For whom the bell tolls: Pvt. John C. Pollitz lies beneath the Long Island church he dearly loved. His headstone and a bell he bought are reminders of sacrifice

Gravestone in crawlspace in 2018 (Trinity Episcopal Church); Pvt. John C. Pollitz after enlistment 

The memory of John Codman Pollitz -- a young private who died of disease in 1863 while serving with the 44th Massachusetts in North Carolina --  lives on at a Long Island, N.Y., church where his remains lie beneath the floor and his gravestone rests above.

For several years, the soldier’s headstone and a bell he purchased for Trinity Episcopal Church in Roslyn have greeted visitors entering the building.

Officials had hoped to place the stone in a cabinet or display on the wall, but its weight proved problematic..

“The headstone and bell are still in the same place and there are no plans to change this,” church property manager and Mike Callahan said this week when asked by the Picket for plans for a permanent location for the items.

I have been a bit fascinated with the story of Pollitz, the son of a German immigrant, since the first of three articles I wrote following the 2018 discovery of his headstone in the rear section of the elegant sanctuary.

New to me this week was discovery of a document indicating he applied to attend West Point before the war broke out and an 1862 photo of Pollitz, taken shortly after his enlistment. I credit ancestry.com and the American Civil War Research Database for the latter.

The church had long known Pollitz’s grave was incorporated within the current building during construction in 1906. There was no recorded specific location for the grave. That changed in summer 2018, when rotting wooden floor joists were removed and Pollitz’ headstone was exposed; it was lying flat in a crawlspace.

“My assumption was that the headstone was too high standing up for the crawlspace. I believe they simply laid it down on that same spot” during construction, Callahan said a few years ago.

While Pollitz -- who was a member of the church -- remains buried beneath the floor, the congregation had wanted his headstone to be displayed inside. The stone is propped in front of a bell, which likewise has a good story.

According to a 1914 New York Times article, a dying Pollitz asked comrades to ensure his body was sent to Roslyn, where it was to lie in the shadow of the belfry. “With his army pay he had bought a bell as a gift to the parish, and its arrival and his death were so close together that it was tolled for the first time at his funeral,” the article said.

The bell rests on a stand inside the church, an affixed plaque indicating the soldier’s grave lies beneath the church (Photo courtesy Trinity Episcopal Church). Another plaque on the floor calls Pollitz a "son and hero of this parish."

Fever stalked Federal troops in North Carolina

It’s believed that the young Pollitz was living in Boston and 18 when he joined up with the 44th Massachusetts, ostensibly in the summer or fall of 1862.

The regiment, which took part in skirmishes and sieges across North Carolina before it was mustered out in June 1863, was in New Bern for several months before transfer to Plymouth, N.C.

A history of the regiment detailed disease and illness that stalked the troops during campaigning and at their quarters. Pollitz, who served in Company F, died on Jan. 7, 1863, in New Bern. 

According to the “Record of the Service of the Fourth-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in North Carolina, August 1862 to May 1863,” Pollitz and 13 other soldiers in the regiment died from cerebrospinal meningitis. A pension record I found online this week (below) mentions malarial typhoid fever.

The volume provides the following information for late 1862 and the first days of 1863 in New Bern.

“December 25, the first case of a new and alarming disease occurred in our regiment, proving fatal in a few days. The epidemic, which followed and extended to other regiments, was entirely outside the experience of any of the surgeons in the department. The fever was at first regarded as a virulent type of malarial disease. The autopsy in the case of Henry G. Kimball, of Andover, Company G, who died Jan. 1, 1863, made by the assistant-surgeon, showed the presence of inflammation in the membranes of the brain and spinal cord. The disease was afterwards recognized as cerebro-spinal meningitis, which is identical with the disease once known as spotted fever, occurring as an epidemic in Massachusetts between the years 1807 and 1816. The next death was that of John C. Pollitz, Boston, Company F, on January 7. Having been previously well, he came in from guard in the morning, was sent to the hospital, and died the same afternoon. This sudden fatality naturally produced much consternation in the regiment. Quinine rations were issued as a prophylactic measure, and Surgeon Ware was untiring in his efforts to determine the cause of the epidemic.”

