Posted on 10/15/2005 12:39:19 PM PDT by Fido969
Civil War bones will not be auctioned Sunday
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN, Telegraph Staff landrigank@telegraph-nh.com
Published: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005
Photo from J.C. Devine The bones of a Civil War soldier, above, were to be auctioned off this weekend, but have since been pulled off the block.
The bones of an unknown Civil War soldier buried in Virginia became, 140 years later, item No. 134-105A in an auction house catalog in Milford.
Veterans and state legislators expressed outrage when they learned of the planned sale of the soldier’s remains at an auction Sunday run by the J.C. Devine auction house – and now the remains will not go to the highest bidder.
Senate President Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, said Attorney General Kelly Ayotte told him late Friday that she had spoken with a representative of the auction house, who had agreed to withdraw the bones from the auction at the Wayfarer Inn in Bedford.
“I’m just happy to report it’s not going to happen. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand the appeal for anyone to buy such a thing,” Gatsas said.
State officials said the remains were of a New York resident who had been buried in an unmarked Virginia grave.
No one could be reached for comment Friday at the Devine auction house, which has been in business for 30 years.
An online version of the auction house catalog no longer lists the item, but it is listed in Google’s cache of the page from Oct. 3. The item is listed as “Civil War Items from Gravesite at Haxall’s Landing, VA.”
Although there is no direct link to it on the Web site, a photo of the remains is still available on the site. It shows an array of items displayed on a red burlap background in a frame: “US” and “NY” buckles, a coin, and bones that appear to be a leg bone and pieces of a jaw with 13 teeth.
Haxall’s Landing is on the James River, south of Richmond. It was the site of a minor confrontation in July 1862, part of the Seven Days battles that ended the Peninsula Campaign, the unsuccessful Union attempt to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. It was 1864 before Union soldiers came so close to Richmond again.
The matter exposes an apparent loophole in state law, which does not prevent someone from selling body parts that have come from another state. New Hampshire law outlaws removing body parts from any grave in the state and selling them but is silent on the sale of bones coming from somewhere else.
Sen. Robert Letourneau, R-Derry, an avid Civil War collector, said he would prepare legislation for next year to address this.
“We can’t let this kind of thing take place here in the future. It’s got to be nipped in the bud because the whole idea is just disgusting to me,” Letourneau said.
The sale of human bones is allowed under federal law, and human bones and skulls can be found for sale on eBay.
Kenneth Leidner, director of the Statehouse Visitors Center, said he learned a soldier’s remains were on the market at the Bedford auction from Dennis Viola, executive director of the State Veterans Council.
“Dennis asked me to respond to some e-mails he had received from some civil war association folks from in and outside the state who were very upset by this,” Leidner said.
“I was pretty shocked to learn that there is neither a state or a federal law that prevents this from happening.”
Leidner and Letourneau both are members of a commission that is working on a monument dedicated to Civil War veterans.
“The plain and simple matter is that everything to do with the Civil War right now is extremely hot and very valuable and we’re seeing an extreme example of this right here,” Leidner said.
Leidner said he intends to send a letter to members of the state’s congressional delegation to look into changing federal law.
Letourneau said he’s been at Civil War auctions where some of the most lucrative bids are not made in person.
“They accept bids over the phone and that’s when you can get a real competition going,” Letourneau said. “New Hampshire has become a magnet for big auction selling because we don’t have a sales tax.”
A Maryland antiques dealer, Todd Hughes, told Maine Antique Digest in a January 2000 story that all items relating to death are big sellers, including bones.
“Bones are neat because they’re more or less permanent,” Hughes said. “The person is dead and gone, but the bones will last thousands of years if taken care of. And they’re interesting to look at, too.”
Staff writer Stephanie Hooper contributed to this report. Kevin Landrigan can be reached at 224-8804 or landrigank@telegraph-nh.com.
We were outraged that the remains of a US solder who died in the honorable service of his country were dug up to be auctioned for profit to the highest bidder.
Yeah, that's what I want my survivors to do when I die. Auction me on eBay....
There's apparently a big market for that.
They could make you into a diamond:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug02/68498.asp
What a disgrace. What's to become of the remains now? I say we should bury him at Arlington once and for all.
[ing
"I say we should bury him at Arlington once and for all."
Just bury them at the nearest union cemetery. His buddies are probably there too.
Ok thats it I'm auctioning off my entire collection of yankee bones.....
Keep watchin on ebay.
(Is it ok to auction yankee's who still are using their bones ?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.