A Gettysburg shop called the National Park Service after it found a human remain in a collection it bought. Now the forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier at Spanish Fort in Alabama, will be buried at battle park

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. 

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. Historic Blakely State Park interprets the entire Mobile campaign.

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.

A chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has helped to preserve Battery McDermott.

Bone was found in future subdivision land

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.”

Martz said there is no indication a law was broken. The only consideration would be the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which protects indigenous remains.

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.”

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 William’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.

'I'm very proud of my brother': Michigan siblings travel to Fredericksburg National Cemetery, where one joins others telling the stories of men who gave their all

Mark Fischer speaks at the grave of Sgt. Wallace Wight of the 24th Michigan (Photos courtesy Glenn Fischer)

Two brothers from Michigan are back from a super fun (and meaningful) road trip to Virginia.

Mark and Glenn Fischer traveled to Fredericksburg over the Memorial Day weekend. They took in the Civil War battlefield, the local library and the food and beverage scene, among other spots.

The main attraction, though, was the annual Memorial Day luminaria Saturday night at Fredericksburg National Cemetery. There, on a perfect weather evening, Mark stood next to the grave of Sgt. Wallace W. Wight of the 24^th Michigan, telling visitors about the infantryman's service and death in December 1862.

Last year, Fischer, 53, helped a researcher with the National Park Service identify the grave of Wight and another Iron Brigade soldier, from Indiana.

Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park invited the Livonia resident to join several others stationed in the burial ground to tell individual stories of those who died in service of their country.

“I had some folks ask me where the first burial site was, how much time passed between Wallace’s death and his father returning to the scene to reunite the remains,” said Mark Fischer, who conceded he could not provide firm answers to all questions..

Glenn Fischer, (left) director of the DeWitt District Library in DeWitt, was there to support his older brother over the weekend.

“While a somber and serious occasion, it was so moving to see how the public reacted to this event so positively,” Glenn told the Picket Tuesday upon their return to Michigan.

“I'm very proud of my brother for his dedication to this soldier's story. He's always been a very curious and persistent person when it comes to solving puzzles, so it was enlightening and satisfying to see him address this one successfully,” said Glenn.

Mark Fischer had wanted to know whether Wight was buried in Virginia or in Livonia, setting of a chain of research and correspondence with the park.

The citizen historian (right) worked with Steve Morin, a retired FBI researcher who volunteers at the park, to find information that led to grave identifications for Wight and Pvt. John S. Waller of the 19^th Indiana. 

Correspondence led to Morin eventually finding a Detroit Free Press article that detailed how and where the two men died. Wight, 18, and several comrades were killed on Dec. 13, 1862, and buried at Pollock’s Farm in Stafford County.

He was later moved to Fredericksburg National Cemetery. Waller was killed by rifle fire in April 1863 while attempting to cross the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg.

Wight’s grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery has the wrong surname (Wright), which complicated the research. (At right, Mark Fischer)

Cemetery records have been updated to reflect the correct ID for Wight and to add Waller’s name, which was just marked “J.S.W.” on his headstone.

Because of their historic nature, the headstones will not be changed, park officials said last year.

Glenn Fischer said Saturday's event was well-organized and attended. "The event served as an important reminder of the importance of funding our National Park Service so that public events like this one can continue." 

He said the research is an example of why funding public libraries is "vital to preserving and providing access to these items and records. Without these resources, this young soldier's final resting place might remain a mystery."

Steve Morin talks about Pennsylvanian Alvin Whitaker (NPS photo)

Morin, the volunteer at Fredericksburg, was posted Saturday evening at the grave of Sgt. Alvin Whitaker of the 141st Pennsylvania, whose grave he helped properly identify.

Whitaker was killed in action in May 1864 and was buried on the field in Spotsylvania, Va. His grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery was marked "O. Whittaker" with the 4th Ohio, but that name does not match records of soldiers killed on that date. Morin determined Alvin is likely buried in the grave.

"I think there were more visitors than last year. I was still talking to folks at 11 p.m.,” Morin said of the luminaria.