Pollitz’ remains were sent north to Long Island and to the church, where he had briefly been a Sunday school superintendent.

“It is my understanding that he requested to be buried in the shadow of the belfry of the original chapel. They built the new church alongside the original chapel so I assume that is why they built over it,” said Callahan.

The bell was used during the 1863 Pollitz funeral (Trinity Episcopal Church)

Shortly after his burial, February 1, 1863, the bell was taken down and another put in its place. “John Pollitz’s bell was inverted, filled with dirt and flowers, and stood by his grave for many years,” a church newsletter states.

In 1914, the bell was moved and restored after church officials discovered the grave under that floor while investigating a break in the foundation walls, according to The Times.

Descendants group honors Civil War troops

Pollitz’s father was a businessman; a history of Roslyn indicated he emigrated from Northern Ireland. But an online search of ancestry-related pages shows Otto W. Pollitz was from Hamburg, Germany, and John’s mother was from Massachusetts. The young soldier is believed to have been born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Church members are unaware of any living descendants, though Pollitz had siblings.

Members of the SUVCW lead 2019 ceremony near plaque (Trinity Episcopal Church)

A 2019 ceremony at the church rededicated the gravesite. Eight members of Moses A. Baldwin Camp #544, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, participated 

According to Dennis Duffy, secretary for the camp, the younger Pollitz attended Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (now part of NYU) and had moved on to college in Massachusetts, where he enlisted with the 44^th Massachusetts.

"John did not have to go to war. There was no draft at the time and when the draft would come six months after John's death, his family could have afforded to pay a substitute under the rules then in effect," Duffy wrote in 2019 to other members of the SUVCW camp.

Since 2019, the camp has obtained more than 100 headstones for veterans in previously unmarked graves, Duffy said this week. The post on Saturday will dedicate several VA headstones for Civil War soldier graves at Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, N.Y.

"I did mention his story in a presentation I made to the North Shore (Long Island) Civil War Roundtable, Huntington, N.Y., last week and must admit the telling brought a tear to my eye," Duffy added.

(At right, the Rev. Margaret Peckham Clark with the Pollitz gravestone in the church crawlspace in 2018)

READ MORE ABOUT POLLITZ:

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2022/05/headstone-of-union-soldier-buried.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2019/06/in-silent-camping-ground-of-dead-sons.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-civil-war-soldier-and-his-headstone.html

Brother, where art thou? A dogged New Yorker traveled twice to Virginia to retrieve body of sibling killed at the Wilderness. A Fredericksburg park volunteer and a descendant put together the poignant story, which is showcased in an exhibit

2nd Lt. Horace Hill (NY State Military Museum via Wayne Historians Organization), national colors of the 111th New York (NY State Military Museum) and park volunteer Steve Morin 

In spring 1864, Francis Abner Hill set out to do something thousands of others in his situation would have wanted to do, but did not have the money, time or tenacity.

Francis planned to bring back to Upstate New York the body of his younger brother, 2^nd Lt. Horace Gilbert Hill, killed just a week before, on May 5, while leading his company at the Wilderness in Virginia.

The military action was still too hot in the area and Francis wasn’t allowed to search for the grave. But signs of his persistence were evident in his many visits to military hospitals in Washington, D.C., apparently to glean helpful information from wounded members of the 111^th New York Infantry. He wanted to know if any of them knew where Horace was laid to rest.

Those interviews and letters sent to veterans and families after his return to Wayne County set the ground work for his second – and successful – trip to find Horace and bring the 23-year-old home (Hill family monument, right, courtesy Nancy Rosin).

“Francis Hill’s successful recovery efforts were not a common occurrence in the Civil War,” wrote Steve Morin, a retired federal government researcher and volunteer at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, in a report about the sibling’s search for Horace. And such efforts did not blunt the pain.

“Returning a Civil War soldier’s remains helped to establish a degree of closure, but it didn’t erase the lifelong anguish caused by the loss," according to Morin.

For years, the volunteer has transcribed documents for the park’s historical database. His curiosity routinely takes him to the internet to learn more about his subjects, as was the case in the Hills.

