About 18 people attended a Sunday ceremony at Old City-Woodland Cemetery in Jefferson City to dedicate grave markers for 13 previously unidentified Civil War soldiers, including eight from a regiment that founded Lincoln University.
The short walking ceremony made stops at each of the new markers, where brief histories' of the soldiers' lives were given and a red rose placed in front of each marker.
The event was the culmination of determined research by Nancy Thompson, president of the City of Jefferson Cemetery Resources Board, and Lincoln University alumna Michelle Brooks.
Thompson researched Missouri death certificates at the Missouri State Archives to identify 750 unmarked burials at the city's oldest cemetery, opened in 1826. She and Brooks compared names to identify the eight 62nd United States Colored Troops soldiers receiving markers.
Brooks' research started four years ago after discovering some of Lincoln's founders were buried at the cemetery, not far from the LU campus. She furthered her research through an anthropology class project at Lincoln.
After the project, she continued researching 1,200 soldiers from the 62nd regiment. She said curiosity has driven her to learn more since.
"I want to know who the founders were," she said, adding she wanted to go beyond the common tag line, "Lincoln was founded by the 62nd and 65th U.S. colored troops."
She was motivated to learn their life stories.
"They were slaves before they enlisted," Brooks said. "They earned their freedom by enlisting, and then where did they go after the war? Did their enlistment in the service give them a leg up as they went back into civilian life? And I found that has been the case for some, and for some it has not."
However, almost all of them contributed to the $6,000 seed money that started Lincoln, a historically black university that has existed for more than 150 years.
"So what an ongoing gift they left, if nothing else," she said.
Brooks, a former News Tribune reporter, has written stories based on her research. She eventually hopes to write a book about LU's founders who were buried at the cemetery. More information can be found on her GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/researching-the-62nd-usct.
Thompson worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to secure six official veterans markers. Proper documentation requires proof of death. That's not easy, since death certificates were not required until 1910. Other challenges included inconsistency in name spellings and a lack of any official information.
To provide replicas of the notable white stone veterans markers for the remaining seven soldiers, Thompson gathered community donations, including from the Juneteenth-Jefferson City and the Jefferson City Veterans' Council, and Frank Wallerman.
"We are happy to be a part of this worthwhile occasion," said W.T. Edmonson, president of Juneteenth-Jefferson City, at the event.
Soldiers receiving markers, with the 42nd Enrolled Missouri Militia, Co. G, are Andreas Gundelfinger (1824-96), Adam Hirsch (1830-1911) and John Roesen (1829-83). Soldiers with the 62nd USCT are John Holmes (1831-94), James Nelson (1820-1915), Horace Alexander (1842-73), Henry Bolton (1845-1905), Sylvester Gordon Emerson (1836-1915), Henry Carroll (1842-1916), Tillman Morse (1845-1916) and Julius Caesar Jordon (1838-1913).
Other soldiers receiving markers were Charles Thomas (1841-99), 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, and James Jobe (1841-1918), 10th Kansas Infantry.
An honor guard salute by the Color Guard, VFW Post 1003, ended the event.