Were Dog Tags Used in the Civil War?
Visitors to the National Cemetery usually ask whether the soldiers were issued “dog tags” to help identify them in case of death. Per the Department of Defense[1], the use of identification tags did not begin until after the Spanish-American War in 1897. They were issued for soldiers in World War I but were not made a mandatory part of the uniform until World War II.
In the Civil War, some soldiers, concerned about having their deceased body identified, may mark their uniform or pin a note with their name and hometown. They may also carry a Bible with their name. There were also vendors that followed the troops that would make a medal tag with the soldier’s ID but most enlisted men had no funds to purchase them. A few soldiers could make arrangements with the local undertaker before they left their homes. The undertaker would then issue a medallion providing the necessary information to have the body sent back home for burial. This again was expensive so usually only officers could afford this pre-arranged funeral option.
Even with a pre-arranged funeral, it did not guarantee that the soldier wasn’t buried in a mass grave. Unfortunately, on a battlefield there was limited time, effort and opportunity to sort through bodies to see who should be sent home for a proper burial or buried in a separate grave with a name.
The Known Unknowns
Even though Civil War national cemeteries are filled with thousands of graves with unknown markers, it doesn’t mean that we don’t know who is buried in the cemetery. The Union army kept meticulous personnel records and knew when and where soldiers had died. These personnel records were then matched against the burial records in each national cemetery. Books named “The Roll of Honor” contained these detailed accounting of the dead. If a soldier’s name was not found to have a corresponding grave, the name was listed as a presumed burial within the cemetery. In Stones River National Cemetery, the roster of deceased soldiers contains most of the 6100 Civil War burials. There are very few unknown unknowns.
Although we have the names, the big problem is that we can’t associate a specific name to a specific body. There are many reasons for this to happen. It really takes the stars to align to provide a name to a body killed in battle. These factors will be discussed in the next part of the series.
- by Thomas Zei
[1] https://www.defense.gov/News/Inside-DOD/Blog/article/2340760/dog-tag-history-how-the-tradition-nickname-started/
Visitors to the National Cemetery usually ask whether the soldiers were issued “dog tags” to help identify them in case of death. Per the Department of Defense[1], the use of identification tags did not begin until after the Spanish-American War in 1897. They were issued for soldiers in World War I but were not made a mandatory part of the uniform until World War II.
In the Civil War, some soldiers, concerned about having their deceased body identified, may mark their uniform or pin a note with their name and hometown. They may also carry a Bible with their name. There were also vendors that followed the troops that would make a medal tag with the soldier’s ID but most enlisted men had no funds to purchase them. A few soldiers could make arrangements with the local undertaker before they left their homes. The undertaker would then issue a medallion providing the necessary information to have the body sent back home for burial. This again was expensive so usually only officers could afford this pre-arranged funeral option.
Even with a pre-arranged funeral, it did not guarantee that the soldier wasn’t buried in a mass grave. Unfortunately, on a battlefield there was limited time, effort and opportunity to sort through bodies to see who should be sent home for a proper burial or buried in a separate grave with a name.
The Known Unknowns
Even though Civil War national cemeteries are filled with thousands of graves with unknown markers, it doesn’t mean that we don’t know who is buried in the cemetery. The Union army kept meticulous personnel records and knew when and where soldiers had died. These personnel records were then matched against the burial records in each national cemetery. Books named “The Roll of Honor” contained these detailed accounting of the dead. If a soldier’s name was not found to have a corresponding grave, the name was listed as a presumed burial within the cemetery. In Stones River National Cemetery, the roster of deceased soldiers contains most of the 6100 Civil War burials. There are very few unknown unknowns.
Although we have the names, the big problem is that we can’t associate a specific name to a specific body. There are many reasons for this to happen. It really takes the stars to align to provide a name to a body killed in battle. These factors will be discussed in the next part of the series.
- by Thomas Zei
[1] https://www.defense.gov/News/Inside-DOD/Blog/article/2340760/dog-tag-history-how-the-tradition-nickname-started/