No answers for family’s questions about Civil War unknowns

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The U.S. Army is being criticized for deciding to rebury the remains of two recently discovered Civil War soldiers without conducting DNA testing.

The two were recently discovered by accident in what turned out to be a surgeon’s pit at Manassas National Battlefield.

Army officials rejected several families’ requests for DNA testing that might have allowed the two to be identified before reburying them as unknown soldiers. The ceremony last month at Arlington National Cemetery was attended by dignitaries including the Secretary of the Army.

Paul Davis of Fort Myers, Florida, said the decision shows a disregard to families that might have learned answers about their ancestors. He says circumstances of the soldiers’ deaths suggest one may have been his great-great uncle, killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run.