This spring, Morin turned to Ancestry.com for photographs and learned of a Hill family tree put together by Nancy Rosin of Rochester. “She answered my Ancestry message and I was floored when she told me she was Francis’s great-great-granddaughter,” he told the Picket in an email. Rosin is related through the maternal side of her family.

Using records (including a copy of Francis Hill's diary) already held by the park and letters and photographs from Rosin, the pair completed a compelling portrait of a family that sought closure amid its grief. 

On Friday evening (5p-7p Jan. 2), Morin spoke at a reception at the city's Fredericksburg Visitor Center about the project. The reception kicked off an exhibit about volunteers and their roles in supporting the mission of the federal park. 

“Finding Nancy was fortunate because she possessed so many letters, images, etc. that filled in gaps and provided personal insights into the family members,” Morin said. (At left, Francis and his wife Sophia, courtesy Nancy Rosin)

The researcher told FXBG Neighbors he likens his work using primary documents to solving a puzzle. (Read this Picket article about how he helped identify a grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery)

“I have always loved the way he views history,” Ashley Ranalli, volunteer coordinator at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, told FXBG Neighbors.

“To me, Steve is looking to understand the people he is researching and make a connection.”

Rosin told the Picket that Morin provided context on documents her family kept for 165 years. Other relatives also have material related to the brothers.

Lt. Horace Hill's 1864 pocket diary (NPS photo)

"My collaboration with Steve centered on the letters themselves. In the collection, there were about 40 letters written following Lieut. Hill’s death, from fellow soldiers and military officials tending to the details of pay owed, the return of personal effects, etc." Rosin said.

"But many of the letters were from area families whose sons had also died in the Wilderness and who, similarly, wanted to bring their remains home. Those letters were very helpful in unraveling the story of Francis’s recovery of his brother’s remains."

'Ready to defend the stars and stripes'

Horace Hill enlisted early in the war when he was 19 years old, Rosin said.

"A description of him written by a friend described him as popular with the girls and fond of staying out late at parties/social gatherings. When he left for the war, Horace and a young woman named Amanda Franklin were in a serious relationship and some of his letters home indicate they were planning a life together at war’s end," she wrote in an email. (Horace, left, before the war. Courtesy Nancy Rosin)

Hill served in another New York regiment before joining the 111^th. He rose to sergeant and then second lieutenant in 1863. He fought in numerous battles, including Gettysburg, where the regiment suffered heavy casualties.

In March 1863, he wrote to Francis saying he wish he had expressed more appreciation for their relationship. "Your kindness is fully appreciated by a brother who tonight is a soldier sitting in his tent shedding bitter tears of regret as he remembers how little he manifested the love of a brother in days gone."

Horace Hill had a premonition of his death, according to a fellow officer with the 111^th.

On the evening  of May 5, 1864, in the vicious fighting at the Wilderness, Company A tangled with Confederates. According to “Military History of Wayne County,” Hill was waving his sword, trying to rally his men, when he was instantly killed by a ball passing through his chin and neck. His body was found after Confederates retreated.

NPS map of Wilderness fighting around the time Lt. Horace Hill was killed.
The 111th New York is indicated near rectangle bearing Barlow's name. Click to enlarge

The young officer was buried at a farm with other soldiers. His family did not know the location.

The Rochester Express carried this pithy article about his death, according to a Facebook page about the 111^th New York.

“Lieutenant Hill was almost idolized by the men under his command. He had gained that respect, not only by being an ever true and faithful soldier, but also by kindly caring for his men. His heart swelled with proud emotions at the thought of his country's glory, and he was ever ready to defend the stars and stripes from the insults of traitors. Though comparatively unknown his name may well stand side by side with Ellsworth, Lyon, Wadsworth, Sedgwick, and a host of others; heroes whose names generations yet unborn shall love to read and revere. He fell as a hero falls. Amid the carnage of battle, he yielded up his life, a noble sacrifice, for ‘God and home, and native land,’ and that God in whom he trusted will surely reward him.”

Francis Hill, an Ontario, N.Y., businessmen who cared for his ailing parents rather than enlist, decided to quickly find his brother’s remains. He used Horace’s 1857 diary, according to Morin, to take notes of his trip, including expenditures and notations. 

