I remember talking about this in high school history class, and being amazed at the honor involved. A Maine family lost their son in the civil war. They had arranged to have his body brought back, and the body in the casket was a strange man, in a Confederate uniform. They still gave him a proper burial. The grave is still there, marked “Stranger” as his name was unknown and is usually decorated with a Confederate flag.
And their son is buried next to Arch Stanton…
Apologies for the dry humor, Memorial Day is important and I honored my Dad on my Facebook page today, but it was just too good to pass on…
Fascinating story, there are any number of ‘unknown’ graves from the Civil War (visit any Cemetery at a National Battlefield site), since many men did not carry ID as a normal thing and artillery and grapeshot can disfigure a body horribly. Still a nice thing that the family did.
Glad you posted it; nice story.
Thanks for sharing this. What an interesting and touching story.