The Shadow
LYNCHBURG (AP) – Archaeologists are working to find and identify more than four dozen unmarked graves of Confederate soldiers in Lynchburg’s historic Old City Cemetery.
The project, funded with state grants and private donations, is the cemetery’s largest effort to date to find and identify unmarked graves.
Media outlets report that about 50 graves were discovered Friday in the cemetery’s Confederate section. More graves are expected to be found.
Ted Delaney, the cemetery’s archivist and curator, said cemetery officials will try to match the gravesites with paper records that still exist.
“If we can just match those records that were so well kept to what the archaeologists are finding, then we can begin to figure out who is who. That’s the next step,” he said.
Once the graves are identified, Delaney said he hopes to place individual markers on each one.
“Every year, we have descendants visit and ask us where their ancestors are buried,” he said. “For most of them, it’s easy to point out. But for these folks; it can be really disappointing to know you got this far and all you get is this open field.”
“It’s a human instinct we have to make sure you leave something behind that lasts,” he added. “If asked, probably every one of these soldiers, to a person, would have said they wanted a permanent marker.”
A team led by archaeologist Randy Lichtenberger, director of cultural resources for Hurt & Proffitt Inc., will map the graves.
“To be able to move so quickly and expose probably around 50 graves right away, I’m really happy with it,” he said.
“It’s always fun when you can help solve a mystery.”
An inscription on a monument in the Confederate section says the graves are those of Confederate soldiers who died of smallpox.
Delaney said marking each grave could take years but cemetery officials are committed to doing so. The cemetery opened in 1806.