The diary highlighted the extensive planning, research, logistics and costs associated with returning Lt. Hill to his home near Lake Ontario, according to Morin. While he was not permitted to travel to the front in May 1864, Francis visited numerous hospitals in the Washington area.

Morin’s report -- which includes an extensive bibliography -- summarizes what Francis learned during and after his first visit to Virginia. Among the findings was his brother was buried near fellow New York 2nd Lt. James W. Snedaker (right, courtesy Wayne Historians Organization).

The plots were on the farm of William A. Stephens of Spotsylvania County, close to the battlefield.

Interestingly, Horace’s sword and scabbard had been sent to a Washington hospital after his death. The family later acquired it but Rosin said she is unaware of who has it in their possession.

Brother, father of another soldier communicated

Francis Hill, who was often called Abe or Abner by friends, planned to return to Virginia in late November 1864 and he received a letter (left, click to enlarge) from the U.S. Army authorizing his travel to the grave site. 

Business and personal matters, however, delayed his trip to summer 1865, shortly after the war ended.

In the diary, Francis noted directions to the Stephens farm, which held the bodies of several 111^th New York soldiers.

At some point, Francis communicated with Adrastus Snedaker, father of killed Lt. James Snedaker. Francis and Adrastus had been in touch with a private who saw Horace after the latter's death and helped bury him, carving out a marker with an ax.

"This soldier wrote a very detailed letter to Francis that described his brother’s burial, the condition of the remains, and what he carved on the grave marker," said Morin. 

Adrastus Snedaker retrieved his son’s body in June 1865, one month before Francis was able to go and find Horace’s remains. Horace Hill was laid to rest at Ontario Center Cemetery. (Findagrave.com photo below courtesy Bob Davis)

"Horace now lies buried in a small pioneer cemetery on Ridge Road in Ontario, just a short distance from the Hill family homestead and the old mill pond, surrounded by three generations of his family," Rosin told the Picket.

One of his older military coats belongs to the Sterling Historical Society in New York.

For his part, Francis Hill, a prominent farmer, miller and town official, was married to Martha Sophia Patterson and they had five children, three of whom lived to adulthood. Their daughter, Martha Stella Hill, is Rosin's great-grandmother.

According to a diary, Francis wrote on April 24, 1874, about being at the beside of his dying mother.

“Her sufferings have been severe, but her death was peaceful and apparently easy and she retained consciousness almost to the last moment. A few minutes before she ceased to breathe and while laying partially on the left side she opened her eyes in apparent pleasure and exclaimed 'Horace G: Why Horace' as though she saw him & then spoke to him.”

Francis died in Ontario, N.Y., in 1903 at age 68.

"This story is important because it describes in such a personal way the impact of war on the lives of ordinary people. I think of my family, living in a small farming community, then their lives upended by the outbreak of the war," said Rosin.

"People often focus on the 'pomp and circumstance' of war -- the battles, the valor, etc. I think the story of Francis and Horace brings home the loss and grief in war’s aftermath. And of course, it’s a very touching story about the love of family…as Lieut. Hill put it, 'those near and dear to me.'”

Exhibit will look at work of park volunteers

Ranalli, the volunteer coordinator at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, said the exhibition will be in place through Feb. 2. The visitor center is at 601 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, Va.

Morin was given the Hill documents to transcribe and found them to be intriguing, Ranalli said.

“Steve’s research into the story of the Hill brothers was inspired by several primary sources from the park’s bound-volume collection,” she said in an email. “This collection was started in the 1970s by then-chief of Interpretation Bob Crick, who sent college students to campuses across the country to photocopy primary documents related to the park. In the 1990s, the collection was opened to the public, and this particular item was likely donated by a visitor, possibly a relative of the Hill family.”

Rosin said the Francis Hill diary came to the park through relatives of one of his sons. She was not aware it existed until the park contacted her.

The exhibit portion about the Hills is entitled “In Search of Rest” and was created in partnership with the Fredericksburg tourism bureau.

“This marks the first time the Fredericksburg City Visitor Center has featured an exhibit highlighting the work of National Park Service volunteers,” added Ranalli.

A letter from Horace to his mother Elvira

Rosin provided the Picket a letter Lt. Horace Hill wrote to his mother shortly before his death.

