Where are they buried?

Including both wartime and postwar deaths, the men of the Old Third died literally all over the United States and Canada; the no. in parentheses is the number buried in that state: (photo right: eight men of the Old Third are buried in Dayton National Cemetery, Ohio.)

2 in Alabama
1 in Arizona (1)
2 in Arkansas (2)
21 in California (18)
3 in Canada (3)
5 in Colorado (5)
4 in unknown Confederate prisons (4)
2 in Connecticut (2)
48 in District of Columbia (34)
5 in Florida (3)
12 in Georgia (11 at Andersonville) (12)
4 in Iowa (4)
14 in Illinois (15)
7 in Indiana (6)
11 in Kansas (12)
1 in Kentucky (1)
1 in Louisiana
3 in Maine (2)
10 in Maryland (8)
1 in Massachusetts (1)
630 in Michigan (760)
4 in Minnesota (3)
2 in Mississippi (1)
4 in Missouri (3)
3 in Montana (3)
4 in Nebraska (5)
0 in New Hampshire (1)
2 in New Jersey (2)
25 in New York (23)
8 in North Carolina (6)
19 in Ohio (16)
8 in Oklahoma (7)
9 in Oregon (9)
34 in Pennsylvania (35)
1 in Rhode Island (1)
7 in South Carolina (8)
2 in South Dakota
5 in Tennessee (5)
4 in Texas (4)
1 in Utah (1)
194 in Virginia (197)
9 in Washington state (9)
15 in Wisconsin (13)
1 in Wyoming (1)

We know that 440 died from 1861 through 1865, leaving a balance of 971 who probably survived the war out of an overall total of 1,411 men who joined or enlisted in the Third Michigan infantry.

Of the 760 men reportedly buried in Michigan, by far the largest number (207) are found in Kent county, and of that number 39 are buried in the “Michigan Soldiers’ Home” cemetery. Clearly then of the men who survived the war, the overwhelming number of men returned to Michigan where they lived out their lives. (photo left: Joseph Sutton, buried in Burdell cemetery, Osceola County, Michigan.)

The next largest number of Old Third burials in Michigan is in Ottawa county (49), followed by Ionia county (42), Barry county (32), Muskegon county (28) and Newaygo county (22).
Another 197 are buried in Virginia, many like those who died at Groveton on August 29, 1862, in mass graves.

Many of the men who died in Virginia are probably interred in unknown graves scattered throughout the state, like so many more tens of thousands of soldiers.

For example, it is likely that of the estimated 35 men who died at Fair Oaks, Virginia, on May 31, 1862, all are interred in Seven Pines National Cemetery, although we have exact locations for only a fraction of that number; and the men who died at Groveton on August 29, 1862, and whose remains were reportedly brought to Arlington National Cemetery and interred there (in a mass grave very close to the Custis-Lee mansion), are “Unknown” today.

The fact that so many men who died in prison camps remain “unknown” is well-established. However, it is also quite likely that several of the Old Third soldiers who returned to Michigan during the war and died at home today rest in unmarked graves. This is particularly true for Samuel Camp in Lamont, Ottawa county, Francis Barlow, Henry Kampe and William Gibson in Grand Rapids, as well as Chauncey Strickland.

In any event, 957 of all men who served in the Third Michigan, or nearly 69% of the total enrolled, died and were buried in either Virginia or Michigan.

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