06-05-2025
Unmarked graves of Union soldiers identified in Des Moines
The unmarked graves of 15 Civil War veterans of the Union army will receive headstones at Glendale Cemetery this month, more than a century after their deaths.
Why it matters: A volunteer initiative to help install the memorials seeks to address a long-standing oversight for soldiers who served in the nation's bloodiest conflict.
Catch up quick: Research by retired Des Moines firefighter Bob Niffenegger recently identified the unmarked burials via documents like military and court records.
Cemetery staff and military groups collaborated to obtain the stones at no cost from the U.S. Veterans Administration.
State of play: The soldiers ranged from ages 17 to 35 during their military service and were originally from nine states, including Iowa.
They were between 27 and 86 at the time of their deaths.
It's unknown why their graves went unmarked, cemetery historian Mike Rowley tells Axios.
The intrigue: The research uncovered unique stories behind some of their lives through newspaper articles published around a century ago.
Merrick Pease was a relatively obscure Iowa inventor who may have patented a telephone four years before Alexander Graham Bell, despite dying with only $100.
Josiah Nelson, the last of the 15 to die, in 1931, once replied in court, "I beg your pardon, judge, I am only 82," after a judge mistakenly added a year to his age.
William Cave was a Civil War musician and a longtime shoemaker who carved custom wooden foot molds for his clients from a shop at the former Randolph Hotel in DSM. At the time of his death, even his birthdate was unknown.