Mark Fischer told the Picket he would recommend everyone attend a luminaria service at national cemeteries.

"I can’t imagine a better way to honor all those who sacrificed so that we can live free today."

Mark Fischer educates visitors about Sgt. Wight during the cemetery event (NPS photo)

A persistent Michigander helped identify the graves of two soldiers buried at Fredericksburg. He will be at one's gravesite Saturday for Memorial Day luminaria

The Fredericksburg luminaria will remember 15,000 souls including Sgt. Wight (NPS photos)

A citizen historian from Michigan whose research helped lead to the identification of graves for two Iron Brigade soldiers buried at Fredericksburg National Cemetery will stand next to one’s headstone Saturday night during a Memorial Day luminaria.

Mark Fischer of Livonia will share the story of Sgt. Wallace Winfield Wight and his regiment, the 24^th Michigan Infantry to visitors walking through the cemetery, which will be aglow from thousands of candles placed in white bags.

Fischer worked with Steve Morin, a retired FBI researcher who volunteers at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia, to find information that led to grave identifications for Wight and Pvt. John S. Waller of the 19^th Indiana.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to be invited; I also see it as a good citizen’s duty,” Fischer (left) wrote in an email, “and a way to thank all fallen soldiers for their service and sacrifice.”

Wight’s grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery has the wrong surname (Wright) and Waller’s has only initials.

An email from Fischer to the park in 2023 began the saga.

Fischer’s research actually began with Wight’s father, an officer in the same regiment and who is buried in Livonia. A nearby stone with Wallace Wight’s named appeared to be a cenotaph -- an empty grave for someone who is believed to rest elsewhere. But that was not a certainty.

Fischer reached out the park, wanting to know whether the younger Wight rests there. 

That first contact did not prove fruitful because park officials could not find a Wight in their cemetery records (though the register did show a Wright, as later research came to show). So Fischer kept at it, looking at diaries, letters and old newspapers.

How persistence of 2 men cracked the code

Subsequent correspondence between Fischer and Morin led to the latter eventually finding a Detroit Free Press article, which broke the whole story open last year.

The lengthy piece (right) in December 1870 about a Grand Army of the Republic reunion included information about the deaths of Wight, Waller and other men in 1862 and 1863.

Interestingly, the mislabeled Wight marker includes a “Jr.”, likely because the teen and his father, Lt. Col. William Walker Wight, had the same initials.

After the Wight identification, Morin was able to do the same for Waller, whose grave is marked simply “J.S.W.”

The headstones have not been corrected, due to their historical nature and other factors, but the cemetery’s records were updated.

Park historian and ranger Peter Maugle credited Fischer for instigating the gathering “of the pieces of the puzzle.”

“This guy figured it out for us. He was persistent.”

Wight, 18, and several comrades were killed on Dec. 13, 1862, and buried at Pollock’s Farm in Stafford County, as the newspaper article detailed. He was later moved to Fredericksburg National Cemetery.

Waller was killed by rifle fire in April 1863 while attempting to cross the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg.

The park decided to invite Fischer to this year's events as a sign of gratitude for his efforts.

Morin (left) on Saturday evening will be at the grave of a Pennsylvania soldier to discuss his service. A half dozen or so other people will be placed at additional grave sites of note.

Over the years, Maugle and his team have been able to “better” identify about 200 graves at Fredericksburg. About 85 percent of the graves at the cemetery are listed as unknown.

“Identification of soldiers is an ongoing project. It is very time intensive,” Morin (right) told the Picket. “It is great that records are continually being digitized by various organizations which really helps with the research work.” 

He called Fischer’s efforts to determine the location of Wight’s grave “relentless.”

Fischer said he would like to meet Maugle and Morin before the luminaria and thank them for their help. He hopes to visit the battlefield and see what the park archives have on the 24^th Michigan.

The citizen historian is transcribing the diaries of Webster Wood, a musician in Wight’s company, for a descendant. Wood also was from Livonia.

Monday's events include ceremony, walking tours

The luminaria is scheduled for 8 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturday. In the event of rain, the event will be moved to Sunday.

