As four Confederate soldiers are reburied in Williamsburg, archaeologists try to positively ID them through DNA testing and searches of records

The final resting place for four soldiers at Cedar Grove Cemetery (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

Archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia have recovered DNA from the remains of four Confederate soldiers uncovered two years ago and hope to use that material and hospital and other records to positively identify them, officials said last week.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation last week shared an update with local media and the Associated Press. The Picket previously wrote about the discovery of the bodies near the site’s powder magazine.

The archaeologists have narrowed the possible identities to four men who served in regiments from Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia, the AP reported. 

The museum is withholding the names as work continues.

Excavations in 2023 yielded a mass grave at the powder magazine. (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

“The next step in the search for the soldiers’ identities is working with a genealogist and the recovered DNA to conclusively connect the Confederate burials to living relatives, a process that may take over a year,” Ellen Morgan Peltz, public relations manager for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, wrote the Picket in an email.

The remains of the four men were buried last week at Williamburg’s Cedar Grove Cemetery, where other Confederates rest. Remains of three amputated legs also were found during excavations around the magazine’s wall from February to April 2023. 

“Each soldier’s remains were placed in an individual stainless-steel box and buried in an individual vault. The three amputated limbs were buried together in their own box and vault for a total of five boxes and five vaults,” Peltz said. “The burials took place quietly and without ceremony.”

The soldiers likely took part in the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg in Virginia.

The inconclusive Battle of Williamsburg, according to the National Park Service, was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, following a Confederate retreat from Yorktown. Hooker’s division attacked the Southerners at Fort Magruder, but was repulsed. Confederate counterattacks ultimately failed and they made a nighttime withdrawal toward Richmond. Casualties numbered more than 3,800.

Some wounded troops were treated at a Williamsburg makeshift hospital, officials said.

“The museum has recovered enough genetic material from the men’s teeth for possible matches,” the AP reported. “But the prospect of identifying them emerged only after the team located handwritten lists in an archive that name the soldiers in that hospital.”

Hancock's Federal troops launch attack on May 5, 1862 (Library of Congress)

The four soldiers had been buried respectfully, with their hands folded. Bullets, gold coins, buttons and suspender buckles were found with the skeletal remains. One had a bullet in his spine.

Rebel troops used the magazine in 1861 to store ordnance. Colonial Williamsburg was conducting a restoration project at the site when the grave was discovered.

The remains were sent to the Institute for Historical Biology at William & Mary, a nearby university, for analysis.

Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg’s executive director of archaeology, said his team used account books and newspapers to narrow down a historic list of 29 individuals who died on that site after the Battle of Williamsburg to a short list of individuals who might be matches for the burials.

The archaeologists eliminated soldiers who survived or lost an extremity, the AP reported. The four skeletons had all of their limbs. Death dates were key because three men were buried together, allowing the team to pinpoint three soldiers who died around the same time.

Use of the powder magazine dates to the American Revolution (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

“Doing this type of identification with burials this old takes a unique set of circumstances. In this case we are lucky to have numerous lines of evidence we can draw on to try and determine the names of these individuals,” Gary said in a statement. Future efforts will include seeking DNA swabs from descendants

Women who visited the wounded kept some records with names. Those documents are kept at William & Mary. The Picket reached out Friday to the library’s special collections research center for details and possible images of the papers but has not heard back.

In a March 2023 article after the discovery of the grave, The Virginia Gazette quoted a local historian as saying the remains are likely Confederate.

“With the Union occupation of the city after the battle, Union remains were collected and ultimately buried at the cemetery in Yorktown,” said Will Molineux. It’s possibly reburial crews missed these two pits.

The article said battle expert Carson O. Hudson wrote in his book, “Civil War Williamsburg,” that the Confederates “were buried in large square pits on the west side of the building” adjacent to the magazine.

William, Mary and Harry: Virginia university digitizes donated diary of a young Yankee soldier held captive on campus

Courtesy: Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, W&M

Wren Building, where prisoners were held in 1862

Henry “Harry” Alexander Scandrett’s 1862 pocket diary covers only three months, but it provides rich detail of camp life -- from reveille in the morning to rain, drills, rain, guard duty, rain and more drills.

It also documents innovations in warfare.

The 19-year-old corporal with the 70th New York Infantry wrote that he spied the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack (CSS Virginia) a month after their famous battle near Norfolk, Va., ushered a new era of naval warfare. But his transport had to leave before an anticipated second battle, which never occurred.

