This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Wilson Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/IeB.2ACI/116.1.1.1 Message Board Post: In 1971, the late Sheriff J. E, McTeer wrote BEAUFORT NOW AND THEN which was published by the Beaufort Book Company. On pages 98-99, McTeer quoted from a Secretary of War's report to congrress in 1868. The report indicates that construction began on the Beaufort National Cemetery in 1863 aand it was expected to be completed about 1 May 1868. The report indicates that 3, 282 knowns had been buried there; 2, 842 unknowns; and it was expected 2, 800 more were to still be buried there. Remains had been brought from the Charleston area, the Hilton Head area, and Georgia In May 1987 th remains of 14 soldiers, members of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment were discovered on Folly Island, SC near Charleston. They remains were buried in a common grave at the Beaufort National Cemetery on Memorial Day 29 May 1989. The Beaufort County Department of Veteran Affairs published a booklet for the occasion titled FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY. The booklet indicates that General David Hunter purchased to land to be used for the cemetery at a tax sale on 11 March 1863 for $75. Way back in March 1986, "Blue and Gray Magazine" published an article about the Battle of Olustte fought in Florida on 20 Feb 1864, The article written by Richard J. Ferry indicates that in May 1866 soldiers of the 7th US Infantry disinterred the reamins of Union soldiers and reinterred them in a mass grave on the battlefield. Although some believe the Union dead of Olustee were eventually buried in the Beaufort National Cemetery, Ferry ponts out that the Beaufort National Cemetery has no records of their burial there. Supposedly records do indciate 105 Union soldiers who died in Florida were eventually buried in Beaufort. Ferry points out that the Federal government paid contractors $8 to $10 for relocating remains. Apaprently some contractors made up to $50 off one body disassembling legs, arms and the head. To quote Ferry, "Assuming this is true, it is possible that one soldier or parts of him , are buried under several different stones, each marked "Unknown Soldier."