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| CSA UNKNOWN Buried in Maple Hill Cemetery |
| There are 187 Confederate Soldiers buried in the Confederate Unknown Section. A review of all available records, it would seem that most, if not all, of the deaths occuring in late 1861 were due to accidents or disease while the troops were in training camps in or near Huntsville. There were a large number of deaths in March of 1862. They died while in hospitals in Huntsville. These appear to have been caused by disease also. With the capture of Huntsville by Union forces on 11 April 1862, no Regular Confederate forces were in Huntsville after that date. Between January and June of 1863 several more are buried in the Confederate Section. These were men that died while being transported north to Union prison camps. Temporary wooden markers were placed on their graves at the time of burial. These were meant to last only long enough for permanent stones to be placed. With the capture of Huntsville in April of 1862, and the subsequent occupation by unfriendly troops, the care and maintenance of these temporary markers fell into enemy hands. For the remainder of the war years and the Union occupation afterwards, time weather and vandalism erased all traces of identifying marks on the wooden stakes. Since nearly every one of these Confederate dead are from counties or areas outside of Madison County, their families could not come to tend their graves since the area was occupied by Union troops. By the time reconstruction had ended, it was impossible to properly identify any of them. Small stone slabs were placed on each grave. In later years (1935) a tan stone marker inscribed CSA Unknown replaced the smaller stones. From the Valiant Survivors, by Charles Wells. Pages 48, 49, 50, 51 |
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| In recent times, Mr. Charles Rice has searched through Unit Histories, casualty reports and articles in The Huntsville Democrat for that time period. He has identified 58 of these here-to-fore unknowns. |
| They are listed on the next page. |