Originally Buried Cooley’s Farm in Virginia

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

We have Pvt. William Brown Clark (1840 - 1864) who is a veteran of the glorious 106th New York Infantry Regiment Company D during the U.S. Civil War. He was “KIA” at the Battle of Cedar Creek that fateful day of October 19, 1864. He appears to have been dug up and reburied? 

The Ancestry record “U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962” does show he was originally buried  at Cooleys Farm Virginia. 

I’d like to know more about this farm? 

He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, Richville, St. Lawrence County, New York, USA; however record shows interment at Winchester National Cemetery

So the question remains where did his body get buried?

Thank you

Answer 1

The fallen at the Battle of Cedar Creek were apparently originally buried at the battlefield on Benjamin Cooley's firm.  The bodies were later reburied between September, 1866, and December, 1867, at the Winchester National Cemetery when it was established to hold the dead from numerous battles in that party of Virginia.

United States Army Quartermaster's Department, Statement of the Disposition of Some of the Bodies of Deceased Union Soldiers and Prisoners of War Whose Remains Have Been Removed to National Cemeteries in the Southern and Western States (1868), p. 11.  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Statement_of_the_Disposition_of_Some_of/aBpEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=winchester+national+cemetery+%22cooley%27s%22&pg=RA3-PA11&printsec=frontcover.

Comments

Thank you Roger 

This was a horrific battle a heck of a fight!

Per Wikipedia “In heavy fog, Early attacked before dawn and completely surprised many of the sleeping Union soldiers…”

Looking at the link source now

YouTube 

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The New York, U.S., Town Clerk's Records of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca. 1861-1865, database at ancestry.com also recites, "Killed in action with the army Oct 19th 1864 in the Battle of Cedar Creek Va. Buried with other dead on Battlefield same day."

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/187595:1964?tid=&pid=&queryId=5e60c338-6fc8-4271-a991-dff703b002f4&_phsrc=nxM1272&_phstart=successSource

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Andrew:

There is apparently a ghost story associated with Benjamin Cooley:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/murder-at-belle-grove-cedar-creek-va.110442/

                        Roger

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Ohhh that’s a good one! The U.S. Civil War theatre as its setting and the slave woman Harriet Robinson and her contention with the white mistress Hetty!

“Ghost of Belle Grove”

Are they on wiki yet?

A great find!

Here is Benjamin Barnes Cooley’s FindAGrave memorial and him on Wikitree

I wonder if Benjamin Cooley Farm is a historic spot now?

I don’t see anything on Wikipedia or Wikitree about the slave Harriet Robinson I’d love to learn more about her

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I’m assuming he is buried at Winchester National Cemetery I doubt his body made it back to Maple Grove cemetery New York unless family somehow retrieved him?

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I don't know how you'd know on removal to New York. 

The plantation - Belle Grove - is a national historic site:

https://bellegrove.org/about/history

I think that this is the Wikitree profile for Benjamin Cooley:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooley-799

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This would be a great place to visit for historic stops 

“Today the farming tradition at Belle Grove continues. Much of the property is still used for agriculture”