Karen and I were off on an errand to Radio Shack yesterday about noontime. In the parking lot was an armada of motorcycles. There were lots of big round middle-aged and older men (predominantly) dressed in motorcycle regalia huddled around one person who was speaking to them. We ventured over and asked a woman at the back of the crowd, “What’s this all about?”. She informed us that this was a Patriot Guard accompanying the remains of an unknown civil war veteran to Saratoga for burial.
Below, you can see a couple of photos I made at the event as they were organizing for a prompt noon departure from Hudson.
For more details here is an article from the Saratogian.
Excerpted from the Saratogian article of 9/16/9:
By PAUL POST
SARATOGA SPRINGS — April Weygand couldn’t explain what drew her to view the flag-draped coffin of an unknown Civil War soldier.
Like dozens of others who turned out Wednesday, the Wilton resident just wanted to pay her respects.
The Union soldier’s remains will be buried today with full military honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon-Saratoga National Cemetery, exactly 147 years after his death at the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862.
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A Military Forces Honor Guard made the 862-mile round trip to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Md., to retrieve the soldier, arriving in Saratoga Springs with a full police escort and more than 50 Patriot Guard motorcycle riders.
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A pine coffin, typical of the Civil War era, was covered with an American flag and lay in state for public viewing at the New York Military Museum on Lake Avenue. Civil War re-enactors portraying 125th New York Regiment comprised the official Union honor guard.
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The soldier’s remains will leave the museum at 9:20 a.m. today en route to the cemetery for 10 a.m. ceremonies led by Major General Joseph Taluto, adjutant general for New York National Guard. The soldier will be buried with artifacts found with his remains, including several uniform buttons and a “U.S.” waste belt plate.
He’ll be the first unknown soldier and the first Civil War soldier buried at Saratoga National Cemetery. For the first time in nearly a century and a half, he’ll no longer be alone, however, as he joins the 8,622 veterans already buried there from World War I to the War on Terror.
The soldier’s remains were discovered last October by a hiker at Antietam, generating nationwide interest, especially among Civil War enthusiasts. Uniform buttons identify him as being from New York, and skeletal data places him between 17 and 19 years old. Otherwise, there is little known information about him.
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