Historical Analysis of Civil War Burials - Fairfax County, Virginia

Background

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The observations listed here are based on first hand accounts that describe the plight of the dead and wounded following the battles of Second Manassas and Ox Hill (Chantilly). This is also the first time that the tragedy of 1500 wounded U.S. soldiers who were abandoned on both battlefields has ever been documented. It is readily apparent that these wounded soldiers suffered 1 horribly and quite a few were destitute with no food, water, or medical care. Some of these poor souls may have even starved to death...

During the battles of Second Manassas and Ox Hill the old Confederate fortifications surrounding Centreville Va. served as headquarters 2 for the Union Army. The town of Centreville was aptly named since it was also centrally located to both battlefields and Fairfax Station (where the Union wounded were evacuated by train to Washington D.C.). When the Confederate Army arrived in Centreville on September 2nd, they found that only a Medical Inspector and his small staff had remained to care for the Union wounded. Most of the ambulance drivers had "stampeded" leaving no means to evacuate the remaining wounded from Centreville or the surrounding battlefields.

Even though the Confederate Army didn't have enough supplies to take care of it's own wounded, it did allow the Medical Inspector to keep a good portion of the supplies the Union Army had left behind. As word spread about the plight of the wounded, the public was outraged and a rescue effort was soon under way.

Under a flag of truce, a group of military and civilian volunteers from Washington D.C. accompanied 150 ambulances loaded with medical supplies that arrived at the Centreville fortifications on September 4th. The Medical Inspector 3 immediately sent the volunteers to the outlying battlefields to care for the wounded and arrange for their evacuation. As the wounded soldiers began to arrive in Centreville, the volunteers tended to their wounds and made them as comfortable as possible until they were evacuated to Washington on September 9th.

The Gravesites

The six Unknown Soldiers were found buried next to the main fort in Centreville where many of the wounded from the battles of Second Manassas and Ox Hill had been cared for. The record also shows that this was the only time during the war when a large number of wounded were in that area for an extended period.

Although the six soldiers were buried in coffins, most military burials 4 for the rank and file did not have that luxury. They were often buried in shallow graves not far from where they died 5, especially after a battle where thousands had been killed. As for the the officers who were killed in battle, according to the military custom of the period, they would have normally been recovered 6 and transported back to their families.

In trying to determine why these six young soldiers were buried in coffins, it stands to reason that the patriotic civilians who were part of the rescue effort would have taken the time to make coffins for the rank and file who had died while under their care. They certainly had the time, means and motivation to give the soldiers a "proper" Christian burial.

From the record of artifacts found in each grave it appears that the soldiers were in various states of undress which would have been expected if they had died while being treated in a hospital setting. The orientation and manner that the graves were dug also seems to indicate that they were interred during the same period but perhaps at different times.

Civilian burials are traditionally oriented from east to west, however a common custom among military burials of the period, was that Southern soldiers were buried "heads to the south" and Northern soldiers, "heads to the north". Although none of the burials were strictly aligned to a north-south bearing, five of the burials did appear to be generally "heads to the north". Burial #4 was exactly opposite of the other five and could have been a wounded Southern soldier who was treated after the field hospital fell under Confederate control. However, because of the sparse record of artifacts and absence of identifying uniform buttons, there is no way to conclusively establish whether this particular burial was a Confederate or Union soldier.

Of the six soldiers, only Burial #3 could be determined as having died from a gunshot wound. This is especially significant since the Battle of Ox Hill was fought during a violent storm that had rendered most of the black powder muskets inoperable. Normally, Civil War soldiers wouldn't fight in the rain, but the stakes were high with Stonewall Jackson threatening the Union supply line and escape route. With few weapons able to fire, the bayonet and clubbed musket were liberally employed 7 throughout this desperate battle.

As a result of these unusual circumstances there were obviously a significant number of casualties from bayonet wounds during the Battle of Ox Hill. The forensic examination of the six casualties would not have been able to detect the soft tissue wounds caused by a bayonet since most of the skeletons were fragmentary and only burials 3, 4, and 6 were more than 50 % complete.

The absence of fired bullets among the remains of the other five soldiers could mean that some were bayoneted during the hand to hand fighting at Ox Hill. Conversely, it's also possible that some of the casualties were shot and may have died after the bullet was removed. Since most of the skeletons were eroded and incomplete, the only way to determine if they were indeed shot, was if the bullet hadn't been removed before they died.

