Published: November 11, 2008 07:09 pm      

Civil War vets in cemetery get markers

KENTWOOD, Mich. (AP) — At least 13 more U.S. flags will be flying at Pine Hill Cemetery on Veterans Day because of a historian’s effort to identify the Civil War veterans interred there.

Eloise Haven verified that at least 16 veterans of the conflict are buried in the cemetery, which began in the 1860s and is maintained by the city of Kentwood, a Grand Rapids suburb.

“We want to ensure that every Civil War veteran that we could possibly find had a marker,” Haven told The Grand Rapids Press.

When the project got under way, only three of the graves had Civil War markers, the Kentwood resident said. One of the original three markers, which are designed to hold small flags, recently was stolen but will be replaced.

Haven and her growing group of volunteers have helped identify Civil War veterans buried in eight area cemeteries.

She verified last year that more than 720 men who fought in the war were at Grand Rapids’ Oakhill Cemetery.

“I won’t confirm that a guy is a vet unless I have a piece of paper to prove it,” said Haven, an Air Force veteran who scours military and pension records and other documents in her research.

While Haven had to order military headstones for Civil War veterans at other cemeteries, she said the civilian headstones were intact at Pine Hill although most were missing the flag holders indicating that they were vets.

Most of the Civil War veterans buried at Pine Hill were born outside Michigan, mainly in New York, she said. At least three served in militias organized in other states.

After the war, many fought in the Indian Wars out West before returning to Michigan, and most lived into the 20th century. Gilman Warner, the oldest Civil War veteran buried at Pine Hill, died in 1923 at age 95.

The Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission paid for the star-shaped markers, which are placed in the ground near headstones.

Commission Chairwoman Esther Middlewood said she hopes the project will lead to the discovery of other Civil War veterans buried at Pine Hill.

“There may be more here,” Middlewood said. “If there are families who are aware of others, we hope they will let us know.”