"What Happened to Dead Bodies After Big Battles " Topic

…Throughout History?.

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Amicalement
Armand

Big pits, small pits, wolves, eagles. Various marine creatures for sea battles. Depends a bit on whether anyone lived nearby, whether the winning army camped nearby and other sanitation issues.

If you want a deep grave and a nice headstone, my advice is to die rich in your own bed.

"Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms"

Bodies were still exposed at Borodino, when Napoleon retreated back through the same area after vacating Moscow. I believe even almost lost colours, hidden in horse corpses, were retrieved.

Waterloo corpses became fertilizer.

And false teeth, Grunt 1861. (But are they really false teeth if they're real teeth? As John Wayne once said in his later years "this is real hair! It isn't mine, but it's real hair.")

The only two battles I am familiar with concerning burial parties would be Lexington and Concord (April 17, 1775) and Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775).

After April 19 the Massachusetts militia or minute companies (which were organized by town) returned their wounded and dead to their families. These were all neighbors so they looked out for each other. The men were buried in family plots in the local cemeteries. In the 19th century during the centennial some were re buried in grand monuments like the one in Acton Massachusetts.

For the British those left behind were taken care of by the town's they were left in. Wounded men were cared for by the local physician. If they recovered they were turned over to the Provincial Congress and prisoner exchanges were later arranged. The dead were buried; usually in the pauper section of the cemeteries in unmarked graves. Along the road the dead were taken care of by each town. Some soldiers were buried near where they fell (like at Concord bridge). In Lincoln Massachusetts a cart picked up the dead and they were buried in the local cemetery.

After Bunker Hill Captain Walter Laurie from the 43rd Regiment of Foot was put in charge of the battlefield burial details. These burials were usually large pits by large groups of dead. Individuals not near groups might get a individual grave but only because it was too much trouble to carry them somewhere. New Englanders were also buried by the British in pits. No word if equipment was recycled. Laurie submitted a report which was very detailed and can be found in the general Thomas Gage Papers at University of Michigan. The portion where he stated he stuffed the rascal Doctor Warren in a hole is often quoted. No graves were marked.

Of course these were enlisted men. Officers were buried in Church cemetery or crypts like Major Pitcairn was in Old North Church. Some were returned to England. Wounded enlisted men who died in Boston were buried on the common near modern day Arlington street station.

Sad to say in the 19th century most of not all the Boston common and Bunker Hill graves were destroyed. The ones on Boston common were dug up when the underground subways were constructed. Those on Bunker Hill when the present day tenements and homes were built.

The Boston historian Samuel Adams Drake mentioned in one of his books seeing a large pile of bones in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Guard told him they were uncovered by the buildings being built in Charlestown and dumped here. They would be later placed on garbage scows and dumped in Boston harbour.

(My research on these were done while I with the National Park Service at Boston National Historical park and Minute Man National Historical park in the 1980's and 1990's)

Thanks 23rd, that was informative and interesting.

Thanks also my friend….

Amicalement
Armand

To 23rds post there are several markers in Minuteman Park near where British soldiers are buried as the precise location is lost. They also have a Union Flag of the period that is missing the red diagonal cross of Ireland.

There were reports from Africa that cannibal armies ate the dead (and also the wounded) after battles. I imagine that would also solve a lot of logistics problems when on campaign…

Borodino saw some 50-80000 dead, and a comparable bodymass of horses lying around. Napoleon left some divisions to take care for the burials, but there is not much surprise that after some mere two months later there were still bodies without sufficient burial.

Afaik the main options after battles with large casualty counts were mass burial, burning or to leave them on the field. The former, if possible. Crucial information on eg Visby or Lützen were glimpsed by Historians from mass graves.

"…but there is not much surprise that after some mere two months later there were still bodies without sufficient burial…"

Much surprise was to see that there were still live wounded on that butcher field!…

Amicalement
Armand