It has now been eight months since archaeological researchers removed the last of the more than 1,300 remains from the downtown Tucson, Arizona cemetery. According to the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, it believes it has identified at five sets of soldiers remains, some from members of the California Column dispatched to Tucson in 1862 to remove Confederate troops that briefly occupied parts of the Southwest during the Civil War.
Now tentatively identified – over 120 years after their burial:
• Sgt. John C. McQuaide: Company B, 2nd California Infantry. Arrived in Tucson in May 1862. Died July 12, 1862 from disease.
• Cpl. Paul Remy of Cologne, Prussia. Company D, 23rd U.S. Infantry: Died in Tucson May 11, 1872 from acute dysentery.
• Farrier John Foley from County Wexford, Ireland, Company D, 1st U.S. Cavalry. Died May 11, 1872 from trauma from a fall from his horse.
• Pvt. Peter Bus of Delfshaven, Holland. Company K, 21st U.S. Infantry. Died Feb. 19, 1872 from accidental gunshot to his right arm.
• Cpl. John English of Ireland. Company A, 32nd U.S. Infantry. Died July 16, 1867 of acute dysentary.
The remains of 58 U.S. soldiers stationed at the then-Fort Lowell location near the cemetery have been exhumed and will be reburied with full honors at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista on May 16.
Read more about the Tucson cemetery relocation and identifications in the April 17, 2009 edition of the Tucson Citizen.