It should also be noted that some of the wounded had gone without medical care for as long as ten days, and according to the Surgeon General 8, a few had even starved to death. Many of their wounds had become so badly infected 9 that limbs had to be amputated 10 which probably would have been avoided had they received prompt medical attention. It also stands to reason that a flesh wound which would have normally been survivable, under these conditions, could have easily been fatal.

In Burial #6 an unfired musket ball and smaller buckshot, consistent with a "buck 'n ball" load for .69 caliber muskets, was found in the proximity of the thigh. Before a major engagement, soldiers were typically issued extra ammunition in excess of what their cartridge box could hold and would stuff the extra cartridges in their pockets. Since each round weighed over an ounce, and the paper cartridges would eventually tear and spill gunpowder into the soldiers pocket, the soldier would either replenish his cartridge box or discard the extra ammunition as soon as the battle was over. Given that the cartridge was located where the pant's pockets would have been, it's quite possible that this particular soldier had been actively fighting in a battle.

Although the artifact record recovered from the graves is sparse, it appears consistent with the six soldiers being treated in a hospital setting. Given the generally hot weather and having to change bandages, most of the soldiers would have removed their shell jackets and other constricting items. Luckily, in Burials 1, 3, and 6, U.S. Army issue (1851) brass Eagle "I" uniform buttons were recovered that positively identified these casualties as Civil War soldiers. Although the casualties were probably Union soldiers, the possibility still exists that at least one could have been Confederate.

Throughout the Civil War, volunteer citizen soldiers on both sides wore all manner of uniforms including earlier U.S. regulation, state militia (with the state seal on the buttons), military schools (i.e. V.M.I.), privately commissioned (i.e. Zouaves), and homespun uniforms (with plain gilded flat buttons). It was not uncommon during the early years of the war (through 1862) for Union militias, and to a lesser degree Confederate militias, to be outfitted with the 1851 U.S. Eagle "I" buttons on their uniforms.

As the war progressed, and manufacturing capabilities increased, newer Union uniforms were more readily available with the same style of buttons, except that the letter identifying the branch of service had been omitted. Although the General Order for the change in style was issued in 1854, it wasn't until the end of 1862 that they started showing up in camps and on the battlefields in large quantities. At this stage of the war, the rate of attrition had gotten to a point where most of soldiers were replacements who were outfitted with the newer style uniforms. The 21st Massachusetts, who had sustained the highest loss of life during the battle of Ox Hill, only had 82 veterans out of the original 800 by the end of 1862.

Their Confederate counterparts lacked the same manufacturing capabilities and were unable to outfit their soldiers in a similar fashion. Most of the Confederate uniform components were imported or manufactured through local cottage industries. Ultimately it was the individual Confederate soldier who would often have to put together a homespun outfit that passed as a uniform.

During the archeological salvage survey of the nearby Ox Hill battlefield, a number of Eagle "I" buttons were recovered from the Union held area of the battlefield. The archeological evidence from the very battlefield where some of these soldiers may have been wounded, corresponds with the exact same style of uniform button recovered from the gravesites.

In considering the nature and circumstance of the wounded who were abandoned... the rescue effort... the location of the burials... and the uniform buttons, it would appear that these unusual circumstances fit the unusual characteristics of the six burials. The "best guess" about the origin of these burials is that they were wounded U.S. soldiers from the battlefields of Second Manassas and/or Ox Hill who had died while waiting 11 to be evacuated from Centreville. As each soldier died, the civilian volunteers would build a coffin and bury him in a makeshift hospital graveyard as opposed to an open field burial that was the military custom at the time.

Just as the civilian volunteers had honored the sacrifice of those six soldiers 134 years ago... we once again mourn their loss and honor their sacrifice, with this "Last Salute"...

Footnotes

1 On September 3rd, General Reno describes how 250 of his wounded have been laying on the Ox Hill battlefield for two days and nights, without any medical care whatsoever.

HDQRS. FIRST AND SECOND DIVS., NINTH ARMY CORPS,
Near Alexandria, September 3, 1862.
COMMANDING OFFICER OF CONFEDERATE TROOPS AT OR NEAR CHANTILLY:

SIR: I have just received information through Chaplain Ball, of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Volunteers, that about 250 of our wounded are now lying upon the battle-field of 1st instant entirely destitute of medical attendance and provisions. I therefore respectfully request your permission to send forward, under flag of truce, Chaplain Ball and the medical director of this command, with the necessary medical stores and provisions for the comfort of these wounded, and to bring away such of them as are able to be removed.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. L. RENO,

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2 The day before the Battle of Ox Hill, while Pope's Army was still camped at Centreville, Dr. Thomas received permission from the Confederates to care for the Union wounded. A large number of these poor souls had been laying on the battlefields from Bristoe Station to Second Manassas for several days now. This evacuation effort was quickly cut short by the Battle of Ox Hill and General Pope's subsequent retreat to Washington.

