Another American soldier was laid to rest, after 147 years.

Antietam National Battlefield National Park Service rangers carry a coffin containing the remains of an unknown Civil War soldier found on the Antietam National Battlefield during a ceremony Sept. 15, 2009.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jameel S. Moses

I hate it when I miss bringing you a good story in a timely manner. This story slipped right past me, and I just happened along it while skimming the stuff at the Department of Defense’s website, and an article by Air Force Senior Airman Jameel S. Moses.

After 147 years, another fallen American soldier finally gets his proper burial and honors. Rest in peace, my unknown brother.


SHARPSBURG, Md. (Sept. 17, 2009) -- The remains of a Union Civil War Soldier found at the Antietam National Battlefield here will be buried today in his home state of New York on the 147th anniversary of the battle, the Civil War's bloodiest day.

The remains of the Soldier, believed to be between 17 and 19 years old when he was killed, were transferred Sept. 15 from the Antietam National Cemetery Lodge to the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, N.Y. He will be buried with full military honors.

"It is right and fitting that today's citizen-Soldiers from New York state bring home this unknown New York volunteer of the Civil War," Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto, the New York adjutant general, said. "The Soldier's Creed reminds all American Soldiers that we never leave a fallen comrade behind. This is a way for Soldiers of today to care for a fallen comrade from our past."

The New York National Guard accepted the transfer of the Soldier's remains from the Maryland National Guard, which also conducted the honors ceremony at Antietam.

The remains were escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders Association for the 330-mile trip to the New York State Military Museum, where they lie in repose today with a military honor guard.

"The majority of the men who came here and were killed, did not have the opportunity to go back home," said J.W. Howard, superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield and Antietam National Cemetery. "In our national cemetery, there are over 1,500 unknown graves and you do not know who these young men were, and yet you knew they came here and made this sacrifice. The idea of being able to send him home was something the entire staff stood behind. It was the right thing to do."

The Soldier's remains were discovered by a hiker from Oklahoma who was walking along the battlefield last October.

The hiker was walking on a trail running through the Miller cornfield, where the bloodiest fighting of the 12-hour battle occurred, Howard said. A pile of dirt that a groundhog had dug caught his eye. After a closer look, the hiker realized what he had stumbled upon.

The remains included more than 400 bone fragments from 24 different bones, seven coat buttons, two New York state cuff buttons from the left sleeve, six trouser buttons, a leather strap and a belt buckle. They were placed into a box made by a carpenter at Antietam from a walnut tree cut down on the battlefield.

The uniform items will be buried along with the Soldier.

"We consider this to be a part of his uniform he was wearing when he died," Howard said. "They should be buried with him."

Bagpipers escorted and piped in the casket to the somber tune, “Going Home”. It was fitting, since one of the regiments present at the Battle of Antietam was the 79th New York, famous for being the only American unit to ever wear Scottish kilts as their standard uniform. While the soldier’s true unit will likely never be known, it’s safe to say that he wasn’t from the 79th, as they fought closer to the town of Sharpsburg and this soldier’s remains were found in an area of the battlefield known as Miller's Cornfield, where the heaviest of the fighting occurred. There were sixteen different New York regiments at Antietam.

Nearly 23,000 casualties were suffered in a single day at Antietam, Union and Confederate both, Americans all. The Union suffered approximately 2.100 killed and 9,550 wounded, and the Confederates had 1,550 killed and 7,750 wounded. Another 1,770 from both sides were either captured or listed as missing. In general terms, casualties of Civil War battles included 20% dead and 80% wounded. Of the soldiers who were wounded, about one out of seven died from his wounds. Over 2/3 of the 622,000 men who gave their lives in the Civil War died from disease, not from battle.

The soldier was buried in a traditional 1860s pine casket, replete with U.S. Colors representing the 34 stars of the flag as a Union Soldier would have received in 1862. Now, for all time, he will rest at Section 7, Site 124 of the cemetery, given a special place of honor separate from the long rows of granite headstones marking more than 8,000 other graves at the Saratoga National Cemetery. "The majority of the men who came here and were killed did not have the opportunity to go back home," said John Howard, Superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield and Antietam National Cemetery. "In our National Cemetery there are over 1,500 unknown graves and you do not know who these young men were, and yet you knew they came here and made this sacrifice. The idea of being able to send him home was something the entire staff stood behind. It was the right thing to do."

X Marks The Scot

Not often, but occasionally, I get someone who acknowledges the front plate on my vehicle. About 1/3 of the time I get someone who actually knows what my plate is. Another third gives me a blank stare and asks “What’s that on your plate?”

The final third just thinks they have a clue; they ask me where I found the “cool blue Confederate flag”.

Spare me.

For the past five years my front plate has been a Saint Andrews Cross with a Lion Rampant in the center. For those uninitiated, that means I have a plate with the Scottish national flag on it, superimposed with the royal lion. Surely you’ve seen these plates before?



According to legend, in 832 A.D. King Angus led the Picts and Scots in battle against the Angles and their King Athelstan near modern-day Athelstaneford in East Lothian. King Angus and his men were surrounded and he prayed for deliverance. During the night Saint Andrew, who was martyred on a saltire cross (an x-shaped cross) appeared to Angus and assured him of victory. On the following morning a white saltire against the background of a blue sky appeared to both sides. The Picts and Scots were heartened by this, but the Angles lost confidence and were defeated. This saltire design has been the Scottish flag ever since.

