A Union Soldier Mistakenly Buried with Confederates

Record-keeping during the Civil War was not always the best and here is an example of it.

One has to feel sorry for Union soldier Jacob Pfeiffer who was struck by a rebel bullet at Gettysburg and suffered for a month before succumbing to the wounds, but, "the luckless New Yorker was mistaken for a Confederate prisoner of war, boxed up and shipped to Raleigh" where he was buried as a Confederate and remained so for 145 years.

Last month, he became the second Yankee in the Gettysburg section of Confederates in Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery to be identified by history detective Charles Purser. In the early 1990s, he and others helped identify the Gettysburg dead at Oakwood who had no markers, just numbered headstones. Upon further research, Purser found that 19th century record keeping was very lax.

Last year, Purser identified the remains of John Dobson of NC to actually be John Dolson of Minnesota.

Last month, Charles Purser received a new list of the Gettysburg dead that showed a Jacob Pfeiffer of NY had been sent to Raleigh and the name had been spelled four different ways.

Exclusive Confederate cemeteries were established after the war, partly because of bitterness. In 1871, the Ladies Memorial Association arranged to have 137 Gettysburg Confederate bodies re interred at he memorial.

Pfeiffer was originally listed as J. Tiffee, Co. I, 40th NC, but further research revealed that there was never a man by that name in the regiment. A George Piper died nearly the same day and also was listed as Fifer, which looks much like Tiffee in 19th century writing.

A man by the name of Pfieffer was shot on the same day, died on the same day as did Tiffee.

So Tiffee became Fifer became Piper, became Pfeiffer.

Jan 4th Charlotte Observer "Civil War detective solves grave mix-up: Piper, a rebel, is really Pfeiffer, a Yank." by Josh Shaffer, Raleigh News & Observer.

I do not know if these two soldiers will be sent back to their respective states for reburial or not.

Interesting Story. Imagine Being Misidentified and Being Buried with Your Enemy. --B-R