"Buffalo Soldiers" Reburied at Santa Fe National Cemetery

"Buffalo Soldiers" Reburied at Santa Fe National Cemetery



WASHINGTON (Aug. 18, 2009) - A ceremony memorializing 64 soldiers and
their family members who protected southwestern New Mexico from Apache
attacks in the mid-1800s was held July 28 by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) and the Department of Interior. The remains of the Fort
Craig residents originally buried at the fort's cemetery and disinterred
by the Interior Department in 2007 were recently reburied with full
military honors at VA's Santa Fe National Cemetery.



"This ceremony marks a fitting final resting place for these courageous
people," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. "After
more than 100 years, they are finally recognized with the honors earned
for their honorable service to their country."



The ceremony included a color guard, playing of Taps and a 21-gun salute
by the New Mexico National Guard. Officials of VA and Interior were
principal speakers.



Fort Craig, built in 1854, played a major role in the Civil War and
Indian Wars. Located on the west side of the Rio Grande River,
approximately 40 miles south of Socorro, N.M., it was permanently
abandoned in 1885.



After an investigation by Interior's Bureau of Reclamation revealed
looting of the unmarked graves at Fort Craig's cemetery, the Bureau
worked with VA's National Cemetery Administration to move them to Santa
Fe National Cemetery.



Through analysis and military records, archaeologists identified three
of the soldiers as Private David Ford, Private Levi Morris and Private
Thomas Smith. These men were "Buffalo Soldiers," members of units
established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in
the regular U.S. Army. They were buried in separate graves marked with
individual headstones.



The remains of the 61 unidentifiable people were buried as a group in
Santa Fe National Cemetery in June, and the site was marked with a
historical monument.



Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than
dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be
buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for
all eligible Veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a
national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a
Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.
Families of eligible decedents may also order a memorial headstone or
marker when remains are not available for interment.



In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates
130 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers'
lots and monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including
Veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA's national
cemeteries on nearly 18,000 acres of land.



For information on the Santa Fe National Cemetery, call the cemetery
office at (505) 988-6400.



Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery
offices, from the Internet at www.cem.va.gov
or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at (800) 827-1000.

Fort Craig Ghosts Of Civil War

Civil War remains dug up as looting reported

By Melanie Dabovich - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Apr 9, 2008 11:55:07 EDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped them off about widespread grave-looting.

The exhumations, conducted from August to October, removed 67 skeletons from the parched desert soil around Fort Craig — 39 men, two women and 26 infants and children, according to two federal archaeologists who helped with the dig.

They also found scores of empty graves and determined 20 had been looted.

The government kept its exhumation of the unmarked cemetery near the historic New Mexico fort out of the public’s eye for months to prevent more thefts.

The investigation began with a tip about an amateur historian who had displayed the mummified remains of a black soldier, draped in a Civil War-era uniform, in his house.

Investigators say the historian, Dee Brecheisen, may have been a prolific looter who spotted historical sites from his plane. Brecheisen died in 2004 and although it was not clear whether the looting continued after his death, authorities exhumed the unprotected site to prevent future thefts.

“As an archaeologist, you want to leave a site in place for preservation ... but we couldn’t do that because it could be looted again,” said Jeffery Hanson, of the Bureau of Reclamation.

The remains are being studied by Bureau of Reclamation scientists, who are piecing together information on their identities. They will eventually be reburied at other national cemeteries.

Most of the men are believed to have been soldiers — Fort Craig protected settlers in the West from American Indian raids and played a role in the Civil War. Union troops stationed there fought the Confederacy as it moved into New Mexico from Texas in 1862.

The children buried there may have been local residents treated by doctors at the former frontier outpost, officials said.

Federal officials learned of the looting in November 2004, when Don Alberts, a retired historian for Kirtland Air Force Base, tipped them off about a macabre possession he’d seen at Brecheisen’s home about 30 years earlier.

Alberts described seeing the mummified remains of a black soldier with patches of brown flesh clinging to facial bones and curly hair on top of its skull. Alberts said the body had come from Fort Craig.

“The first thing we did was laughed because who would believe such a story,” Hanson said. “But then we quickly decided we better go down and check it out.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_exhumed_040908/