“The luminaria honors those who died in the service of this country,” the park said in a news release. “Local scouts will light 15,300 candles in the cemetery – one for each person buried there. In addition, a bugler will play “Taps” every 30 minutes during the evening as park staff posted throughout the cemetery relate stories about some of the individuals.”

The cemetery is located at the intersection of Sunken Road and Lafayette Boulevard. Click here for more information on transportation and parking.

A Memorial Day ceremony and observance is planned for Monday. (At right, grave of Pvt. Waller, NPS)

The event will begin at 10 a.m. with a 15-minute ceremony in the cemetery, including the  playing of Taps and the presentation of the colors of the 23rd USCT living history group.

From 10:15 am to 4 p.m., park staff will be stationed in the cemetery to share stories about the history of Memorial Day in Fredericksburg and “facilitate remembrance activities to honor those who lost their lives in service to the United States.” Golf carts will be available to facilitate access up to the cemetery.

Join staff at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. for walking tours of the Sunken Road. The tours will meet behind the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, 1013 Lafayette Blvd, by the panoramic battle painting.  

A history sleuth from Michigan wanted to know: Was Wallace W. Wight of the Iron Brigade buried at Fredericksburg? He and a park researcher figured it out

The grave in question (Peter Maugle/NPS), the registry for a W.W. Wright Jr. and citizen historian Mark Fischer

The recent identification of graves for two Iron Brigade soldiers killed near Fredericksburg, Va., is due to persistent research by a citizen historian and a retired FBI researcher who dug up an 1870 newspaper article that provided crucial information.

Officials credit Mark Fischer of Livonia, Mich., and Steve Morin, a volunteer at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, for gleaning information used to properly identify the graves of Sgt. Wallace Winfield Wight of the 24^th Michigan and Pvt. John S. Waller of the 19th Indiana.

Wight’s grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery has the wrong surname and Waller’s has only initials (photo below by Peter Maugle/NPS). Records now have been updated to show who lies beneath each stone. 

The turning point in the quest for identification was the discovery of a Detroit Free Press article, something the park said was akin to finding a needle in the haystack.

The effort is remarkable for a number of reasons, starting with how it came to be. Usually, the park initiates an ID search, sometimes from markers that might only have initials or scant information.

An email from Fischer to the park in 2023 was an exception to the rule.

“What makes Wight unique is someone out of the blue contacts the park on his own mission. He started with a name, we start with a grave,” said park historian and ranger Peter Maugle. “This has happened only one other time (to) my knowledge.”

Wight’s headstone at Fredericksburg National Cemetery is mislabeled as W.W. Wright Jr. -- one letter off from Wight. While one would think the mystery should have been solved easily, it took some digging for everything to add up, Maugle told the Picket.

Both soldiers were members of the Army of the Potomac’s Iron Brigade, known for its unflinching courage and high casualties during the war. They were known for wearing black felt Hardee hats.

The brigade, made up of several Midwestern regiments saw limited action at Fredericksburg, but was bloodied at First and Second Manassas, Antietam, South Mountain and Gettysburg. (Iron Brigade hat, below, worn by Elmer D. Wallace, 24th Michigan //  University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library)

While cemetery records have now been updated for Wight (Grave 4953) and Waller (Grave 5588), officials say the discoveries are not definitive. Without DNA samples, it is impossible to formally identify any of the 12,000 soldiers marked as unknown at Fredericksburg.

“We feel like this is 99.9% accurate,” says Maugle of Wight’s identity. “We don’t exhume.”

The headstones will not be corrected, due to their historical nature and other factors. (More about that below).

Fischer’s research actually began with Wight’s father, an officer in the same regiment and who is buried in Livonia. A nearby stone with Wallace Wight’s named appeared to be a cenotaph -- an empty grave for someone who is believed to rest elsewhere. But that was not a certainty.

Fischer reached out the park, wanting to know whether the younger Wight rests there. “I could not find an obituary for Wallace that would have suggested his remains” had been taken home to Michigan.

That first contact did not prove fruitful because park officials could not find a Wight in their cemetery records (though the register did show a Wright, as later research came to show). So Fischer kept at it, looking at diaries, letters and old newspapers.

