Civil War Soldier's Bone Surface After Years

WJZ - Baltimore, MD, USA

Alex DeMetrick

SHARPSBURG, Md. (WJZ) ― Sometimes history pops right up out of the ground. It has on the Battlefield of Antietam in western Maryland.

As Alex DeMetrick reports, a soldier missing for 146 years has surfaced. It's a reminder of the bloodiest day on American soil.

Monuments mark the Civil War battle of Antietam, a blood-soaked clash that left 3,700 men dead.

But not all who died that day in 1862 have headstones to mark their remains near the Washington County town of Sharpsburg.

A hiker found one of the missing dead near a rock outcropping. Bones and a button were unearthed by a groundhog.

Archeologists located a union belt buckle and more bone fragments.

"Which leads us to believe this young man, between 18 and 21-years old, was a New York state volunteer who was fighting with the regiment here at Antietam," said John Howard, battlefield superintendent.

Civil War re-enactors try to capture what that battle was like. But there is no way of duplicating the carnage.

When left with complete skulls, forensic pathologists can sometimes help fashion faces out of clay. In the past that has led to a Civil War photo match and a name. But this time there isn't a complete skull, only fragments.

The last time remains were found at Antietam was 1989.

It's believed as many as 200 other soldiers missing in action are still on the battlefield.