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From the folks at CNN and the Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (AP) -- The remains of a group of Civil War soldiers have been interred with military ceremony, nearly 150 years after the battle that claimed their lives.
Drums beat and uniformed Civil War re-enactors fired muskets during Saturday's ceremonial burial at Springfield National Cemetery.
Archaeologists discovered the fragmented bones, believed to be from seven individuals, in the mid-1960s in a sinkhole at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, said Jeff Patrick, librarian at the historic site.
The bones were kept in Columbia, then were sent to an anthropologist in California for analysis a couple years ago. The anthropologist identified them as Union soldiers.
Patrick said park officials got the bones back about a year ago and arranged a burial ceremony for Saturday's dedication of a monument to Union soldiers.
The soldiers, whose names are unknown, died in the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Republic on August 10, 1861. The Confederacy lost 277 soldiers and the Union lost 285, said William Piston, a history professor at Southwest Missouri State University.
"Wilson's Creek does not loom as large in our collective history as Gettysburg or Vicksburg or some of the larger battles, but for those who fought here, they had every reason to believe they were participating in something on an unprecedented scale," Piston said.
SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (AP) -- The remains of a group of Civil War soldiers have been interred with military ceremony, nearly 150 years after the battle that claimed their lives.
Drums beat and uniformed Civil War re-enactors fired muskets during Saturday's ceremonial burial at Springfield National Cemetery.
Archaeologists discovered the fragmented bones, believed to be from seven individuals, in the mid-1960s in a sinkhole at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, said Jeff Patrick, librarian at the historic site.
The bones were kept in Columbia, then were sent to an anthropologist in California for analysis a couple years ago. The anthropologist identified them as Union soldiers.
Patrick said park officials got the bones back about a year ago and arranged a burial ceremony for Saturday's dedication of a monument to Union soldiers.
The soldiers, whose names are unknown, died in the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Republic on August 10, 1861. The Confederacy lost 277 soldiers and the Union lost 285, said William Piston, a history professor at Southwest Missouri State University.
"Wilson's Creek does not loom as large in our collective history as Gettysburg or Vicksburg or some of the larger battles, but for those who fought here, they had every reason to believe they were participating in something on an unprecedented scale," Piston said.