-----Original Message----- From: MARSIL CREECH [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 9:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RAMEY-L] Roll of Honor Little brother George sent this to me-from the "Dallas Morning News". By Lloyd Bockstruck Published 08-19-1995 Some 1,733 people died in the Mexican War of 1846-48. Most of the bodies were never recovered. The few that were recovered were buried as unknowns in a cemetery in Mexico City that few Americans visit. During the Civil War the War Department took steps to prevent such practice from happening again. On Sept 11, 1862, the commanding officers of military departments and corps became responsible for the burial of the dead. If the death was at a hospital, burials were in a civilian cemeteries. When these filled up, cemeteries near the hospitals opened up. Those who fell in battle were normally buried near where they died. Unknown casualties were routinely buried in trenches, The gravity of the situation became apparent when the Union forces left Spotsylvania Court House without burying the dead. When arrangements were made a year later, only about 700 of the 1400 Union dead could be identified. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the act that created national cemeteries. When the war was over, it fell to the Office of the Quartermaster General to answer the letters from parents and wives of missing soldiers. Comrades ad friends also were interested in locating graves.Publishing a list if fatalities seemed the best way of collecting and sharing information and 27 volumes were published beginning in 1865. (here I skipped a paragraph) The Union surgeon general estimated in 1870 that there were 303,504 deaths. That figure did not include those who returned home to die and who, therefore are not included in any of the 27 volumes if the "Roll of Honor". It does indeed seem irreverent that the 228,639 named individuals could not be located without a painstaking page by page search because there was no index. some 125 years later this shortcoming has been remedied. Martha and William REAMY 's index to the "Roll of Honor" has now made the data accessible and restored to its rightful place as one of the important documents in our nation's heritage. The author's work is truly a m milestone in Civil War genealogy and history. It is available fir $75.00 plus $1.25 handling from Genealogy Publishing Co. Inc. , 1001 N. Calvert St. Baltimore, MD. 21202-3897 Lloyd Bockstruck is supervisor of the genealogy section of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. address questions to: Family Tree Today Section, PO Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265 Marsil in the land of Aliens, UFO's and Weather balloons. We love Aliens. They taste just like chicken. ==== RAMEY Mailing List ==== To UNSUBSCRIBE to this list send a new e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] and in the body type UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else.