The Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg

The Gettysburg Military National Cemetery was established so that the Union dead could be properly buried. Soon after the battle with the heavy rains washing many of the shallow graves open on the battlefield, concerned citizens of Gettysburg wanted something done. Pennsylvania’s Governor, Andrew Curtain appointed David Wills, a Gettysburg attorney as his agent to study the problem of what to do with the Union dead scattered throughout the battlefield.

At first Governor Curtain made arrangements with David Wills to remove all of the Pennsylvania’s killed, furnishing transportation and one attendant for each body, at the expense of the State. Approximately 700 bodies were removed and shipped back to their family, but the excessive heat of July and the oppressive working conditions with five thousand dead and decaying horses causing a suffocating stench caused a halt to this plan.

At first David Wills wanted to remove the bodies to the local Evergreen Cemetery. Receiving no support for this plan, he then proposed a joint civilian-military cemetery which was also rejected.

Wills purchased 17 acres of Cemetery Hill for $2,475.87 and had preliminary plans for internment drawn up. A contract was also granted for the reburial of each soldier for $1.59 per body.[1] Each state was given their own portion of the cemetery so that all bodies of each state could be buried together. William Saunders, a landscape architect was hired to layout the cemetery. Because of the heat of summer, it was decided not to commence exhuming of the bodies until the month of November. The exhumations began on October 23, 1863 and continued into 1864.

Samuel Weaver was appointed as the Superintendent of Exhumation and he filed this report on March 19^th, 1864. I will give the complete report as it will show how difficult the process was in removing the dead. “Sir, I herewith submit the following brief report of the results of my labors as the superintendent of the exhuming of the bodies of the Union soldiers that fell on the battle-field of Gettysburg.”

“The contractor commenced the work of exhuming on Tuesday, the 27^th of October last, and finished yesterday. The work has been protracted much beyond our original anticipations, by reason of the ground being frozen for a long time during the winter, thus entirely suspending the work, and also by the number of bodies exceeding our first calculations.”

“The number taken up and removed to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery is 3354, and to these adds the number of the Massachusetts soldiers, taken up the authorities of the city of Boston, by special contract, amounting to 158, making the total number of removals 3512. Of these 979 were nameless, and without any marks or surroundings to designate the State from which they volunteered. The rest were, in most instances, marked with boards, on which the name, company, and regiment were written in pencil or cut by their comrades who buried them. In some instances the regiment to which the soldier belonged was discovered, and sometimes only the State from which he volunteered, and in these cases they were buried in their appropriate State lot.”

“There was not a grave permitted to be opened or a body searched unless I was present. I saw every body taken out of its temporary resting-place, and all the pockets carefully searched; and where the grave was not marked I examined all the clothing and everything about the body to find the name. I then saw the body carefully placed in the coffin, and if there was a head-board, I required it to be at once nailed to the coffin. At the same time I wrote the name, company, and regiment of the soldier on the coffin, numbered the coffin, and entered in my book the same endorsement. This book was returned to your office every evening, to copy and compare with the daily return, made by the superintendent of the interments in the cemetery. In these scrutinizing searches the names of a number of lost soldiers were found. They were discovered in various ways, sometimes by the pocket-diaries, by letters, by names in Bible or Testament, by photographs, names in pocket-books, descriptive list, express receipts, medals, names on some port of the clothing, belt or cartridge-box, etc.”

“There were some articles of value found on the bodies, money, watches, jewelry, etc. I took all relics, as well as articles of value, from the bodies, packed them up, and labelled them, so that the friends can get them. There are many things valueless to others which would be of great interest to the friends. I herewith submit a list of names of persons and articles found upon them, and you will, no doubt, take means to get information to the friends by advertisement or otherwise, so that they may give notice where and to whom these things shall be forwarded. I have two hundred and eight-seven such packages.”

“The bodies were found in various stages of decomposition. On the battle-field of the first day the rebels obtained possession before our men were buried, and left most of the unburied from Wednesday until Monday following, when our men buried them. After this length of time they could not be identified. The consequence was that but few on the battle-field of July 1 were marked. They were generally covered with a small portion of earth dug up from alongside of the body. This left them much exposed to the heat, air, and rains, and when these bodies were taken up there was nothing remaining but the dry skeleton.”

Where bodies were in heavy clay soil or in marshy places they were in a good state of preservation. Where they were in sandy, porous soil they were entirely decomposed. Frequently our men were buried in trenches, a shallow ditch, in which they were laid side by side.”

“Before we commenced our work the battle-field had been overrun by thousands of sorrowing friends in search of lost ones, and many of the graves were opened and but partially or carelessly closed.”

“In search for the remains of our fallen heroes we examined more than three thousand rebel graves. They were frequently buried in trenches, and there were instances of one hundred and fifty in a trench.”

“It may be asked how we could distinguish the bodies of our own men from those of the rebels. This was generally very easily done. In the first place, as a general rule, the rebels never went into battle with the United States coat on. They sometimes took the pantaloons from our dead and wore them, but not the coat. The rebel clothing is made of cotton, and is of a gray or brown color. Occasionally I found one with a blue cotton jean roundabout on. The clothing of our men is of wool, and blue, so that if the body had on the coat of our uniform, it was a pretty sure indication that it was that of a Union soldier. But if the body were without a coat, then there were other infallible marks. The shoes of the rebels were differently made from those of our soldiers. If these failed, then the underclothing was the next part examined. The rebel cotton undershirt gave proof of the army to which it belonged. In no instance was a body allowed to be removed which had any portion of the rebel clothing on it. Taking all these things together, we never had much trouble in deciding, with infallible accuracy, whether the body was that of a union soldier or a rebel. And I firmly believe that there has not been a single mistake made in the removal of the soldiers to the cemetery by taking the body of a rebel for a Union soldier.” “All which is respectfully submitted. “Samuel Weaver”[2]

The above report submitted by Weaver really gives a sense of just how difficult and time consuming the removal of the dead was. There were a few mistakes that we know of now, a few Confederates are buried in the cemetery. Given the amount of bodies, and the condition of them, Weaver and his crew did a very good job.

The cemetery is laid out in lots for each State and a section set aside for the soldiers that belonged to the regular US Army. There is a five foot section between each section and the outer sections is marked A and so on in alphabetical order. Two feet of space is allotted to each soldier and are laid with their head toward the centre of the semicircle. At the head of the graves is a stone wall that runs the whole length of each section that has the Rank, Name, and Company of the deceased. The unknown dead have their own section each with a number marking their grave.

On November 19, 1863, a dedication service was held to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Edward Everett, the celebrated statesman was the keynote speaker and he spoke for two hours. President Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address that took only about five minutes but will forever be in our memories.

Each time I visit Gettysburg, I make sure I visit the cemetery and pay tribute to the brave heroes that rest there. I take along John W. Busey’s book “The Last Full Measure – Burials in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg” and I stand at the grave site and read about the soldier that lays there. I read how they were wounded or killed, where they were first buried and I try to relate to them how I appreciate what they did for me and our country.

Each year during the annual Remembrance Day weekend the Gettysburg Foundation sponsor a luminaria of lights in the cemetery. This is a very moving and beautiful event that is down to honor the soldiers buried there. I am proud to be a part of this event each year and if you ever get a chance to visit Gettysburg, make it during the Remembrance Day weekend.

[1] Lincoln and the Human Interest Stories of The Gettysburg National Cemetery by James M. Cole & Rev Roy E. Frampton

[2] Http//www.gdg.org/cemgbma.html