Scandrett noted an instance of relatively new intelligence gathering on May 4, 1862: “Yorktown is evacuated. The rebels were firing until half past four this morning. A Balloon reconnaissance discovered the evacuation about 6 o clock.”

Harry Scandrett

What happened to Scandrett and some comrades the next day is what landed his journal in the collection of the library at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, where it has been transcribed, digitized and made available online to the public.

"Was in my first battle today. About 1 Oclock P.M. our regiment was marched into the field,” Scandrett wrote in the leather-bound volume. “We were thrown in advance and through some blunder was not reinforced. We have lost all our company officers and our field officers are all wounded. With fifteen others I was taken prisoner and am now in William & Mary college."

Jay Gaidmore, director of William & Mary Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center, told the Picket that Scandrett’s diary is the first time a reference is made of prisoners of war being kept at the college, however briefly.

The hapless Yanks were taken to the Wren Building, one of only three campus buildings at the time. “The family thought he was a prisoner in a building. He was probably kept out in the rain,” said Gaidmore.

The men were marched to Richmond the next day. Scandrett wrote about receiving a small loaf of bread, a piece of meat and soup on his second day of captivity.

The 16 were paroled on May 12 and returned to Washington, where the diary ends at the beginning of a well-deserved furlough.

Attacks and counterattacks

Historians knew William & Mary had a hospital, and archaeologists have previously discovered entrenchments and other features belonging to Confederate and Union forces.

The Battle of Williamsburg, according to the National Park Service, was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, following the Confederate retreat from Yorktown. The 70th New York was part of Hooker's division.

Hooker attacked the Southerners at Fort Magruder, but was repulsed. Confederate counterattacks ultimately failed and they made a nighttime withdrawal toward Richmond. Casualties numbered more than 3,800. Scandrett and the other captives were taken about two miles to the college.

Page from the diary

Union troops occupied the college after the battle. They burned the Wren Building later in the year. Confederates occasionally harassed them until war's end. “There were always skirmishes and raiders but no full-pitch battles,” Gaidmore said.

A soldier's story

Like most Civil War diarists, Scandrett made ample observations about the weather, rations and camp life, which he called “tearribly dull.” He wrote on March 1: “Had a brigade review this afternoon lasting from one O clock to six.  All the brigades was present, and Sickles reviewed us. The whole affair passed off very well, although it was pretty muddy.”

The Allegheny, Pa., native, who enlisted in May 1861, provided a window into eastern Virginia campaigning only a year into the war.

April 24: “On fatigue duty again today. Were favored with a few shell from the rebels but no damage was done. Great cry but little wool.  Are to go on picket at 2 A.M., tomorrow.”

Scandrett documented the deaths of comrades to typhoid and drowning. He served as a pallbearer at the funeral for the typhoid victim.

Of the battle that landed him in captivity, the soldier said his regiment performed “nobly.” Company E “was very much cut-up indeed.” The 70^th New York suffered heavy casualties; he wrote about the wounding of regimental commander Lt. Col. William Dwight Jr., and visiting him weeks later.

Hancock's men charge at Williamsburg (Library of Congress)

(Those looking at the online version will notice there are two entries about Scandrett’s capture. He ran out of room in the regular sequence and continued the narrative at the front of the book.)

Scandrett returned to service and was promoted first sergeant in 1863, re-enlisted and made first lieutenant in June 1864, a month before the 70^th New York was mustered out of service.

Donation for others to enjoy

According to online records, Scandrett settled in Faribault, Minn. He was in the insurance business and served as a probate judge. He and his wife, Jane, had three children, one of whom died as an infant.

(Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library)

Family genealogy says the veteran came out of the war with impaired health “but fought against an invalid condition with indomitable courage and patience.” Scandrett was only 40 when he passed away in September 1883.

His descendants in late 2016 donated the diary, which covered Feb. 27, 1862, to May 23, 1862. The gift details were finalized last spring.

“We felt we found the perfect place to donate the diary, the place where our great-grandfather was held as a prisoner back in 1862,” said Janet Hunt of Wisconsin in a recent college press release. “We know this little piece of both our history and that of William and Mary will be well-preserved at the library for others to use and enjoy now and in the future.”

Tami Back of University Libraries said the diary will be available to researchers in Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center. The diary, which is written in fading pencil, is kept in a special acid-free folder.

Gaidmore said descendants were not aware of any other diaries written by Scandrett.