"I went to General Pope�s headquarters, where leading generals were assembling. I looked through the open window, and I shall never for�get the striking appearance of the commander in chief. He sat with his chair tipped back against the wall, his hands clasped behind his head which bent forward his chin touching his breast�seeming to pay no attention to the generals as they arrived but to be wholly wrapped in his own gloomy reflections. I pitied him then. I pity him now.

The next morning September 1, we set out, with a flag of truce. The medical director divided us civilians into squads of eight, with two stretchers to each ambulance and we entered upon the mournful task of gathering up our poor wounded fellows from the wide battlefield. The dead were unburied and presented a study of ghastly interest. I saw hardly a decent pair of pantaloons, a blouse, or a pair of shoes on a dead man. If any of these articles of clothing were too shabby to be stealing and were left on the body, the pockets were invariably turned inside out. Indeed, I saw in remote parts of the field, screened from general observation, thugs rifling the pockets of some poor fellow had crawled into an obscure thicket to die. Everywhere these stragglers thronged, most of them boyish-appearing fellows, apparently not more than eighteen or twenty years old."

Dr. Horace H. Thomas

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3 The following is an excerpt from the Medical Inspector's report to the Surgeon General. Inspector Coolidge had remained behind after Pope's retreat to care for the wounded from the battles of Second Manassas and Ox Hill.

WASHINGTON, D. C., September 10, 1862:
Brig. Gen. WILLIAM A. HAMMOND,
Surgeon-General, U. S. Army:

"On Tuesday morning, after the occupation of Centreville by the rebel troops, I received from Medical Director McParlin a requisition for subsistence for 1,500 men, and a note describing the destitute condition of our wounded on the field. This was the first information I had received concerning the situation of our wounded beyond Centreville. Their number was much greater than I had been led to believe, and the situation far more critical. The hospital stores at Centreville were not more than enough for the wounded there, and I had no means of sending anything to the battle-field. I stated the emergency to Major Talcott and Captain Johnston, officers of the engineer corps of the Confederate Army, who had arrived in Centreville, and suggested, if not improper, that I might accompany them to General Lee's headquarters, in the hope of obtaining permission to pass through his lines to our own and return with ambulances and provisions. Those officers assented readily to my proposition, and I accompanied them to the headquarters of their army. I did not speak with General Lee, nor do I know in what words Major Talcott communicated to him the object of my visit. The reply brought to me was that General Lee had communicated with Major-General Pope, and that our ambulances would be allowed to pass. I was also informed that 150 ambulances had passed through their lines that day. With this information, I returned to Centreville, expecting to find ambulances, but found only one, the driver of which said he had started with a large train, but did not know where the rest had gone."

"On Thursday morning the first train of ambulances from this city [Washington D.C.] arrived on the field, with fresh bread and an abundant and varied supply of food and hospital stores. I instantly dispatched the ambulances, with provisions, in every direction over the field, to bring to the central station all who were without some shelter. A few ambulances were employed in conveying stores and food to the several field depots, and fresh beef was sent to Centreville. From that moment trains of ambulances, each with food and stores, arrived in rapid succession. The supply was superabundant. The bread, which otherwise would have spoiled, and one of the beeves, which I did not need, and which I could not feed, were given to the One hundred and thirty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, which had come to bury our dead, and had failed to bring rations. My great difficulty now was to feed the wounded, with the abundant stores at my command. All my nurses and attendants were exhausted by their labors. They could hardly be urged to the necessary effort. Nevertheless, with the aid of some self-denying and noble-hearted citizens, volunteer nurses, who remained to the last, and by the indefatigable industry and attention of the medical staff, I believe no one suffered for water, for food, or for medical attendance. Each train of ambulances was supplied with an abundance of mutton-broth, extracts of beef and of coffee, canned milk, bread, and water for the journey. All the wounded were fed just before starting, and directions given to feed them on the road, the train to be halted, so that water could be boiled, wherewith to make soup and coffee from the prepared essences and extracts. The removal of our wounded from the battle-field was completed Tuesday afternoon, the 9th instant, and the last trains of ambulances arrived at Fairfax Seminary Hospital early Wednesday morning."

RICHARD H. COOLIDGE,
Medical Inspector, U. S. Army.
The SURGEON-GENERAL OF THE ARMY.
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4 Some excerpts from the Official U.S. Army records that discuss the disposition of the dead following Second Manassas.

