Is it plausible that in the later years of the Civil War (1864-5)?

Question

Deceased officers would have been transported in coffins along with their regiments in passenger trains?

Any good sources about how deceased soldiers were transported? Especially in the later years of the War?

Answer 1

Without embalming, I think it would be very very unlikely that someone who died in battle, would be sent back home. Is it possible that the person was wounded, went home then died?

On the assumption that your person is a Texas vet, one logical thing is to go to the county where the family lived, and see if the records survive for that era. If he had children, you MIGHT find guardianship records. Mom remarrying on a certain date would also narrow it down.

Unless your nick name is wishful thinking as to your place.. you are in an excellent position to go to Hillsboro.  One of the largest Confederate Research libraries is right there. His record (often including rosters and such) can be great.

Answer 2

All three of the above answers are accurate, as far as they go.  

Actually, there was a thriving embalming business that developed during the Civil War.  Many officers bodies were embalmed on speculation.  That is, the embalmers would locate the bodies of officers whose faces were still in good shape, embalmer the body and then telegram the family and ask to be reimbursed for their work.  The body would be shipped after payment arrived.  Gruesome, but true.  

Because of the time delay, it is unlikely that the bodies would have been shipped on the same train as the troops they had served with.

Answer 3

The American Civil War revolutionized embalming and funeral practices.  Field embalmers for both Confederate and Union Armies prepared corpses using formaldehyde on the battlefield and then placed them in wooden coffins to be either buried locally or shipped to grieving families.  Rail transport also allowed for the shipment of both mortuary supplies and bodies.  

I've only been able to find information on the burial of two officers:  

1) Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston was killed at Shiloh, in Tennessee, in 1862.  He was first buried in New Orleans; and then in 1866, the Texas Legislature passed a bill to have his body re interred in the State Cemetery in Austin, which it was in 1867.  

2) Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was killed at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in 1863.  His body (minus an arm that was amputated on the battle field) was first moved to the Governor's Mansion in Richmond for public viewing, but eventually in 1891 it was transported to the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.  

I don't know if the practice of allowing some bodies to be shipped home for burial changed in the waning years of the War.

BTW, all major branches of Christianity, including Roman Catholics, allow embalming.  Until quite recently, however, Roman Catholic rites didn't permit cremation.  It's Jews and Muslims who don't embalm.

Answer 4

I've read first-hand accounts of officers comlaining to generals of undertakers setting up near camps and advrtising, with placards and hand-bills, that pre-arrangements could be made. Lots of soldiers were buried on battle grounds. Lots were sent home, embalmed. If they went by train they would be in the baggage car, normally, and they'd normally go a different direction than their regiment.

It is illegal to bury someone without embalming them in California, these days. I don't know how the Christians deal with that.

Answer 5

Unless they were extremely important people, most officers were buried with their troops near the battleground. Your best resource would be the National Parks Service. They maintain the battlefield graveyards from that era and have access to the site of graves for most of the soldiers killed in action.

Answer 6

Christians do NOT believe in embalming; without embalming, the body starts to decay immediately; in summer heat, the stench would be overwhelming within 24 hours. Look at a map of Civil War battlefields, and you will see a map of Civil War graveyards.  Get a good book on the Civil War and you will see that they stacked bodies like cordwood for mass burials. Often they did not know who was buried where, or if they were "enemy" or "friendly".