsylvania town
synonymous with Civil War collectibles might receive display cases containing a
belt buckle, bullets, unit badges or something rarer that turned up on a
battlefield.
But this one
was different, very different.
Tucked inside
a box protected by bubble wrap was a handwritten scrap of paper, reading: “Found
in Extreme Northern end of Union Army lines at Spanish Fort (near Basin
Batteries). December, 1973.”
The note
refers to the Federal siege and capture of Spanish Fort in April 1865. Back-to-back victories at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley led to the surrender of Mobile, Ala., a
vital Confederate port.
With the note
and in the box was a human bone -- part of a forearm.
The
Gettysburg shop, of course, had no intension of putting the relic up for sale.
What to do?
In this case, you contact a
subject matter expert for advice. If you live in southern Pennsylvania, that expert is Greg
Goodell, longtime museum curator at Gettysburg National Military Park.
After being contacted, Goodell acted as a middle man to ensure the bone would find a home and
be laid to rest in a respectful way.
The curator
contacted sites in the Mobile area, eventually reaching Mike Bunn, director of
Historic Blakeley State Park, home to the Fort Blakeley battlefield. Bunn
stepped forward and said he would bury the bone in a field and place a granite
marker that reads “Unknown Soldier, Civil War.” (design at left)
Next to the
headstone will be an engraved interpretive plaque.
The
Gettysburg business sent the item to Alabama a couple months ago.
Bunn wants to
place the grave near a main park road and impressive remnants of Confederate defenses.
He anticipates a Veterans Day ceremony to dedicate the memorial.
“We know not
every person in the (Mobile) campaign has been found and marked,” Bunn told the Picket
of his aim to honor them.
There’s
plenty of mystery about the bone remaining, despite a story that appears to have a good ending.
The arm bone is believed to belong to a soldier, mostly likely Federal. What happened to the rest of him? No one knows. Officials see no need for DNA
testing of the remain at this point.
I asked
Gettysburg communications specialist Jason Martz how often such a thing has
happened at the federal park.
“In plus-20
years, it has happened fewer than five times,” Martz replied.
Federal siege paid off in two Alabama battles
Although Union Adm. David
Farragut had bottled up Mobile in summer 1864, the city remained in Confederate
hands.
Union troops, a third of which were U.S. Colored Troops
regiments, laid siege of Blakeley for about a week. A similar operation against
outnumbered Confederates took place at Spanish Fort, just to the south.
The forces under Federal Maj. Gen. Edward Canby (right) first surrounded
Spanish Fort on March 27, 1865. Most of the Confederate troops escaped to
Mobile or Blakeley and the fort fell on April 8.
Two Union commands
combined to storm Fort Blakeley the following day, unaware of Gen. Robert E.
Lee’s surrender in Virginia. They carried the field.
Confederates evacuated Mobile and the mayor surrendered the city on
April 12.
The Union lines at Spanish Fort were mostly to the east and
north of the Rebel defenses.
Most of the battlefield lies within Spanish Fort Estates, a
large residential community dating to the late 1950s and early 1960s. While
most of the fortifications are gone, there are several discernible lines of
breastworks running through front yards.
Bunn said he believes the forearm bone was found by a relic
hunter in or near a Federal trench at Spanish Fort with other artifacts. The
park director (below) said he does not know the finder’s name but believes he died
several years ago. “He had a pretty big collection.”
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 siege line.
Relic hunters frequently pored over the area, which is on
private land, as the subdivision was built in stages.
The paper indicates the bone discovery in December 1973. “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 or leave them in place, officials said. “At least they did not chuck it. I am
sure others have,” Bunn told the Picket of this bone.
Bunn said the
exact circumstances regarding the bone and its precise location are impossible
at this point to pin down.
Siege operations at Spanish Fort, note map is not displayed north-south (Library of Congress)
“If it was a
burial, it probably would have been a shallow grave.” Circumstantial evidence
points to a Federal soldier, though the U.S. military after the war worked
diligently to relocate such remains to new national cemeteries.
“There could
be a chance he was a Confederate,” said Bunn.
Shop knew the park service would have an answer
Martz, with
Gettysburg National Military Park, said the local business – which he and Bunn
did not identify -- had a conversation with Goodell (below) after the discovery.
“The shop was
basically in a position to be a good Samaritan and didn’t know what to do with”
the bone, Martz told the Picket.
“When someone
in the position of the local shop doesn’t know where to start, they start with
an organization like the National Park Service. It is easily one of the most
recognizable and trusted organizations in the country come to,” he said.
In this case,
there was no need to go to law enforcement.
