'He was a hero': Historian hopes to bring Black Union soldier's remains to Marietta National Cemetery
Feb. 25—On a July day in 1864, no doubt in either sweltering heat or a summer downpour, a Black man fighting under the banner of the Union Army died on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, not far from where the I-75 bridge stands today. Felled by a Confederate bullet, his body lay in that spot for nearly a hundred years.
And on a July day in 2021, that soldier may finally come to his rightful and final resting place, among the thousands of other American soldiers buried at Marietta National Cemetery.
That, at least, is the hope of Brad Quinlin, the cemetery's volunteer historian for over three decades. For years, Quinlin has been at work on a project documenting the contributions of Black men and women to the Union war effort, including the over 250 Black soldiers buried at the cemetery, many of them in graves without names.
But Quinlin said this could be the most remarkable occasion he's seen yet.
"When I started this," Quinlin said, "I've written 21 books, and been a historical consultant on five films and movies, and never ever did I think I'd be put in charge for the burial of a Union soldier."
For months, he's been lobbying federal authorities to open the cemetery and allow a funeral for the unknown soldier's remains, complete with full honor guard. He intends to have the ceremony coincide with the approximate date of the soldier's death, around July 9, 10, or 11.
By then, Quinlin hopes to have identified the man so a headstone bearing his name can be placed. Through extensive archival research, he's narrowed down the possibilities to four names.
The journey of the soldier, whoever he may be, has been a long and winding one, according to Penn Templeton, a Civil War collector and former president of the Civil War Round Table in Atlanta.
Templeton first came across the soldier's remains nearly 50 years ago, while visiting the Atlanta home of Dr. William Stone, a noted collector of Civil War artifacts. In Stone's basement, among the trove of weapons and paraphernalia, was a glass case containing a skull, a Union belt buckle, breast plate, and buttons.
Stone told Templeton he'd found the remains while out hunting by the river one afternoon, with a Confederate Minie ball still lodged in the skull. For years, historical orthodoxy held that Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman did not have Black soldiers in his army, and thus Stone and Templeton assumed the soldier had been white.
Upon Stone's death in 2010, Templeton was given the remains by the late doctor's family. A few years later, Templeton passed them along to another collector, who contacted Quinlin. The men conferred amongst one another and decided it was past time to lay the soldier to rest.
Quinlin then contacted Dr. Rick Snow, a Knoxville-based forensic anthropologist who has worked for organizations ranging from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to the United Nations. And it was Snow's forensic analysis which produced the revelation that the soldier was a Black man.
"That blew me away," Templeton said. "But he'll finally have some good words said on him and get a Christian burial."
Quinlin emphasized he wants the affair to carry the same respect as would any burial of a U.S. soldier.
"I want this to be dignified, and to celebrate him," Quinlin said. He plans to work with Zion Baptist Church in Marietta, where many Black Cobb Countians were parishioners after the Civil War, to help organize the ceremonies.
Until this summer, Quinlin is hoping to get back into the National Archives and review muster lists and other documents to pin down the soldier's identity. But Templeton aptly summed up his feelings toward the thus-far unknown soldier.
"He was a hero to his country," Templeton said, "whoever he was."
