Group works to find the remains of Civil War soldiers in Manassas

MANASSAS, Va. - An effort to find the remains of Civil War soldiers is underway just outside of Manassas National Battlefield Park.

The backstory:

The site is already home to a monument to Timothy Dunklin, a Texan, who, at age 16, fought for the Confederacy in the Second Battle of Manassas during the Civil War. Dunklin died in August 1862, explained Cherie Johnston, the executive director of the Manassas Battlefield Trust. 

Dunklin's family traveled to purchase the small piece of land and build the monument, which Johnston said was unusual for the time.

What we know:

Now, more than 150 years later, the Manassas Battlefield Trust is working on a major project. Their hope is to raise money to use ground-penetrating radar to confirm the location of Dunklin’s remains, and also to see if other civil war soldiers – those who fought for both sides – may be buried nearby. 

Then, they’d completely restore Dunklin’s monument and recreate the area so it becomes a public space people can visit.

What they're saying:

"This was before we had dog tags in the U.S. military. So, when people fell, often the family didn’t know where they fell or where they were buried. They just never heard from them again," Johnston said.

She added that she has heard from people questioning why her group would want to preserve a Confederate soldier's grave.

"In that time period, to Americans, your state was your country if you think about the way the nation was at that time, and so some of the decisions to go fight, for example, for Texas, may not necessarily have been that they wanted to go fight because they wanted to continue a practice as horrible as slavery. It may have been that they were going with their neighbors because everyone in town had signed up and enlisted, and that’s what they were doing," she explained.

Johnston also said that if additional remains are uncovered, Confederate soldiers would be buried in the same general area as Dunklin. Union soldiers would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with honors. 

She added that the way officials can tell who fought for who is typically because of the soldier’s buttons.

For more information about the Manassas Battlefield Trust and this project, you can click here.