Martz
described the man who had the bone as an avid Civil War artifacts/relics
collector. “When he passes, the family doesn’t know what to do with a
collection. They find a reputable shop.”
Then the
shop’s inventory process begins.
“They start
to go through it piece by piece. ‘Oh wait a minute.’ There is one extra thing
they are not comfortable with.”
Nothing in
this case has any connection with NAGPRA “as far as we know,” said Martz.
The takeaway
is the Gettysburg shop did the best thing by reaching out to Goodell so the
bone could be sent to the best place – Alabama, said the park spokesman.
Remains not eligible for state veterans cemetery
Bunn turned
to the Historic Blakely Foundation and a GoFund me campaign to raise money for
the headstone and plaque. So far, $350 of the estimated $600 expense has been
raised.
The new grave
will be in a field that holds a cemetery that dates to 1819. It will be in a
separate area and will be viewable from the road. Bunn expects a ceremony in
November, with a gun salute and presence of a U.S. flag. “It is a long overdue,
proper respect,” he added.
The state cemetery contains about 5,000 graves (Alabama Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
The park
director consulted with Joseph Buschell, director at the nearby Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort. Alabama operates the location because the U.S. cemetery in Mobile is closed to new interments
and the closest national cemeteries are in Biloxi, Ms., and at Barrancas near Pensacola,
Fla., each more than 70 miles away.
The Spanish Fort cemetery would not have been able to accept the
remains without a name and proof of military service, including an honorable
discharge, Buschell said.
On behalf of
Historic Blakeley, Buschell contacted a company in Pensacola to make a
government-grade marker. “It is assumed to be a soldier.”
Regarding
Bunn, Buschell told the Picket: “I think what he is going to do with this is
pretty noble.”
Delta Explorer will be on the water Saturday (Courtesy Historic Blakeley SP)
Forty-nine passengers will board a giant pontoon boat
this Saturday morning and glide down rivers lined by the remnants of earthen
fortifications that protected eastern approaches to Mobile, Ala., during the
closing months of the Civil War.
Leaving the dock on the Tensaw River and peering through
shadows cast by live oaks, magnolia and gum trees, they’ll first see part of
the Confederate inner lines at Fort Blakeley, scene of the largest battle in
Alabama. The Delta Explorer will then pass near Rebel river batteries Fort
Tracy and Fort Huger (pronounced u-chee) as it continues on the Apalachee and
Blakeley rivers to Spanish Fort, site of Battery McDermott, which is now
surrounded by homes. They'll turn back at the entrance to Mobile Bay.
Mike Bunn, director of operations at Historic Blakeley State Park, will give a PowerPoint presentation during the sold-out, 90-minute
cruise (the park currently is taking reservations for another Civil War boat
ride on Nov. 11).
John Sledge, local author of “These Rugged Days: Alabama
in the Civil War,” will make an 11 a.m. lecture at the park’s Wehle Center following
the cruise.
Map showing opposing lines in April 1865 (Library of Congress)
The idea is to give patrons an appreciation of why each
navy wanted to control the waters and the strategic importance of the
fortifications. The Confederate bastions were overrun in a combined Federal
infantry and naval operation that saw Blakeley fall on the same day Gen. Robert
E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox – April 9, 1865.
Notable was the presence of numerous Federal regiments made up of black soldiers.
“We have got miles
and miles of extraordinarily preserved Union and Confederate earthworks,” Bunn
said of the park. The site draws history buffs, campers and nature
lovers to its 2,100 acres a half dozen miles north of Spanish Fort, a bedroom
community on Interstate 10 just east of Mobile.
Settlement faded away before war
About 40,000 people venture annually to the state park,
drawn by its beauty and signs along Interstate 10 touting its Civil War
pedigree. Bunn said some come for both.
The teeming town of Blakeley thrived in the 1810s as white
settlers followed Native American habitation. It sat on a long, level piece of
land. About 3,000 lived on the river, building docks to make the town a port.
But yellow fever and the growth of Mobile made Blakeley’s days numbered.
“It had reached its heyday in late 1820s,” said Bunn. The ground would find a new purpose during the war.
(Courtesy of Historic Blakeley State Park)
The site features primitive group campgrounds, an RV
area, trails and all those Civil War fortifications and a few monuments. More than 90 percent of the Confederate line and
most of three Union lines outside them remain in some form. Some fortifications
are up to 5 feet tall.
“We’ve opened up some Union battery positions this summer
that were never on tour,” said Bunn.