Subsequent correspondence between Fischer and Morin led to the latter eventually finding the Detroit article, which broke the whole story open.

The lengthy article in December 1870 about a Grand Army of the Republic reunion included information about the deaths of Wight, Waller and other men in 1862 and 1863.

It said the meeting was the second of the regimental association and involved toasts and speeches, resulting in a "pleasant and successful" gathering at Young Men's Hall in Detroit.

After the Wight identification, Morin was able to do the same for Waller, whose grave is marked simply “J.S.W.”

Maugle credits Fischer for instigating the gathering “of the pieces of the puzzle.”

“This guy figured it out for us. He was persistent.”

He became curious about graves in his Michigan town

Fischer, 52, grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and lives in Livonia, where he works in IT.

When he and wife moved back to Livonia from Pennsylvania, Fischer stopped by a “cemetery that I have driven by thousands of times.”

He saw the 24^th Michigan on several tombstones. The regiment had fought at Gettysburg. “That struck a chord with me.” Among those buried there was Lt. Col. William Walker Wight (photo below is cenotaph for Wallace W. Wight, courtesy Mark Fischer)

A self-described books guy, Fischer dug into histories, learning the father, then a captain, recruited his son, Wallace, and commanded him at Fredericksburg with Company K. (Another son, Gurdon, was wounded and survived the war.)

Fischer got service records from the National Archives. “The central question to me was, did Wallace make it home?”

He could not find any documentation. The fact that the marker in Livonia is shared with a brother-in-law and is not a government-provided stone made him curious whether Wallace Wight was buried at the Fredericksburg cemetery or nearby.

Morin asked for photos of Wallace’s grave. “The appearance of stone led him to think it to be just a marker.”

Wallace’s cenotaph is about six feet from his father’s grave and close to that of his sister. The marker also lists his brother-in-law, according to Fischer.

“How does the father lose the son and carry on? That is what I am trying to understand.”

Fredericksburg team's dogged pursuit to honor dead

Over the years, Maugle (right) and his team have been able to “better” identify about 200 graves at Fredericksburg. The process comes with a host of challenges.

First off, those who opened and operated the cemetery 160 years ago had little time to pursue identification, and there was no national cemetery system.

Remains -- sometimes only a few bones – arrived in dribs and drabs between 1866 and 1868. Most came with no name or, as possible in Wight’s case, with a weathered wooden marker. Stone markers did not replace wooden ones for several years.

The park pointed out in a Facebook post in September no soldier with the name Wight appears on Army rolls or casualty lists. The soldier and several comrades were killed on Dec. 13, 1862, and buried twice, including at Pollock’s Farm in Stafford County, before Wight was moved to Fredericksburg National Cemetery.

The graves at Fredericksburg were wooden until the mid-1870s (NPS).

Maugle told the Picket the wooden marker placed above Wight had to survive three years until reburial parties cam. “It may have been degraded until it is barely visibly.”

Morin wrote in his report about the grave it is possible that the misinterpretation of the surname ‘Wight’ as ‘Wright,’ sergeant as private and the missing company and regimental designations could be due to the grave marker’s exposure to the Virginia elements for several years, particularly if the inscriptions were written in pencil.

Initial emails led to no match for soldier

Most soldiers did not carry ID tags and unlike at other Civil War cemeteries, Maugle said, few of the Union soldiers passed away at nearby hospitals, where identification would have been easier. “They were buried on the field very hastily.”

The Fredericksburg cemetery has dead from four major battlefields and names were entered on the register – which, of course, is unsearchable – apparently when they arrived.

In Wight’s case, he was listed in the register as W.W. Wright Jr., along with a notation of burial at Pollock’s Farm prior to relocation to Fredericksburg. No regiment or rank was listed and the soldier was mistakenly identified as a private. The notation says “US Vol.” (Click image, courtesy NPS, to enlarge. Wright is near the bottom)

When Fischer first contacted the park, they only discussed a soldier named Wight. No one brought up the possibility of him being listed as Wright. Officials searched the register for anyone with the 24^th Michigan and the name Wight. No match.

