Need Cemetery Category for U.S. Civil War General buried in Central America

Question

Need cemetery category for Virgin Grove Cemetery, Virgin Bay, Municipio de Rivas, Rivas, Nicaragua

See FindAGrave link: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1966342/virgin-grove-cemetery

Note: No image of his grave in the Central American country of his memorial and it’s likely it’s not going to be photographed anytime soon. I would enjoy knowing why a U.S. Civil War generals body was laid to rest in Nicaragua? He was born in Ireland.

Answer 1

It could have been a health measure.  He died in Nicaragua of cholera while in transit to assume the command of the Presidio.  

There was a cholera epidemic at the time, including in Nicaragua, so maybe it was just part of a need to dispose of bodies.

https://iris.paho.org/bitstream/handle/10665.2/38015/14432.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Comments

It looks like he was part of a group of soldiers headed to San Francisco and there was an outbreak on the ship.  There were 57 cases and 27 deaths.

https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/a0ec7d32c37a2422a5e672bdcd7ecc11/the-u-s-army-cholera-epidemic-of-1866/index.html

P.S.  Look at page 59 of this report, which discusses the deaths.

https://li.proquest.com/elhpdf/histcontext/W4404-5.5.pdf

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Thank you Roger 

Answer 2

After the war, some Confederate soldiers settled in various places in South America, particularly Brazil.

Comments

He served in the Union Army, not the Confederate Army.

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That would make sense for the confederate vets fleeing south of the border 

Answer 3

Andrew,

You raise a most interesting point.  He was on his way to San Francisco.  Going through Nicaragua seems like a roundabout way to get there.  At first, I thought he might be traveling by ship. Then I remembered, the Panama Canal had not been built. Which brings me back to why was he in Central America?

Comments

Interesting! That is fact the Panama Canal wasn’t built at the time