COLUMBIA, S.C. — The 12 U.S. soldiers died in a pine forest in South Carolina in 1780, their bodies hastily buried beneath a thin layer of soil as their comrades fled from the British who appeared ready to put a quick and brutal end to the American Experiment.
But later this month, the carefully gathered and studied remains of the dozen unknown soldiers are getting a proper memorial and burial where they fell on the Camden battlefield. It's part of the ongoing 250th anniversary commemorations of the Revolutionary War, which historians hope will highlight history that unites instead of divides.
“Our democracy is the oldest in the world — we don't always get it right, and we have fought amongst ourselves more than I care to think about. But today, we are the most powerful country in the world. This is what you paid for with your life,” reads a letter from Air Force veteran Stacey Ferguson that was placed in the soldiers' coffins in late March as she helped prepare the remains for reburial.
But the soldiers' excavation and reburial is not only a memorial. It's also illustrative of what modern science can do. Several of the fallen were teenagers, and one had a musket ball in his spine. Their names may soon be discovered through DNA testing and genealogy.
However, there are limits to what can be discovered. Time took its toll on the bodies. Bones that didn't decompose to dust were scattered by wild animals, souvenir…