Unfortunately, no one had yet seen the newspaper article, which showed the sergeant was buried at Pollock’s Farm before the postwar move of remains to the current cemetery.

The email exchange ended in a dead end. “We kind of threw our hands up,” said Maugle.

Fischer got back to work.

One find led to another, to another, to another

Sgt. Wallace Winfield Wight, 18, and several others in the 24^th Michigan were killed on December 13, 1862. He and at least one other soldier were believed to be decapitated by a Confederate shell.

Wight’s remains were recovered by his father (left).

The history of the 24th Michigan by O. B. Curtis says, "It was truly a mournful event when the Captain of Company K, that night, searched for the trunkless head of his son upon the battlefield, while the canister was whistling above him, and placed it with the young boy's remains for burial."

The men were first buried on the south side of the Rappahannock River.

“During the Chancellorsville campaign, his body was disinterred on April 30, 1863, and reburied at the Pollock House on the north side of the river. According to a May 1, 1863, letter written by Sullivan Dexter Green, Company F, 24^th MI, Sergeant Wight’s grave was still fully marked when his body was moved.” Morin wrote. “Diary entries written on June 10, 1863, by Lieutenant Colonel Mark Flanigan, 24^th MI, detailed a visit he made to the grave of ‘W.W. Wight, Jr.’ near the Pollock House on the north side of the Rappahannock River.”

Much of the above information was researched by Fischer and relayed to Maugle and Morin (right, NPS photo), who then found the newspaper article. Fischer said Green was essentially an embedded reporter for the Free Press while serving with the regiment.

Maugle said the newspaper article, while it does not mention the Pollock house by name, makes reference to "the hospital building ... on the opposite side of the road near the bank of the rive," narrowing it down. 

At that point, the park thumbed through the register looking for burials at Pollock’s Farm.

They came across W.W. Wright Jr.

“That name stuck out then,” said Maugle.

Bingo.

The mislabeled Wright marker includes a “Jr.”, likely because the teen and his father had the same initials.

Morin then turned his attention to Waller, whose grave is marked “J.S.W.”

According to the park, his grave lies between two casualties from the Army of the Potomac's crossing of the Rappahannock River at the outset of the Chancellorsville campaign in late April 1863. Cemetery records indicate the occupant is a U.S. soldier who died in 1863 and was initially buried at Fitzhugh's Farm in Stafford County.

Overlay shows Pollock's Mill/Farm in center, farm of Henry Fitzhugh (NPS)

“The 1870 article lists the names of several soldiers originally interred at the farm. One of them, Private John S. Waller of the 19th Indiana, fit the description and is likely the occupant of this grave. Cemetery records were updated to reflect that deduction.”

There are no known photos of Waller or Wallace Wight.

Why the NPS does not alter historic markers

When the park publicized the Wight story in September, some commenters asked why his marker could not be replaced with appropriate information.

In a nutshell, National Park Service policy does not allow the altering of historic gravestones due to errors of fact.

Lt. Col. Flanigan wrote about visit to Wight grave at Pollock's Farm (NPS)

Maugle said one reason is the cost and labor for replacing them. Some would receive a stone with a newer design, affecting the historic nature of the original.

There are some exceptions, such as if a tree fell and destroyed a marker.

There is another reason – going back to the concept that identification cannot be 100 percent confirmed. “What if someone comes in and says it belongs to someone else. We are in a quandary and we decided to make an adjustment to the grave,” said Maugle.

The citizen historian is invited to memorial event

Back in Michigan, Fischer wants to concentrate on what started this journey – a biography of William Walker Wight.

“Researching the father is how I became aware of the uncertainty about his son's final resting place,” he said. “A father lost his son under extraordinary circumstances.”

Lt. Col. Wight soldiered on as an officer – he was wounded at Gettysburg -- a citizen and a patriot.

Fischer has been invited to the park’s 2025 Memorial Day activities, notably a May 24 luminaria. Some 15,300 candles will be placed in bags to brighten the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. (Photo NPS)

Maugle said Fischer will primarily speak about Wallace Wight’s life and service.