A Nameless Grave

At Newport News, an unknown grave bears the inscription “A soldier of the Union mustered out,” honoring a nameless and dateless Union dead imagined as a sentinel or scout killed in skirmish, rout, or battle. The tribute is joined to remembrance of the 252 American sailors who died on March 8, 1862, in the battle off Newport News: 5 Confederate and 247 Union. The Confederate ironclad Virginia, formerly Merrimack, lost 2 men; the Confederate gunboats Raleigh and Beaufort lost 3; the Union sloop-of-war Cumberland lost 121; the Union frigate Congress lost 120; the Union steam frigate Minnesota lost 3; and the Union steam tender Whitehall lost 3. These deaths came the day before the celebrated duel between the C.S.S. Virginia and the U.S.S. Monitor, which ended in a draw and caused no loss of life.

Newport News, Virginia · United States