Who Cleared 7,000 Bodies From Pennsylvania's Gettysburg?

Who cleared the thousands of bodies left across Gettysburg after the battle? The Battle of Gettysburg lasted three days. But the work of dealing with the dead continued for months — and in some cases, for years. Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers were initially buried in shallow battlefield graves, often marked only with temporary wooden boards. The creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery began a large-scale effort to recover, identify, move, and permanently rebury Union soldiers. Much of the physical work fell to Gettysburg’s Black community. Basil Biggs, a local farmer and veterinarian, played a leading role in the exhumation and reburial of Union soldiers, helping oversee the reburial of more than 3,000 bodies. The Confederate dead followed a different path. They remained in battlefield graves for years before more than 3,200 remains were eventually removed and taken south for reburial. This is the story of what happened after the armies left — the graves, the records, the workers, and the transformation of Gettysburg from farmland and battlefield into a landscape of cemeteries and memorials. Sources: National Park Service — Gettysburg National Military Park https://www.nps.gov/gett/ Soldiers' National Cemetery — National Park Service https://home.nps.gov/places/soldiers-... National Cemetery Virtual Tour — National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/photos... Basil Biggs — Gettysburg National Military Park https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/histor... On Freedom's Tenuous Edge — Gettysburg National Military Park https://home.nps.gov/gett/learn/photo... Abraham Brian Farm — National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/places/abraham-br... Buildings and Farms Then and Now — Gettysburg National Military Park https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/photos... Library of Congress — Civil War Photographs https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti... Library of Congress — Confederate dead gathered for burial at the edge of the Rose Woods, July 5, 1863 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201... Library of Congress — Confederate dead at the edge of the Rose Woods, July 5, 1863 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201... All historical material is used for documentary and educational purposes. Source credits and rights information should be checked for individual photographs and archival materials before reuse.