More than 160 years after he died on a battlefield near Manassas, Virginia, an unidentified U.S. (Union) soldier received full military funeral honors with escort and a final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on Nov. 4.
The young infantryman was believed to have been between 16 and 19 years old when he was injured during the Second Battle of Manassas, one of the Civil War’s bloodiest campaigns fought Aug. 28-30, 1862. His remains were recovered over a century later at Manassas National Battlefield Park near the site of a known field hospital. It’s possible he died while there or enroute to the hospital.
Approximately 80 attendees, including members of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Army National Military Cemeteries and the Office of Army Cemeteries (OAC) gathered for the funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery on a warm fall day to honor a soldier they never knew, but whose service will never be forgotten.
A horse-drawn caisson led by the U.S. Army’s 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Detachment carried the soldier’s flag-draped casket to the site of the funeral and several attendees solemnly placed their hands over their hearts as the casket was transferred to its final resting place.
Chaplain (Capt.) Phil Morlock presided over the service. He told attendees, “There is something especially sacred in the burial of an unknown soldier, though his name has not been preserved. It cannot diminish his humanity, his service or his sacrifice. A name connects us to life. It gives history a face, a family and a story. But when a name is lost, our duty to remember does not diminish, it deepens.”
The chaplain’s words were followed by a firing party firing three volleys and a bugler sounding Taps. The honor guard folded the flag held tightly over the unknown soldier’s casket.
In the absence of a primary next of kin, Army Arlington Lady Kristine Dunne Maher accepted the folded American flag from Capt. Jacob Chung. The all-volunteer Arlington Ladies guarantee that no service member is buried alone, attending multiple funeral services each weekday for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. On this occasion, Dunne Maher represented the unknown soldier’s family.
“This is meaningful because this young man gave his life for us, but he also gave up his identity. So, we’re his family,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries and the Office of Army Cemeteries. “It doesn’t matter how long it’s been; the Army is going to take care of our soldiers.”
The effort to inter the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery was carried out by the OAC’s Rights of the Fallen program. The program ensures that no matter how many decades have passed, every service member is brought home with military honors, demonstrating that the Army's commitment to its soldiers has no expiration date.
The soldier was buried in Section 81, part of Arlington’s 27-acre Millennium site expansion, which opened in 2018. The expansion site’s first in-ground burials were two Civil War unknown soldiers recovered from Manassas National Battlefield Park and interred during the Millennium site’s dedication ceremony.
With its origin dating back to the Civil War, the cemetery continues to honor service members who fell during that conflict and whose remains were recovered or identified long after it ended. Today, the funeral service marked the culmination of a soldier’s journey that lasted more than a century and a half. His name may be lost to history, but at Arlington, he was not forgotten and was laid to rest among others who gave the ultimate sacrifice to a grateful nation.
