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SARATOGA SPRINGS — An honor guard leaves today to bring home the remains of a Union Civil War soldier killed 147 years ago at the Battle of Antietam.
The unknown New York soldier’s remains will be brought to Saratoga Springs where his coffin and an historical display will be available for public viewing from 2-8 p.m. Wednesday at the New York State Military Museum on Lake Avenue.
This will be followed by interment with full military honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery at 10 a.m. Thursday. Major Gen. Joseph Taluto, adjutant general of New York National Guard, will be among the officials on hand for burial services.
The soldier’s remains were discovered late last October by a hiker at Antietam National Battlefield, where more than 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded during 12 hours of fighting on Sept. 17, 1862. Thursday’s burial will on the battle’s 147th anniversary.
From Friday to Sunday, Sept. 18-20, a major Civil War encampment featuring camp life, military drill and numerous re-enactors will be held at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. Re-enactors will portray President Lincoln, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, and Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Most soldiers were re-interred at Antietam National Cemetery shortly after the war. Somehow, the unidentified New York soldier’s remains were overlooked. Excelsior-style uniform buttons found with his remains identify him as being from New York.
The original sighting revealed four bones, a jaw fragment containing four teeth and a piece of leather at the mouth of a ground hog burrow.
Shortly after being discovered, National Park Service archeologists conducted excavations at the site, led by Stephen R. Potter, regional archeologist, national capital region. He has prepared a briefing statement about the excavation that provides insightful detail about the soldier, believed to be 17 to 19 years old.
“Open, well-defined suture lines of cranial (or skull) bones, the partial eruption of the third molar (wisdom tooth) and an unfused distal head to the right femur (thigh bone) provide the basis for estimating his age at time of death,” Potter wrote. “He was buried in a very shallow grave, probably no deeper than 16 to 18 inches. Over time, agricultural activity, combined with recent ground hog activity, severely disturbed his gravesite and skeletal remains.”
Archeologists recovered 401 fragments from 24 different bones out of a total of 206 in the adult human skeleton, most from the skull and both legs and feet.
“It is hoped that ongoing forensic research may, yet, provide more details about this young soldier,” Potter wrote.
The soldier died in an area of the battlefield known as Miller’s Cornfield, where fighting was concentrated from 5:45 to 9 a.m.
In addition to the soldier’s human remains, archeologists recovered seven coat buttons (3 New York State Excelsior buttons, 4 U.S. general service buttons) and two New York State cuff buttons from the left sleeve. “The two New York cuff buttons tells us that this was a New York State-issued coat or jacket and not a federal issue,” Potter wrote.
The fact that four New York Excelsior buttons had been replaced by four U.S. general service buttons leads researchers to believe the soldier was part of a veteran regiment that had seen hard campaigning.
Archeologists also found six tin-washed, 4-hole iron trouser buttons – used to attach suspender straps.
“The dark stain of the lower portion of a leather suspender strap and a badly corroded iron suspender adjuster were recorded in the field,” Potter wrote. “A U.S. waist belt plate, with oval studs on the back (the so-called puppy-paw back, an early war issue) was still attached to a portion of the leather belt, which the brass front of the buckle helped to preserve by precipitating cupric salts into the soil surrounding it.”
All artifacts will be buried with the soldier’s remains.
“Those are things he was wearing, they should buried with him,” Antietam Park Superintendent John Howard said.
The unknown New York soldier’s remains will be brought to Saratoga Springs where his coffin and an historical display will be available for public viewing from 2-8 p.m. Wednesday at the New York State Military Museum on Lake Avenue.
This will be followed by interment with full military honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery at 10 a.m. Thursday. Major Gen. Joseph Taluto, adjutant general of New York National Guard, will be among the officials on hand for burial services.
The soldier’s remains were discovered late last October by a hiker at Antietam National Battlefield, where more than 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded during 12 hours of fighting on Sept. 17, 1862. Thursday’s burial will on the battle’s 147th anniversary.
From Friday to Sunday, Sept. 18-20, a major Civil War encampment featuring camp life, military drill and numerous re-enactors will be held at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. Re-enactors will portray President Lincoln, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, and Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Most soldiers were re-interred at Antietam National Cemetery shortly after the war. Somehow, the unidentified New York soldier’s remains were overlooked. Excelsior-style uniform buttons found with his remains identify him as being from New York.
The original sighting revealed four bones, a jaw fragment containing four teeth and a piece of leather at the mouth of a ground hog burrow.
Shortly after being discovered, National Park Service archeologists conducted excavations at the site, led by Stephen R. Potter, regional archeologist, national capital region. He has prepared a briefing statement about the excavation that provides insightful detail about the soldier, believed to be 17 to 19 years old.
“Open, well-defined suture lines of cranial (or skull) bones, the partial eruption of the third molar (wisdom tooth) and an unfused distal head to the right femur (thigh bone) provide the basis for estimating his age at time of death,” Potter wrote. “He was buried in a very shallow grave, probably no deeper than 16 to 18 inches. Over time, agricultural activity, combined with recent ground hog activity, severely disturbed his gravesite and skeletal remains.”
Archeologists recovered 401 fragments from 24 different bones out of a total of 206 in the adult human skeleton, most from the skull and both legs and feet.
“It is hoped that ongoing forensic research may, yet, provide more details about this young soldier,” Potter wrote.
The soldier died in an area of the battlefield known as Miller’s Cornfield, where fighting was concentrated from 5:45 to 9 a.m.
In addition to the soldier’s human remains, archeologists recovered seven coat buttons (3 New York State Excelsior buttons, 4 U.S. general service buttons) and two New York State cuff buttons from the left sleeve. “The two New York cuff buttons tells us that this was a New York State-issued coat or jacket and not a federal issue,” Potter wrote.
The fact that four New York Excelsior buttons had been replaced by four U.S. general service buttons leads researchers to believe the soldier was part of a veteran regiment that had seen hard campaigning.
Archeologists also found six tin-washed, 4-hole iron trouser buttons – used to attach suspender straps.
“The dark stain of the lower portion of a leather suspender strap and a badly corroded iron suspender adjuster were recorded in the field,” Potter wrote. “A U.S. waist belt plate, with oval studs on the back (the so-called puppy-paw back, an early war issue) was still attached to a portion of the leather belt, which the brass front of the buckle helped to preserve by precipitating cupric salts into the soil surrounding it.”
All artifacts will be buried with the soldier’s remains.
“Those are things he was wearing, they should buried with him,” Antietam Park Superintendent John Howard said.
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