Manassas National Battlefield Park Superintendent Brandon Bies, then an archaeologist, works to uncover the remains of Civil War soldiers in a surgeon’s pit found at Manassas National Battlefield Park/Smithsonian Institution

Cut down by enemy fire during the Second Battle of Manassas more than 150 years ago, battlefield surgeons couldn't mend the soldiers' wounds, and soon they were laid to rest in a pit into which amputated limbs were tossed for burial. 

Believed to be Union soldiers due to the fact that an Enfield bullet, typically fired by Confederate forces, was lodged within one of the men's femurs, the remains removed from a battlefield surgeon’s pit at Manassas National Battlefield Park will be reburied with honors at Arlington National Cemetery later this year in coffins fashioned from a downed tree taken from the battlefield in Virginia.

The discovery marked the first time that a surgeon’s pit at a Civil War battlefield has been excavated and studied, according to the National Park Service. It is also the first time that killed-in-action Civil War soldiers have been found in an amputated limb burial pit.

“This unprecedented discovery and research sheds light on military medicine during the Civil War and personalizes the human price of war,” Manassas National Battlefield Park Superintendent Brandon Bies said. “The National Park Service is honored to protect these hallowed grounds and share the stories of those who fought here.”

The burial pit was found four years ago. Since then, Park Service staff worked with Douglas Owsley, Ph.D., and Kari Bruwelheide, two world-renowned forensic anthropologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, to excavate the site and recover the bodies and limbs. Together, the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution recovered two complete sets of remains, 11 partial limbs, and several artifacts from the site.

Field Technician Erin Godwin excavates an amputated limb/Kate D. Sherwood, Smithsonian Institution

“The harrowing stories of Civil War soldiers and the surgeons who tended to them are traced in the remains and bones of these men,” Owsley said. “We’re humbled by the opportunity to give voice to their story, and we are in awe of the bravery and tenacity these men showed in the face of war.”

Using archaeological evidence, historical archives, and forensic science, researchers have learned an incredible amount from this discovery. The shallow, hastily dug pit and the recovery of 11 amputated limbs confirm that this was the site of a field hospital. Further evidence indicates that the field hospital was used during and in the days following the Second Battle of Manassas, also known as the Second Battle of Bull Run.

Remains -- a femur with bullet -- recovered on the site demonstrated the devastating wounds inflicted on Civil War soldiers and the surgeons' efforts to save their lives/Smithsonian Institution, Kate D. Sherwood

The complete sets of remains are from two Caucasian males, 25-34 years old, who died of injuries received at the Second Battle of Manassas. One of the soldiers was found with an Enfield bullet still lodged in his upper thigh bone. The other soldier was found with three fired lead buckshot. It is likely that a field surgeon determined that both soldiers had injuries too severe to be operated on successfully, the Park Service said.

“These soldiers and the amputated limbs deepen our understanding of the techniques field surgeons used to save the wounded in the midst of battle,” Bies said. “The discovery also tells us about the difficult decisions doctors faced about who could be helped and who could not.”

Several clues point to which side of the battle the soldiers were on. First, Enfield bullets were used almost exclusively by the Confederate Army at the Battle of Second Manassas. Second, buttons from a Union jacket were found with the man who died from buckshot wounds. In addition, Owsley’s team determined that the soldiers were from Northeastern states based on isotope analyses that showed the men consumed food and water from this region while their bones were forming.

Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), supported by a National Park Service Honor Guard, carry out a dignified transfer of remains for two unknown Civil War Soldiers at at Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, Virginia, June 19, 2018. The Soldiers were discovered in a battlefield surgeon’s pit/NPS, Bradley Waldron

“Later this summer, we will have the great honor to inter these unknown Soldiers with their fellow Soldiers at Arlington. They will lay to rest in our new Millennium Expansion as we commemorate their ultimate sacrifice 156 years ago at the Second Battle of Manassas,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director, Army National Military Cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery.

The National Park Service and Arlington National Cemetery rendered honors as the remains of these two unknown Civil War Soldiers were transferred to the Army in a Dignified Transfer of Remains at Manassas National Battlefield Park on Tuesday. The National Park Service Honor Guard provided a color guard as the dignified transfer was conducted by the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard." Dignified transfers are conducted for every U.S. military member who dies in a theater of operation while in the service of their country.

The first Civil War battle here was on July 21, 1861, while the second was waged August 29-30, 1862. The Union side referred to the battles as the Battles of Bull Run, named after the stream that ran through the battlefield. The Confederates named them Manassas after the important railroad junction. But the National Park Service literature refers to the battles as Manassas.

The two battles, both Confederate victories, commemorated at the 5,100-acre park were fought less than 30 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. 

Amputated limbs that were found in a battlefield surgeon’s pit at Manassas National Battlefield Park are laid out on a table for analysis at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History/NPS, Nathan King