OFFICIAL RECORDS -- SERIES I--VOLUME XIX/1 [S# 27]
SEPTEMBER 16, 1862.--Reconnaissance toward Thoroughfare Gap and Aldie, Va. Report of Brig. Gen. David B. Birney, U.S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION
Seminary, Va., September 19, 1862.

"I sent two officers and 50 men, with a wagon, loaded with shovels and picks, to the Bull Run battle-field [Second Manassas], to bury the dead. It seems that the One hundred and thirty-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, detailed for that duty, contented themselves with throwing a few clods of dirt over the dead, leaving uncovered hands and feet. The slight rains since have uncovered them.
The detail sent with flag of truce was unarmed."
Yours, respectfully,
D. B. BIRNEY,
Brigadier-General, Commanding

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5 The Vermont soldier who wrote this entry into his diary, was camped a couple of miles east of where the Centreville graves were located. He describes the grim landscape of the Ox Hill (Chantilly) battlefield where four months earlier, there had been viscous hand to hand fighting. This eyewitness account also underscores why the battlefields here in our "Nation's backyard" should not have been developed. With the bones scattered by animals, the entire battlefield was one continuous grave that had in every sense become "hallowed ground".

J. C. WILLIAMS
Corp. Co. B, 14h Vt. Reg't.
Fairfax Courthouse

December 27 [1862]. The Corps commanded by Gen. Slocum is encamped at present at Fairfax Station, three miles from here, and forms a reserve for Burnside. Firing is heard to-day, in the direction of Union Mills, supposed to be an engagement with the enemy. There is a rumor that the rebel Gen. Stuart is in this vicinity, and intends a raid here. The weather is quite comfortable. I have paid a visit to the old Chantilly battle field, two miles from here, and in which engagement the noble Kearney and the gallant Stevens fell. In passing over the field, what horrible scenes were presented to my view; I pray to God that I may never witness the like again. Human bones lay in every direction, half covered bodies met my gaze, showing that no pains had been taken in their burial, and revealing the horrors of a battle field, stamping indelibly upon my mind impressions that time can never eradicate. Since noting this, I learn a squad of men have been detailed from the 12th, to cover up the remains of those brave men whose bones were left to bleach on the ground.

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6 Some excerpts from the Official U.S. Army records that discuss the disposition of the dead officers following Second Manassas.

OFFICIAL RECORDS
HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, THIRD CORPS,
Seminary, September 17, 1862.
Lieutenant-Colonel McKEEVER,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Headquarters Defenses, &c.:

"SIR: I have the honor to report the return of the party sent with flag of truce to recover the bodies of officers killed at Bristoe Station and Bull Run [Second Manassas]. The last party proceeded, without molestation or meeting with any of the Confederate forces, to the Bull Run battle-field, and succeeded in obtaining the bodies, or most of them. As they were about to return, a company of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry came to them, and, without interrupting them, spoke of the impropriety of an armed force escorting the flag, and that they would not have permitted it. The company was permitted to return.
The battle-field and vicinity had many stragglers upon it, and the dead of both sides were not buried."

I am, sir, your obedient servant,
D. B. BIRNEY,
Brigadier-General.

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8 This report was to the Secretary of War from the Surgeon General of the United States. On September 7th he describes how 6oo badly wounded U.S. Soldiers still lay on the battlefield.

SURGEON-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
September 7, 1862.
Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to ask your attention to the frightful state of disorder existing in the arrangement for removing the wounded from the field of battle. The scarcity of ambulances, the want of organization, the drunkenness and incompetency of the drivers, the total absence of ambulance attendants are now working their legitimate results--results which I feel I have no right to keep from the knowledge of the Department. The whole system should be under the charge of the Medical Department. An ambulance corps should be organized and set in instant operation. I have already laid before you a plan for such an organization, which I think covers the whole ground, but which I am sorry to find does not meet with the approval of the General-in-Chief. I am not wedded to it. I only ask that some system may be adopted by which the removal of the sick from the field of battle may be speedily accomplished, and the suffering to which they are now subjected be in the future as far as possible avoided. Up to this date 600 wounded still remain on the battle-field in consequence of an insufficiency of ambulances and the want of a proper system for regulating their removal in the Army of Virginia. Many have died of starvation; many more will die in consequence of exhaustion, and all have endured torments which might have been avoided. I ask, sir, that you will give me your aid in this matter; that you will interpose to prevent a recurrence of such consequences as have followed the recent battle--consequences which will inevitably ensue on the next important engagement if nothing is done to obviate them.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM A. HAMMOND,
Surgeon-General.