Camp of 111th N.Y.V. Inf.

                                                                                                  April 23/64

My Dear Mother

     It being a kind of lonely dreary night and not feeling much like going to bed yet awhile I have taken my pen to write you a little. For the past two weeks we have been busy much of the time in preparing to move & we have gotten about ready so that should it not storm within a day or two, I think we will strike tents & be off for where of course I know not. But most likely it will not be very long ere we come upon the enemy at some point. With what anxiety are the soldiers of this army contemplating the results of the next few months which are fast drawing near. Not only the army but those at home are anxiously awaiting to know the fate of our army. Nearly everyone has a son, brother or some near relative here who is about to risk his life amid the dangers of the battlefield. Some will fall. A battle cannot be fought without some lives being lost. Who are the fated ones is the question asked by all of us. None of us think that it is ourselves or at least have a hope that it is not yet. We all run the same risk. I have been lucky thus far but for all of that I may be the first of many to stand in the way of some fatal shell. But I feel it is my duty to stand by my country as long as she is in trouble & if I fall while protecting her right against her enemies I shall die in a noble cause. One for whom thousands have laid down their lives. Am I not ready and willing to do as much if it will help to plant the standard of right over our nation? I am. Is it not better to die than live under the hand of tyranny, despotism?

     Yet when I think of home & friends who are dear I cannot help feeling sad & in a measure dread what is before us. I may pass through unharmed but there are many who will not. They have parents and friends who to them are as dear as mine. It is the same for them to leave them that it is for me. O Mother it is a sad, sad thing to look upon & I would to God that this evil war would cease before another life is lost upon the battlefield. But there are not such thoughts that cheer the soldiers’ hearts as is the thought of the happy days in store for him when he shall have cleared the land of the nations enemies & he shall have laid down his implements of warfare & returned to his home there to meet again his friends & associates & enjoy their society in peace under a reunited government.

     This perhaps is if we move the last letter I shall write to you for some time & may be the last one I shall ever write to you. Dear Mother do not feel sad because I speak thus for your boy is under the protection & guidance of Him who rules the universe. In Him is my trust. His will and mine be done. I go forth ready to receive whatever fate is in store for me.

     Should this be the last time given me to address you I would for your comfort have you know that although I am a wild and sinful boy yet have I remembered my God & through His power & agency have I learned to look for protection amid the trying scenes of life. Through His power alone can I be spared to return to you. Therefore let us trust it all to Him & all will be well in life or in death.

     Write as often as you can. Your letters may not reach us immediately. But it will come round after awhile. Give my love to father & tell him that I would like a taste of his sugar sap & that maybe I will be home next fall before it is all gone…I will close by bidding you goodnight. With much love

 I am ever affectionately your son      

­­                                                                                           H. G. Hill­

At the bottom of this page Horace’s father Ira Hill had written:

This is the last letter written by Lieut. Horace G. Hill to his mother.

                                                                                     Ira A Hill

Hill was killed 13 days later, May 5, 1864, at the Wilderness

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 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.

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.

Fascinating finds in graves of 4 Confederates at Williamsburg

The four Confederate soldiers were buried almost side by side. One still had the bullet that killed him embedded in his spine. Another was buried with his toothbrush and porcelain snuff bottle. And another was buried with two gold coins. These were the latest discoveries to emerge from Colonial Williamsburg’s examination of a Civil War burial found last year at the historical site. – Washington Post article

More than a century after his death, research leads to a black Civil War naval veteran finally receives a headstone in Tacoma, Wash.

Wreaths were placed near new headstone Saturday (Oakwood Hill Cemetery)

Updated Oct. 10

In life, David Franklin and David Phillips may have rubbed elbows at a Tacoma, Wash., post of the Grand Army of the Republic in which they were members. Custer Post No. 6 was a home away from home for those who served the Union during the Civil War -- a place where veterans shared food and drink and accounts of their harrowing experiences while they were younger.

Sketch of David Franklin (Alan Archambault)

In the hereafter, Franklin and Phillips lie within steps of each other. But while Phillips, a white man who served in the 4^th Minnesota, has a marked grave, the final resting spot of Franklin, Tacoma’s only black Civil War naval veteran, was topped only by grass.

