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Remains Of Minn. Soldier From Civil War Identified
AP ^ | 18 June 2007 | AP

Posted on 06/19/2007 8:12:22 AM PDT by BGHater

A Civil War enthusiast has identified the remains of three soldiers buried in Raleigh -- including one Yankee resting among Confederates.

Charles Purser spent thousands of hours scrutinizing hospital logs, regimental rosters and cemetery records to put names to the headstones at the Oakwood cemetery.

He recently identified Drury Scruggs, who marched to the Civil War from his home in North Carolina's mountains and later died at Gettysburg. There's also William P. Wallace, a farm boy from Montgomery County.

Both had been resting under anonymous headstones.

Purser also spent time working with New York-based historian Glen Hayes. Comparing notes, the researchers decided that John O. Dobson from North Carolina didn't exist. They agreed that John O. Dolson -- a Yankee from Minnesota -- had been shipped to Raleigh in his place.

Purser, 67, plans to hold a ceremony in September to honor the three soldiers with new headstones.

"It's three American soldiers getting their identity," Purser said. "That's what tickles me."

Purser, an Air Force veteran and retired postal carrier living in Garner, first helped rescue the Confederate cemetery from neglect in the early 1980s. He now has names for all but five of those buried at Oakwood, save 14 unknowns in a mass grave.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: civilwar; minnesota; soldiers
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"It's three American soldiers getting their identity," Purser said. "That's what tickles me."
1 posted on 06/19/2007 8:12:24 AM PDT by BGHater
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To: BGHater

No, it was one American soldier and two traitors.


2 posted on 06/19/2007 8:17:35 AM PDT by MinnesotaLibertarian
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

That’s right keep fighting the Civil War. Hate goes a long way, doesn’t it.

sheeeesh


3 posted on 06/19/2007 8:22:23 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
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To: Turret Gunner A20

All these graves are causing Global Warming.

We must stop this. Someone call the Gorbinator.


4 posted on 06/19/2007 8:24:16 AM PDT by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian
No, it was one American soldier and two traitors.

Lincoln was willing to forgive the south, it is a shame that you can't.

5 posted on 06/19/2007 8:26:00 AM PDT by Michael.SF. ("The military Mission has long since been accomplished" -- Harry Reid, April 23, 2007)
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

< grabbing popcorn... >


6 posted on 06/19/2007 8:26:09 AM PDT by Andonius_99 (There are two sides to every issue. One is right, the other is wrong; but the middle is always evil.)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

I’m not hating anything. I’m just pointing out the fact that they were not American soldiers - at least not the United States of America. They were soldiers for an enemy of the United States of America.


7 posted on 06/19/2007 8:26:40 AM PDT by MinnesotaLibertarian
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To: Turret Gunner A20

I’ve never understood that kind of nonsense.

I think its great all three were identified.


8 posted on 06/19/2007 8:27:31 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: BGHater
A WHITE American soldier who gave HIS LIFE in a war to free the slaves...and now his great-great-grandchilren are oppressed with reverse racism and white guilt...
9 posted on 06/19/2007 8:27:51 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Michael.SF.

‘No, it was one American soldier and two traitors.’

‘Lincoln was willing to forgive the south, it is a shame that you can’t.’

Yep.


10 posted on 06/19/2007 8:28:18 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

‘I’m not hating anything. I’m just pointing out the fact that they were not American soldiers - at least not the United States of America.’

Thats not what you were doing at all.


11 posted on 06/19/2007 8:29:22 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: TheZMan; Texas Mulerider; Oorang; freedomfiter2; SWEETSUNNYSOUTH; BnBlFlag; catfish1957; ...

Live one at #2


12 posted on 06/19/2007 8:30:16 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: BGHater

Wonder if these guys still have descendants around?


13 posted on 06/19/2007 8:31:51 AM PDT by miliantnutcase
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian
No, it was one American soldier and two traitors.


About the same way George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were traitors.

