What Happened to the Confederate Dead of Gettysburg? | History Traveler Episode 158

[Music] it is fairly well known that after the battle of gettysburg many of the union dead were were reinterred in a newly created national cemetery that's not too far from where i am right now just adjacent to evergreen cemetery but what happened to the confederate dead well many of them were buried in the exact spots where they fell in hastily dug graves in places like this one right here on the abraham brian farm and it wasn't until the early 1870s that an effort was made to come back to gettysburg and to dig up the bodies of these confederate dead and reinter them in different uh cemeteries throughout the south so today uh we're going to be leaving gettysburg we're going down to richmond virginia to see one of the places where many of the confederate dead of the battle of gettysburg ended up [Music] now you might ask yourself how did the confederate dead at gettysburg find their way all the way to richmond here at the hollywood cemetery well in the years after the war the southern economy was completely wrecked so many families couldn't afford to have their loved ones exhumed and reinterred at you know family cemeteries or family plots or things like that so in 1872 there was a local group here around richmond that raised money to fund an effort to go and exhume the bodies from the fields of gettysburg and have them reinterred here at hollywood cemetery so we're going to kind of wander around here a little bit and do some exploring uh and see if we can find some of the dead uh confederate soldiers who served at gettysburg and also maybe some of the the generals that that fought there as well before i move on here's something that i just came across that is really worth mentioning this is a plaque to one dr rufus benjamin weaver now after the war uh his his dad samuel weaver who had been tasked with retrieving the union dead was put to the task of retrieving the confederate dead but before he could get to it he was killed in a railroad accident so the work went to his son rufus weaver he was paid three dollars and 25 cents for each body that was exhumed and shipped south so there was a lot of work done to you know make sure that they were getting a confederate soldier and to identify them and says he exhumed and sent south the remains of 3 320 soldiers 2935 came to richmond and then whenever the bodies were returned uh major general george pickett would meet each shipment and then lead a procession of old veterans dignitaries and richmond citizens following the dead here to hollywood cemetery and they were laid to rest in a place just behind me called gettysburg hill [Music] so here is a marker to the gettysburg dead and uh one of the the first headstones that i happened upon was this one right here to one jefferson b jesse from company e of the 37th virginia infantry and he was the color bearer on culps hill here's another one to an isaac newton carnes uh from company h of the uwari boys i don't know if i'm mispronouncing that correctly or not 38th regiment north carolina troops uh i'll be honest i don't really know what that is and let's see if we can get down there and see huh looks like on july 24th is whenever he died so that could have been wounds sustained in gettysburg and then he just died later here's one for a captain john mccain of company i of the 52nd north carolina who died on the first day of the battle here's another stone marker to the dead here at gettysburg and here's here's another marker that i just came across that i found interesting this one says among the confederate soldiers graves in this area is the probable resting place of brigadier general richard brooke garnett csa who was killed in action july 3rd 1863 as he led his brigade in the charge of pickett's division on the final day of the battle of gettysburg so he was first buried on the battlefield and then um his his remains are likely among the the unknown or misidentified here on gettysburg hill at hollywood cemetery and then here is another marker that uh is all too common here at hollywood cemetery and that is [Music] a marker to the unknown dead um just the the sheer task of having to identify everybody was um well it was impossible a lot of them were just buried in unmarked graves the the lucky ones maybe had a piece of wood or a piece of stone etched and placed over the grave but again because the confederates got out of there so fast there was there was really no time but they they did what they could and then here's a close-up look of what a lot of these confederate markers look like just stones in the ground with a number and csa that's the final resting place of some soldier from gettysburg [Music] well here is the grave of the man whose name will forever be attached to that failed charge on july the 3rd george e pickett major general of the confederate states of america now pickett of course did not die on the fields of battle at gettysburg he died after the war in 1875 and surrounding the memorial that they have over pickett's grave they have you know some different metal plaques that talk about where he served like fredericksburg gaines mill of course gettysburg cold harbor sailors creek and then they also have some other metal plaques talking about the different brigades that served under pickett now pickett had some controversy in his military career uh for one he ended up fleeing to canada after the war because he was afraid that he was going to be brought up on war crimes for executing i forget how many union soldiers who had jumped sides they were confederates and then went to the union and he had him executed and then grant ended up i guess you could say pardoning him and uh really the one who did picket the the biggest favor after his death was his wife she did a lot to kind of paint him as this uh gallant figure and and probably did him a little bit more justice than than what he deserves as a military commander and uh really contributed to what we now refer to as the the lost cause myth but anyway there's the the grave of general george pickett [Music] all right so um got one more general who fought at the battle of gettysburg whose grave i want to show now he didn't die at gettysburg but he did die a year later and his grave is not with the others because he was buried here immediately after his death in 1864. well here is the final resting place of confederate cavalry general james ewell brown stewart who was better known by his nickname jeb stewart uh stewart was known for having a bit of a cavalier image that that he cut for himself and was in a number of engagements he was at manassas he was at fredericksburg chancellorsville brandy station of course it was at gettysburg where he made his famous ride around the union army that left general robert e lee blind and where he met his end was on may 11 of 1864 at the battle of yellow tavern the confederate cavalry under his command were moving to take a hill and push union troops off just north of richmond and as the union troops were retreating past him uh a private by the name of huff who i think was from michigan uh turned and fired his 44 caliber pistol it hit stewart in the left side exited out his back and uh he died the next day and reportedly his last words were i am resigned god's will be done and it was said that lee afterwards couldn't even hear his name without without crying but anyway there's the final resting place of jeb stewart [Music] all right well if you have ever wondered what happened to the confederate dead at gettysburg there you go many of them are right here at hollywood cemetery in richmond virginia and uh i think that is pretty much going to put a wrap on this gettysburg odyssey that i've been on and uh i'll tell you what i'm i'm so glad that that i was able to do it and and to be able to document the places that i've gone and to be able to share it and and learn so much more if you ever get a chance to to travel to the east go to places like like gettysburg and richmond and all of these other battlefields and if you can't well there's plenty of resources on youtube where you can learn more about them and support the organizations that are doing the work of battlefield preservation but uh anyway yeah i don't know really how to wrap it up other than to say it has been uh quite the journey but uh i guess as for now we're gonna be heading off to the next place [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The History Underground

Views: 297,904

Rating: 4.9487572 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, documentary, gettysburg, travel, history traveler, history underground, jd history traveler, battle of gettysburg, confederacy, famous graves, graves, gettysburg ghosts, civil war, civil war documentary

Id: ji4xMA2Pwr8

Length: 13min 41sec (821 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021