Remains of Civil War Dead Are Reburied

The remains of six Civil War soldiers, unearthed when Hurricane Isabel struck Virginia last year, were reburied Sunday at Yorktown National Cemetery.

The Union soldiers were reinterred during a ceremony that featured Union and Confederate re-enactors, who fired volleys and a bugler played taps. About 300 people attended.

The soldiers were first buried at Yorktown in 1866. They were unidentified, except for Edmund Ackley, 27, who served with the 85th New York Infantry, park ranger Chris Bryce said.

Originally park officials planned to rebury seven soldiers, but the number was reduced by one after authorities determined that “a very small percentage” of one soldier’s remains was disinterred during the storm.

“We determined that most of him had survived the storm intact,” Bryce said, and park employees returned the remains to his grave.

According to the Park Service, Union dead from 50 sites are buried at the cemetery. Only about 750 of the nearly 2,200 soldiers were identified, and only 10 were Confederates.