That unfortunate situation was rectified this week with the installation of a marble Veterans Administration-approved headstone.

A dedication ceremony Saturday morning (Oct. 8) at Oakwood Hill Cemetery in Tacoma finally brought Franklin an honor he has long deserved.

The effort to recognize Franklin, who died in 1920 at age 79, was led by Loran Bures, Phillips’ second great-grandson. Bures, a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the successor to the GAR, came across Franklin in 2017 while conducting research on veterans who lived in Pierce County, home to Tacoma.

The SUVCW’s mission includes researching GAR records, the registration of graves and Civil War memorials and monuments.

Bures (pronounced Burruss) came across a biographical card produced in 1939 during research by the Works Progress Administration into Civil War veterans in the area.

“It speaks volumes the information it doesn’t have,” Bures told the Civil War Picket this week.

The card does indicate Franklin died of heart disease on March 16, 1920, and was buried in the GAR section at Oakwood Hill.

But it had no information on any marker, the veteran’s military service and the fact that Franklin was black. While the GAR was open to all ethnicities, there were only three black sailors among the 2,000-5,000 Civil War veterans living in Washington, according to Bures, a 69-year-old retired librarian, archivist and researcher.

Bures came across Franklin’s death certificate and a National Park Service database that showed the man served as officers’ steward and cook on the USS Dawn. The steam-powered vessel took part in Federal blockades and captured several ships. Much of its service was on the James River in Virginia.

The USS Dawn’s most famous action came in May 1864 in the defense of Wilson’s Wharf in Virginia. The vessel’s guns and the Federal garrison made up of U.S. Colored Troops drove back the Confederate assault.

As a cook and steward, Franklin’s primary role would not have been combat, but it was common practice for a crew member to have a second duty station.

The USS Dawn was built in 1857. (Wikipedia)

At Wilson’s Wharf, “he most likely was helping bring powder and ammunition below deck to the three guns on the deck,” said Bures, adding there is no way to verify that.

Franklin is listed as an ordinary seaman in the NPS file.

Group does not know of living relatives

There are gaps in what’s known about Franklin, including when he moved to Washington and whether he ever married. His death certificate says he was widowed, but Bures said he has found no information about a spouse. The local SUVCW is asking any possible descendants or relatives to contact the organization.

It is known that Franklin was born in 1840. “He was born free in New York City to parents who were free people of color,” said Bures.

Franklin joined the Navy at age 23 in November 1863, midway through the Civil War. The NPS database lists him as being 5 foot 5 inches tall and working as a cook. He served on USS Dawn until near war’s end, mustering out in March 1865.

Bures believes the veteran came to Pierce County between 1885 and 1888. He is listed in a GAR roster for the latter year and a 1907 volume includes Franklin among 752 members (comrades) in the Custer post.

Records show that Franklin joined the Washington National Guard infantry as a cook in 1906.

Ensuring proper honors for veteran

Bures traveled to Oakwood Hill Cemetery several months ago to inspect Franklin’s grave.

He suspected it might be unmarked because of the WPA card and a Findagrave profile that had no photo of a headstone. (Researchers have been unable to find a photograph of Franklin. Bures' second great-grandfather, 1st Sgt. David Phillips, is buried at Tacoma Mausoleum, which adjoins the cemetery.)

Oakwood Hill verified the seaman was buried there and had not been exhumed, officials told the Picket .

Franklin’s resting place was a gap in a row of headstones for other GAR members. Bures and others put together verification information for the VA, including evidence of a Navy pension.

Franklin's graves was marked only by a flag (Loran Bures)

Bures would speculate on why Franklin’s grave received no marker. “There could be a lot of reasons for it.” Oakwood Hill Cemetery co-owner Corey Gaffney told the Picket he, too, did not know why a headstone was not set in 1920.

Gaffney, who purchased the business with his wife, Jennifer, in 2021, told theTacoma News-Tribune the cemetery was providing resources to ensure Franklin received proper honors.

The grave is among weathered headstones that appear not to have been cleaned in recent years. The businessman told the Picket that the couple is working to make improvements at the cemetery and funeral home and restore the site to "its former glory."

