SARATOGA SPRINGS - The remains of an unknown Civil War soldier from New York arrived at the state Military Museum Wednesday, nearly 147 years to the day he's believed to have died on the Maryland farmland where the conflict's bloodiest day played out.
The Associated Press
An honor guard carries the casket of an unknown soldier from New York who died in the Civil War, into the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, on Wednesday.
An honor guard carries the casket of an unknown soldier from New York who died in the Civil War, into the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, on Wednesday.
A New York Army National Guard honor guard followed by Civil War re-enactors carried a flag-draped replica pine coffin into the armory-turned-museum, where the soldier will lie in repose before Thursday's burial at Gerald B. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery.
A lone bag-piper played as a small crowd of veterans and history buffs looked on.
“It's something that needed to be done,” said Ron Orts, a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran from Highland. “He's still an American soldier who needs to be taken care of properly, and this is the way to do it.”
Orts headed a group of more than 70 Patriot Guard Riders, members of a nationwide motorcycle group who escorted the remains north from Westchester County, where they were kept Tuesday night in a military chapel.
About 400 bone fragments, 13 uniform buttons and a belt buckle were turned over to a detail from the National Guard's Military Forces Honor Guard on Tuesday at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg in western Maryland. The procession resumed its journey Wednesday morning, staying on a local road - Route 9 - rather than Interstate 87 for safety reasons, and to give people along the way a chance to salute a fallen New Yorker.
Although it's not known what city, town or village the soldier was from, every New York county the procession traveled through en route to Saratoga had units that fought at Antietam, according to Michael Aikey, director of the Military Museum.
It's fitting for the soldier's remains to make a stopover at the museum, he added, since the state counts more than 850 Civil War flags among its battle flag collection, the largest in the nation.
“Whatever unit this fellow came from, we probably have the original flag of the unit he served under,” Aikey said.
A hiker found the remains last October near a rock outcropping in a section of the battlefield known as the Cornfield, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Insignia on uniform buttons indicated the unidentified soldier was from New York. A National Park Service archaeologist who examined the bones determined he was between 17 and 19 when he died.
The soldier was among 23,000 killed, wounded or declared missing at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862.
New York had more soldiers serve during the Civil War than any other state, and more than 60 units from the Empire State fought at Antietam, Aikey said. New Yorkers accounted for more than 3,700 of the battle's total casualties. Of the Union's 746 missing, 277 were New Yorkers.
Burial with full military honors will be held at the nearby national cemetery Thursday morning, the 147th anniversary of the battle. The ceremony will include a 21-gun salute, seven each from the National Guard contingent, the cemetery's own honor guard and the re-enactors, who will fire their muskets.
A lone bag-piper played as a small crowd of veterans and history buffs looked on.
“It's something that needed to be done,” said Ron Orts, a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran from Highland. “He's still an American soldier who needs to be taken care of properly, and this is the way to do it.”
Orts headed a group of more than 70 Patriot Guard Riders, members of a nationwide motorcycle group who escorted the remains north from Westchester County, where they were kept Tuesday night in a military chapel.
About 400 bone fragments, 13 uniform buttons and a belt buckle were turned over to a detail from the National Guard's Military Forces Honor Guard on Tuesday at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg in western Maryland. The procession resumed its journey Wednesday morning, staying on a local road - Route 9 - rather than Interstate 87 for safety reasons, and to give people along the way a chance to salute a fallen New Yorker.
Although it's not known what city, town or village the soldier was from, every New York county the procession traveled through en route to Saratoga had units that fought at Antietam, according to Michael Aikey, director of the Military Museum.
It's fitting for the soldier's remains to make a stopover at the museum, he added, since the state counts more than 850 Civil War flags among its battle flag collection, the largest in the nation.
“Whatever unit this fellow came from, we probably have the original flag of the unit he served under,” Aikey said.
A hiker found the remains last October near a rock outcropping in a section of the battlefield known as the Cornfield, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Insignia on uniform buttons indicated the unidentified soldier was from New York. A National Park Service archaeologist who examined the bones determined he was between 17 and 19 when he died.
The soldier was among 23,000 killed, wounded or declared missing at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862.
New York had more soldiers serve during the Civil War than any other state, and more than 60 units from the Empire State fought at Antietam, Aikey said. New Yorkers accounted for more than 3,700 of the battle's total casualties. Of the Union's 746 missing, 277 were New Yorkers.
Burial with full military honors will be held at the nearby national cemetery Thursday morning, the 147th anniversary of the battle. The ceremony will include a 21-gun salute, seven each from the National Guard contingent, the cemetery's own honor guard and the re-enactors, who will fire their muskets.
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