When I was a young man, and still full of public education I would have agreed with you. However, as I near my 60th year, and have had time to read, and began to think for myself, I have to wonder what the founding fathers would have thought about the Civil War.

They laid out a case that the PEOPLE have a right to break away from a form of government that they found oppressive.

We viewed the old Soviet Union as evil because they would incorporate other countries into their union, and once in, you were never to be allowed out. And remember, at the time the "states" entered the union, they were all independently. (Note I am not claiming that 1860 United States was the Soviet Union, only the idea once in, you can never get out seems a little dictatorial.)

So while you are safe in your 2007 world and perhaps have little knowledge of the 1800s, I would suggest at the time, they (those in the south) truly believed they had a right to leave the union, as they were still sovereign nations.

Having said that, I have to lean towards Lincoln and his desire to keep the union intact. The history of the world would be a lot different if the south were allowed to leave. Would the remaining states be powerful enough to push across the great plains, over the Rockies, and capture the west coast. At the time there were several other countries looking at what is now California, Oregon and Washington.

So while I agree that we are better off that the southern states were held in the union, I also concede they had a right to leave, and to fight for those rights.

The men of the south were partiots in the trueset sense of the word.

14 posted on 06/19/2007 8:36:36 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

TITLE 38 > PART II > CHAPTER 15 > SUBCHAPTER I > Sec. 1501. Next
Sec. 1501. - Definitions (3)

The term ''Civil War veteran'' includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term ''active military or naval service'' includes active service in those forces.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/38/1501.html

15 posted on 06/19/2007 8:37:53 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

It’s funny you should say that.

Please, give me the definition of an American who *isn’t* willing to fight and die for his own personal freedom.

The Confederates were such people. More concerned about their own freedom than their political ties or even national identities.

You would do well to remember this idea about the Civil War-

“The South did what they did because it was what they had to do. The North did what they did, because it was, also, what they had to do.”

Freedom before nationalism. Isn’t that right Mr. “Libertarian”?


16 posted on 06/19/2007 8:39:32 AM PDT by MacDorcha (study links agenda-driven morons and junk science...)
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian
They were soldiers for an enemy of the United States of America.

To be consistent then with your logic, the following would be true:

George Washington was a traitor, as he fought against the ruling government of his birth place.

A German citizen of 1942 who fled from the Nazi's, and took up arms in Free France, would be considered, by you, to be a traitor.

The difference between a hero and a traitor, is the perspective from which one views them and on which side wins. For example, I have far more respect for Robert E. Lee in his defeat, with honor, then I do in Sherman's victory in Georgia.

But to you, I would guess Sherman is a hero, and Lee a traitor.

17 posted on 06/19/2007 8:40:04 AM PDT by Michael.SF. ("The military Mission has long since been accomplished" -- Harry Reid, April 23, 2007)
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian

Tell that to the Navy, they named a ship after Robert E. Lee. USS Robert E. Lee SSBN 601

They also named four ships after Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief and British ally in the War of 1812.

Wars end, and even the bitterest of enemies can become friends...


18 posted on 06/19/2007 8:41:41 AM PDT by GreenLanternCorps (Thompson for President: 2008, 2012: Jindal for President 2016, 2020)
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To: MinnesotaLibertarian
No, it was one American soldier and two traitors.

Non-sense, the CSA soldiers owed no allegiance to the US, nor did they receive protection from it. The seceding states simply wanted to be left alone, separate from mindless liberal idiots. What did occur is that Lincoln et al tried to kill all those who had the temerity to recuse themselves from their agreement. I guess it's a yankee thing, kill everybody that has the guts to disassociate themselves from the hyperspiritual, consdescending, elitist snobs.

19 posted on 06/19/2007 8:44:07 AM PDT by 4CJ (Annoy a liberal, honour Christians and our gallant Confederate dead)
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To: stainlessbanner

*poke poke*

He’s been sitting there kinda quiet for a while now...

I don’t think he had on his lead-lined undies. ;)


20 posted on 06/19/2007 8:48:53 AM PDT by MacDorcha (study links agenda-driven morons and junk science...)
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