Thousands lined the streets and filled Historic Rest Haven Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee, to honor a Civil War Unknown Solider whose remains were found on the Franklin Battlefield.
The remains were found about a quarter mile north of Winstead Hill, near the site of the McNeely house. The soldier was buried in a wooden coffin and was wearing a frock coat.
Buttons found in the grave were Union eagle and “I’ buttons. He was probably a Federal soldier, but this unusual mix of buttons caused some to think he might have been a Confederate soldier wearing a Federal coat.
The soldier, discovered on a construction site last May, lay in state at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where more than a thousand people from 29 states and three foreign countries paid their respects. Confederate and Union chaplains presided over the October 10th funeral service and a horse-drawn caisson carried the Soldier’s coffin, draped with US and Confederate flags, in a military procession.

The SVR’s 1Sgt. David Du Brucq, 10th TN Inf.(US); 7th MD Co.
Maj. Kenneth Early, Commanding General BG Robert E. Grim;
Real Son Harold Becker, and Fort Donelson Camp 62 CC Sam C.
Gant. Photo by Scene Through The Lens, LLC.

The ceremony was overseen by the Mayor’s Battlefield Task Force (BFT). Fort Donelson Camp 62 CC Sam C. Gant chaired the Unknown Soldier Burial Sub-Committee, which planned and carried out the re-interment. Camp 62 and Sam Davis SCV Camp 1293, commanded by Camp 62’s Larry Cockerham, were hosts.

SVR Commanding General BG Robert E. Grim supervised the re-internment. DUVCW PNP Patricia Mullenix,. SVR 7th MD Co. Maj. Kenneth Early, TN DC Charles Engle also attended. 93-year-old Real Son Harold Becker represented his father, Charles Conrad Becker, 128th IN Inf., who fought in the battle. 1st Sgt. David Du Brucq, 10th TN US, SVR, commanded the Honor Guard and the pallbearers. PDC Clyde Getman, Dept. Chaplain, served as Union chaplain for the service. The 49th Iowa Inf,, SVR, traveled from Des Moines to serve as guards at the coffin and to carry their regimental colors in the procession.

The grave of Franklin’s Unknown Soldier is marked with a special monument made with pieces of the original limestone columns of the Tennessee State Capitol found stored behind the old Tennessee State prison. Three sections of the Tennessee columns were arranged and then cap pieces added to create the monument. Brs. Sam Gant, CC Mike Downs and PCinC Bob Grim contributed to this article.

Indiana’s D.D. Porter Camp 116 CC Mike Downs and BG Bob
Grim, SVR