While a chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has
helped to preserve Battery McDermott in Spanish Fort, not much else beyond a
stretch of trenches remain. “The sites of the
fortifications at Spanish Fort have been lost to development,” says a web page
describing the Civil War Trust’s contributions to preservation of Fort
Blakeley.
Spanish moss accents a tree at the park (Library of Congress)
Road to Mobile starts here
Bunn wrote an article for the Encyclopedia of Alabama
about the Battle of Fort Blakeley. Although Union Adm. David Farragut bottled
up Mobile in the summer of 1864, the city remained in Confederate hands and had
three rings of defenses to the west.
Brig. Gen. Liddell
The arrival of additional Federal troops in early 1865
brought about the campaign to take Fort Blakeley, Spanish Fort and other
guardians east of Mobile, a vital transportation and supply center.
“There are good elevations around here,” Bunn told the
Picket. “If you want to take Mobile the easiest route would be via the eastern
shore … and come from the north.””
By this time, Confederate commanders used soldiers and
slaves to build these earthen fortifications. Fort Blakeley was built following
designs typical for a defense against a ground attack. It was commanded by Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell.
Click this Mobile campaign map to enlarge (Library of Congress)
Black troops played significant part
Officials say the park has some of the best-preserved fortifications remaining from the Civil War.
A self-guided tour takes visitors to the remains of nine defensive redoubts, trenches, Union gun emplacements, rifle pits and more.
Union troops laid siege of Blakeley for about a week. On the day of the assault, 16,000 blue-clad warriors quickly overwhelmed Brig. Gen. John Lindell’s 3,500 Confederates, half of whom were veteran troops.
Among the stops on the tour is a “zig zag” trench.
“This approach trench, dug under fire a short time before the final charge, served as a protected connection between the main Union line and advanced rifle pits. It is designed to protect troops from enfilade fire. As the siege proceeded, ‘zig-zag’ trenches such as this would ultimately help form new lines.’”
Redoubt #4 (Courtesy of Historic Blakeley State Park)
The campaigns for Blakeley and Spanish Fort included more than 4,000 U.S. Colored Troops, among the heaviest concentration of black soldiers in one battle.
“The siege and capture of Fort Blakeley was basically the last combined-force battle of the war. African-American forces played a major role in the successful Union assault,” the National Park Service says. Mobile fell within days.
An interesting side note: Confederates placed ineffective land mines, called "subterra shells," on the approaches to the fort.
Fierce, but brief, fighting
Maj. Gen. Canby
Maj. Gen. Edward Canby’s forces first surrounded Spanish
Fort on March 27, 1865. Most of the Confederate troops escaped to Mobile or
Blakeley and the fort fell on April 8. Two Union commands combined to storm
Fort Blakeley the following day, unaware of Lee’s surrender in Virginia.
“Sheer
numbers breached the Confederate earthworks, compelling the Confederates to
capitulate,” the National Park Service says.
Bunn, in his encyclopedia article, describes the scene:
A view of redoubt #6 (Courtesy of HBSP)
“Once the Union troops reached the Confederate line, fierce,
close-quarters combat briefly raged. Some defenders threw down their arms and
surrendered or turned and ran after the Union troops had overrun their
position, but others fought on even after being surrounded. Despite their
resistance, the Union attackers overwhelmed the Confederate line and the
fighting was over within 30 minutes. A very small number of Confederate
soldiers, perhaps a few dozen, escaped via the river.”
Fort Huger sat in this spot on river near main fort
About 75 Confederates were killed and the Union lost 150, with several
hundred wounded.
“Allegations that some Confederates were shot even after they
surrendered to USCT troops surfaced almost immediately after the battle and the
truth of what happened in its chaotic last moments continues to be the subject
of research and speculation today,” Bunn wrote. “Available evidence indicates
some Union soldiers indeed may have fired on Confederates who had surrendered,
but there was no large-scale massacre.”
As for the
land mines?
“Some of the Union casualties occurred after the battle, as the
mine-ridden battlefield continued to claim victims until captured prisoners
were forced to point out their locations,” Bunn wrote.
Historic Blakeley State Park has Civil
War tours several times a year and the Delta Explorer makes journeys related to nature and Mobile. A Civil War re-enactment and living history is held in
late March or early April. The next Civil War cruise is set for Nov. 11.
Please call 251-626-0798 to register. Tickets are $27 for adults, $15 for children ages 6 to 12.
Like silent
guardians of ancient ruins, pine trees tower over a high bluff where 150 years
ago Confederate soldiers manned Fort McDermott during the Union's two-week
siege of Spanish Fort, Ala. April 11 is the dedication day for the new Fort
McDermott Confederate Memorial Park, which features a small section of replica abatis. • Article
