Posted on 08/26/2016 5:34:11 AM PDT by SJackson
Ironic that a development project that might endanger some “threatened” rat, insect, fish or weed or is deemed to in some bizarre way to hurt the environment would be stopped in its tracks by regulators and environmental groups, yet desecrating the burials of Revolutinary War soldiers no problem.
“Yes, that’s why there were SOME buried there. Now, go ask yourself why three people would be buried in unmarked graves, and whether that was typical of how to treat deceased soldiers.”
We do not know how many are buried there, three is what they have found so far in what certainly is a very limited sampling of the site.
Unmarked graves are totally consistent with soldier burials from the time. Many of these men were likely far away from their units when they died and could have been unknown even to the medical staff treating them. At best they would have received a wooden marker which might last a couple years at the most. It is very rare for an 18th century soldier field burial to have a marker still existent that dates from the period. Those buried in the winter possibly were only interred a foot or two in the ground (so no burial shaft might remain).
The tradition that this area contains a soldier cemetery goes way back into the 19th century. And if I remember correctly it was recorded in histories done in the 1870’s based on information from locals.
Shallow, unmarked graves do not a "cemetary" make.
Now, in some cases, remains were hastily buried near battle sites, that's true. But the reason for the haste was the heat of battle and the moving battle lines. It's also true that sometimes this temporary situation was only made right many, many decades after the war.
HOLD EVERYTHING!
I think I found an explanation for the unusual neglect of this alleged burial ground:
...If places like Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, New Haven, Annapolis, and Charlestown to cite a few, made commendable efforts to assist Continental casualties, there were other areas which refused to cooperate in such matters, or they did so quite reluctantly; and Loyalism seems not to have been the dominant factor. The town fathers of Newark and other Jersey locations inhibited Morgan's efforts to shelter his sick. The owners of a school in Fishkill protested bitterly about the supposed destruction of their classrooms by wounded men... fears of pestilence were major themes in these examples"
Revolutionary Army Hospitals by Richard L. Blanco, Professor of History, SUNY Brockport.
That would account for a hasty burial at a makeshift hospital in an area already embittered by the mere presence of a hospital.
“Actually, no it was not at all normal for a hospital to keep no records of who someone was when they arrived, no matter how far they were from their unit... unless that unit was British. “
I have studied the Continental Army for the past 25 years including in depth research of the Army hospitals at Basking Ridge, Black River, Pluckemin, North Branch and Somerset Court House.
Revolutionary War soldiers names were carried on muster rolls which were maintained at the unit level. A hospital never created a muster roll. It might submit a “return” with the total number of patients but these don’t seem to ever have patient names on them (they were submitted to draw rations etc, so the important information was the number of men, not who they were).
A soldier might be listed on his unit rolls as “sick at Fishkill” but that usually is the only record kept for him. The person recording that info on the muster roll was an adjutant with the unit and could be 100 miles away.
Perhaps a doctor (unlikely) or an orderly might have a list of patients names but I have never seen one for any of the hospital I have researched. Nor have I ever seen a list of the dead or information as to where and how they were buried.
From my experience I would have to say that your statement “Actually, no it was not at all normal for a hospital to keep no records of who someone was when they arrived, no matter how far they were from their unit...” is very inaccurate.
If you are aware of source material backing up your claim, I would love to know about it since I am currently researching hospital activities associated with the 1778-79 encampment of the Contintnal Army at Middlebrook NJ.
IHOP trying to midigate the bad decision to build on top of a grave site: Would you want some Revolutionary pancakes?
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