Material evidence of the saltire's use dates from somewhat later. In 1385 the Parliament of Scotland decreed that Scottish soldiers should wear the saltire as a distinguishing mark. The earliest surviving Scottish flag consisting solely of the saltire dates from 1503: a white cross on a red background. By 1540 the legend of King Angus had been altered to include the vision of the saltire cross against a blue sky. Thereafter, this saltire design in its present form became the national flag of Scotland.

The first official flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stars and Bars," was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 26, 1863.

The very first national flag of the Confederacy was designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama. The Stars and Bars flag was adopted March 4, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama and raised over the dome of that first Confederate Capitol. Marschall also designed the Confederate uniform.

One of the first acts of the Provisional Confederate Congress was to create the Committee on the Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic, and the committee was overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States. Miles had already designed a flag that would later become the Confederate battle flag, and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S. flag ("the Stars and Stripes"), the Stars and Bars design was approved by the committee. When war broke out, the Stars and Bars caused confusion on the battlefield because of its similarity to the U.S. flag of the U.S. Army.


The Stars and Bars, the first national flag of the CSA

At the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) the similarity between the Stars and Bars and the Stars and Stripes caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart. In addition, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion.

After the battle, Confederate General Beauregard wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag." He turned to his aide, who happened to be the aforementioned William Porcher Miles, the former chair of Committee on the Flag and Seal. Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard; Miles also told the Committee about the general's complaints and request for the national flag to be changed. The committee rejected this idea by a four to one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commander General Joseph E. Johnston: "I wrote to [Miles] that we should have two flags — a peace or parade flag, and a war flag to be used only on the field of battle — but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter — How would it do us to address the War Department on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, ... We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies."

The flag that Miles had favored when he was chair of the Committee on the Flag and Seal eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the most popular flag of the Confederacy.

In 1863, during the session in which the Confederate Congress was voting on a second design for the National Flag, Willaim G. Swan of Tennessee's second congressional district wished to substitute the following language:
"That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows:
A red field with a Saint Andrew's cross of blue edged with white and emblazoned with stars."

What is now often called "The Confederate Flag" or "The Confederate Battle Flag" is actually a combination of the Battle Flag's colors with the design of the Confederate Navy’s second Jack flag (a jack is a naval ensign) Despite its never having historically represented the CSA as a nation, it has become a widely recognized symbol of the South. It is also called the "rebel" or "Dixie" flag, and is often incorrectly referred to as the "Stars and Bars" (the actual "Stars and Bars" being the First National Flag, an entirely different design).

The states of the southern USA have always been heavily populated with citizens of Scottish and Irish ancestry. Many of the wild and wooly Clansmen from the Scottish Highlands settled in the hill country of Appalachia and the Smoky Mountains after leaving oppressive British rule and became the original hillbillies. Here in the Carolinas I’m constantly running into fellow Celts. Many of my own ancestral forebears of the Clan Davidson settled in North Carolina above Charlotte (think Davidson College and the fact that the Loch Norman Pipe Band wears the kilt of Clan Davidson). I guess it was just natural for the rebels of the Confederacy to look to their past as rebels against the English for the idea for their flag.

It’s interesting though to note that in Vermont, New Hampshire, and my former home state of Maine, the percentage of Scots is even higher than it is here in the south, and during the Civil War, the 79th New York Volunteer Infantry gave itself the monicker of The Cameron Highlanders (after the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlander Regiment of the British Army) and outfitted itself in full Scottish regalia complete with kilts of the Cameron tartan and marched off to war with a bagpiper.

Here in South Carolina, several towns and county names harken back to those misty, thistle-strewn fields of heather back in Scotland: Andrews, the St. Andrews area of Charleston, Cameron, Carlisle, Johnston, Livingston, Anderson, Calhoun, and Scotia, which is a Latin form of Scotland.

I must say, though, that I am not a native Southerner and do not fly any Confederate flags of any design. I am, however, pretty big on displaying my Scottish ancestry with both my front plate and with the “Carolina Scots” sticker on my back window. The Carolina Scots design is the palmetto and crescent moon superimposed on the Scottish saltire flag. I also have a Carolina Scots t-shirt in blue with two rampant lions in white on either side of the white palmetto and moon design.



So, the next time you see a blue front plate with a white X on it, you no longer have to wonder what it means or confuse it with a Confederate flag. It’s just another crazed descendant of the kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing, haggis-eating Highlanders.

We don't get the cool holiday every year to celebrate our patron saint on Saint Andrew's Day (November 30th) the way our Irish cousins do every March 17th, and no one ever seems to wear a button proclaiming, "Kiss Me, I'm Scottish", but somehow no one can seem to hold a Saint Patrick's Day parade without Scottish kilts and Scottish bagpipes. And sure, everyone may love a leprechaun....but Shrek has a Scots accent, and then there's that whole Braveheart thing to top it all off. You can keep the green beer; I'll have a wee dram of Scotch instead. Cheers!


The National Flag of Scotland


The Royal Flag of Scotland (the Lion Rampant)