"We believe that in 3-5 years this property will be completely viable and unrecognizable to some. That’s our hope and our goal."

Gaffney told the Picket in an email after the ceremony that "the definition of integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. While we did have coverage of this event and dedication, there are countless other actions we’ve took for the benefit of this cemetery that have gone unnoticed.  We do not do things for accolades; more for knowing at the end of the day that we acted appropriately on behalf of those in our care that cannot do so anymore themselves."

Bures said there are other unmarked graves of Civil War veterans across the state.

“It is important they receive recognition for their service to the Union, as any veteran deserves proper recognition.”

The SUVC's Gov. Isaac Stevens Camp No. 1, in which Bures is an officer, led Saturday's headstone dedication. The ceremony included a wreath laying, remarks, a biography of Franklin and funeral honors performed by re-enactors.

Loran Bures stands on Franklin's grave before marker was placed; behind is a mausoleum. 

Headstone of Union soldier buried beneath a Long Island church awaits its final resting place. John C. Pollitz died of disease while serving in N.C.

Current location of the Polllitz headstone (Trinity Episcopal Church)

The headstone of a Union soldier buried beneath a Long Island, New York, church awaits a permanent location nearly four years after it was found during a renovation project.

The Picket wrote two articles about the unusual circumstances involving parishioner Pvt. John Codman Pollitz, who died in 1863 while serving with the 44^th Massachusetts in North Carolina.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Roslyn has long known that Pollitz’s 1863 grave was incorporated within the current building during construction in 1906. But most of them had no idea where; there was no recorded location. That changed in summer 2018, when rotting wooden floor joists were removed and Pollitz’ headstone was exposed; it was lying flat in a crawlspace area.

“My assumption was that the headstone was too high standing up for the crawlspace. I believe they simply laid it down on that same spot” during the 1906 construction, church property manager and sexton Mike Callahan told the Picket.

Removal of the floor exposed headstone for John C. Pollitz (Trinity Episcopal)

A June 2019 ceremony rededicated the soldier’s grave, which still lies beneath the floor. A plaque marks the spot on the floor under which Pollitz rests. Members of an area camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War took part in the ceremony.

At the time, the church said it was trying to determine what to do with the headstone.

“Plans are to build a cabinet mounted on the wall, but that’s going to take some engineering,” Father George Sherrill, priest in charge, told the Picket in a recent email. “The stone weighs a ton and affixing to the wall is going to be difficult, so no real timetable as of yet.”

The priest said the headstone does elicit conversation when people see if for the first time.

The headstone is currently propped up against a bell that has its own interesting history.

Bell was used during the funeral (Courtesy of Trinity Episcopal)

According to a June 1914 article in The New York Times, a dying Pollitz asked comrades to ensure his body was sent to Roslyn, where it was to lie in the shadow of the belfry. “With his army pay he had bought a bell as a gift to the parish, and its arrival and his death were so close together that it was tolled for the first time at his funeral,” the article said.

It’s believed that the young Pollitz was living in Boston and barely 18 when he joined up with the 44th Massachusetts, ostensibly in the summer of fall of 1862.

The regiment, which took part in skirmishes and sieges across North Carolina before it was mustered out in June 1863, was in New Bern for several months before transfer to Plymouth, N.C.

A history of the regiment detailed disease and illness that stalked the troops during campaigning and at their quarters. Pollitz, who served in Company F, died on Jan. 7, 1863 in New Bern.

Sons of Union Veterans lead 2019 ceremony near plaque (Trinity Episcopal)

According to the “Record of the Service of the Fourth-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in North Carolina, August 1862 to May 1863,” Pollitz and 13 other soldiers in the regiment died from cerebrospinal meningities.

His remains were sent north to Long Island. “Shortly after his burial, February 1, 1863, the bell was taken down and another put in its place. John Pollitz’s bell was inverted, filled with dirt and flowers, and stood by his grave for many years,” a church newsletter states.

In 1914, the bell was moved and restored after church officials discovered the grave under that floor while investigating a break in the foundation walls, according to The Times.

Construction of floor during 2018 (Trinity Episcopal Church)