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9 Pvt. Elijah Brown of Woodbury, VT, was mustered into Co. F of the 2nd Vermont Regiment on June 20, 1861. He died on February 4, 1863, four months after writing this letter.

Pvt. Elijah Brown
Co. F, 2nd Vermont Regiment
Fairfax Seminary Hospital VA
Sept 22nd 1862
Kind Sister Frankey

It has been a long time since I have herd from you or written even to any of my friends but to day I feel some better & will try to write to you --- I am sick in Pen Hospital & have been for some time & Steve Jenkins is here with me he is prety sick as well as myself I dont know where the Regt is & I dont care yet A while for it will be one & perhps two months before I shall get out of here & purhaps not then but I hope to in that time the 9th of this month there was 500 men brought here from Bull Run wounded had lain there 10 days without any care whatsoever their wounds were Rotten it was an awful sight to witness they are in same Hospital with me 69 in the same room I dont think of any more to say this time so good bye Sis from your Brother E.S. Brown Direct to Fairfax Seminary Hospital.. V.A. you must not put the Regt nor Co on

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10 Julia Susan Wheelock, who later became known as "The Florence Nightingale of Michigan", was a teacher preparing for a new school year when a messenger delivered word of her brother being wounded. She started her diary that day (September 10, 1862) with this entry:

"At 1/2 past 8 o'clock Tinie Stone called and wished to see me: I went to the door, when she informed me, that brother Orville was seriously wounded the first day of Sept. in the battle near Centerville [Chantilly], that he lay several days on the field, had his left limb amputated -- but was finally taken to a hospital in Alexandria, Va."

The next day Julia set out for Washington, DC to the aid of her brother but when she arrived on September 14th, found that her brother had died when he arrived at the hospital on September 9th. As a result of Orville's death, Julia began her work with the Michigan Relief Association, taking care of the sick, wounded, and dying soldiers for the duration of the war.

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7 The Battle of Ox Hill was fought during a Class 6 storm which was considered to be the most severe category (using the rating system of that time period) . The storm was so severe, that some soldiers were more afraid of Nature's fury than the man-made version raging around them. From a historical viewpoint, it was one of the rare times that black powder weapons were rendered unserviceable during a major battle because of a sudden change in weather...

"As the rebels charged our line in overpowering mass, men snatched the guns from each other's hands, and for the first, and so far as I know the last, time in our experience wounds in fight were given with the bayonet,"
Captain Walcott, 21st Massachusetts

"When we got into the woods, we ran through what we did not shoot. We bayonetted them. One man begged and got no mercy, a yankee ran him through. Thank God it was not an Irishman did it."
Dennis Ford, Company H 28th Massachusetts

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11 A portion of a letter written by Chaplin R. A. Browne of the 100th Pennsylvania Regiment discussing the plight of the wounded from his regiment following the Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly). It should be noted that 38 died while waiting to be evacuated.

"Finding near morning that the army were evacuating the battle field, and falling back with our whole force towards Washington; also that our wounded must be left behind at this point with such force of surgeons and assistants as were willing to fall into the hands of the enemy. I remained, with four surgeons and a score of nurses. We obtained permission on Wednesday to withdraw, (our wounded and nurses being paroled,) and about 75 of us left on Thursday evening, on the arrival of our ambulances with a flag of truce, reaching Alexandria yesterday before day. Our whole number of wounded at that point was about 150 or 160 - 38 of whom had died.
We were permitted to visit the battle field on Wednesday, and counted 56 of our dead on the hard, beaten ground where they fought and fell. The party with the flag of truce, accompanying the ambulances, would bury them. Our hospital force was not sufficient to do so. - Never have I had such painful experiences as those connected with our ministrations among those wounded and dying men. Our hospital stores and even our supply of food was not sufficient, and the number of our over worked surgeons and attendants too small, those suffering men following our movements with earnest eyes, or the cry - "Doctor, doctor, doctor," or "chaplain," or even "water, water, water," filling our ears. Nor did I ever so fully feel before how welcome was the grave, where "the weary are at rest."
The day after the battle, about noon, the First Virginia cavalry, Col. Tiernan Brian, and the Fifteenth Georgia established their quarters at the hospital. We were soon engaged in kindly and courteous intercourse with yesterday's foe, except when politics were thrust in. They had no provisions, and we, therefore, received none from them, but were in every other way possible, treated with courtesy. Our Post Office as usual in Washington, D. C. I send you a list of the killed and wounded in the 100th in the action at Ox Hill. I presume you have received lists of the action of the 29th through other channels."
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