What Happened to Dead Bodies After Big Battles Throughout History?

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In this video:
Given we know that even Neanderthals would bury their dead (even including objects with the bodies) and various human hunter-gatherer groups likewise used to bury or cremate people at specifics sites that functioned as sort of pilgrimage locations for these nomads, it should come as no surprise that since the dawn of known warfare soldiers have pondered the question of what to do with the bodies of their fallen comrades and enemies. So what did various groups actually do throughout history?
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Sources:
www.med-dept.com/articles/qua...
www.spiegel.de/international/g...
www.remembrancetrails-northern...
www.scottmanning.com/content/s...
shannonselin.com/2016/07/napol...
www.historyextra.com/qa/soil-f...
warfarehistorynetwork.com/dail...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1...
gettysburgcompiler.org/2012/0...
www.historynet.com/grave-task...
www.nationalgeographic.com/ar...
economictimes.indiatimes.com/...
www.battlefields.org/learn/ar...
scottmanning.com/content/8-an...

[@2steaksandwiches665]

Spoke to an old man on my grandfathers ship that was there for D day. His job was to tag bodies and do inventory when he was able. This was in 2010 and the man has tears falling down his face. He said the amount of dead and carnage he saw was still raw 65 years later. I have a feeling it haunted him his whole life. When he told me the story I just let him talk. I didn’t know what to ask because I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. It was tough. God bless that man as he died shortly after our conversation.

[@bilderberg2418]

What did you do with the body?

[@Thecelestial1]

I always thought what an absolute mind f#ck it would be to see a whole boat full of dudes riddled with holes in three inches of their own blood and brains and the officers being like “ok who’s getting on next?”

[@annoninte9836]

My grandpa was in the Rhodesian war, he doesn't really talk about it at all, but I've heard him mention a couple things, like we were cooking bacon the one morning and he said that the smell reminded him of when the troops would burn bodies

[@jakethedog4397]

Thanks for sharing that ❤

[@2steaksandwiches665]

@@RenoFigaro correct. My grandfather that I referenced above, he was an alcoholic up until Maybe his 50th birthday and then went completely sober

[@kunfang5604]

I thought they just disappeared to avoid lag

[@etherealhawk]

@Miller Hailiffe #JustARMAThings

[@osmium6832]

That was a tasteless joke... that made me laugh out loud. I shall simply say shame on you and good one.

[@lauzhenzhoa]

@@lWotProductionsl stop linking subreddits outside reddit.

[@lauzhenzhoa]

and if anyone wanna jump on this and get free karma please put me in the screenshot with my comment highlighted

[@ryangrider9607]

Zelphimel there was no Israel then. Oh, and btw, you are a raving lunatic.

[@darrenchard2221]

A macabre but strangely fascinating subject, I was lucky enough to know a veteran who dealt with the dead in Europe after d day, he caught cholera and hepatitis from handling battlefield dead, his worst nightmare though was the recovering of people he had known in life, it sadly haunted him till the day he died. My eternal Respect and hope he peace in passing.

[@veramae4098]

Those soldiers had the highest suicide rates in the service. Much respect to them. My Uncle Bill was killed in WW II, field burial, then dug up and sent back to U.S.

[@lindanorris2455]

my mother worked in a US OR operating room during the war: she brought the recently dead to the Army Morgues.

[@bushmeatbandit4261]

A famous American Hunter once said that he would like his body quartered and left in the woods for the bears to eat to give back to the resource that he’s so loved. I deeply admire that.

[@harroldthered7050]

That's cool. My ego says I'm dignified enough to hopefully not be pooped out by a fat lazy animal

[@mishagermanovich]

Except for when the bears get a taste for human meat and can’t hold back the temptation 😂

[@user-ky3wp6gc5z]

Which famous American hunter said this?

[@cht2162]

Ditto@@user-ky3wp6gc5z

[@nemanjap8768]

​@@harroldthered7050yeah, you think you are so important

[@bobapbob5812]

My father was a combat infantry officer in WWII. He said after fighting the bodies were removed quickly as it was a morale issue.

[@on-jo7716]

It isn't a morale issue. Men are used to seeing bodies of the dead in warfare. What they feared was seeing disease spread through their lines and bodies shit themselves and piss themselves.

[@jamesc8709]

Very true.

[@juanelorriaga2840]

And health wise as well I’d think

[@igotaction]

Ukraine cannot clear the battlefields of their fallen soldiers, thousands of rotting Ukrainians, that's why Ukraine forces are surrendering, it is over.

[@benarchie6024]

@@igotaction lol they arent the ones surrendering

[@richb.4374]

My father served in Italy during WW 2. During his tour of duty, he was briefly assigned "Graves detail". This involved picking up the dead soldiers, collecting their dog tags for identification and loading their bodies on the backs of mules for transport to the rear for a proper burial. The reason mule trains were used is due to the very mountainous terrain in Italy. The roads were impassable by truck so they used mule trains. The mules smelled the death and many times refused to move. It was a horrible, grizzly detail my father couldn't wait to get away from.

[@thomasfoss9963]

That's SHIT DETAIL ALRIGHT-----

[@mattyl9299]

I watched a video on trench fighters during ww1, there were so many dead the bodies just blended in with the dirt and mud and many fields were covered in a sea of rotting flesh and blood soaked mud. Just imagine sitting down in a trench to catch your breath or avoid catching a bullet then after a minute or two of staring into the ground you start noticing all the faces, arms and legs mixed in with the earth around you.

[@jordaneimer2873]

It's just like doomed eternal or something out of Detsiny.

[@harroldthered7050]

Another detail, in Flanders, troops would fall full load off of the duck boards and into the mud, sometimes the men would try to help their stuck buddies and fall in too. They would drown in mud as men marched passed them, oftentimes the soldiers would beg passing troops to shoot them in the head

[@aeonsbeyond]

​@@jordaneimer2873you sound a little young to be in this discussion Jordan

[@lisamoag6548]

Like in Tolkien.

[@bouse23]

I heard a general said to a farmer who had a battle take place on his land. This years crop is ruined but you will have a bumper crop next year.

[@BrotherZael]

As an archaeologist myself I just want to reinforce that finding things is often-times equal parts luck and paperwork. The paperwork gets one into the right area, but with battlefields this area (as noted in the quoted text) can be many sq mi/km large, which you'd then have to survey typically by literally walking across the entire thing. If you are lucky/successful/rich enough to have GPRadar or some such this does go a little quicker, but even then it's hard. Usually we just lay out a grid and do what are called shovel-probes (~2m deep holes usually the width of the shovel head at set points along the grid) in order to see if something turns up. The clearest identifier is unusual patterns in the dirt, as mass graves and other areas of dirt-upheaval will have different (more uniform) coloration/mixture than the natural/undisturbed soil layers of similar depth. On top of that there is always the chance that the graves were made some distance from the battlefield, that we/the paperwork got the location wrong, or that the shovel probes just plain miss anything that's out there. And to make everything worse, typically you'd have a time limit to work on the project (not as harsh if you are working in the public/gov't sector, but still pretty restrictive) which just further adds to the chance of missing something as you always need to give up/cut out some areas you'd like to explore due to the time restraints. Anyway :D sorry for the block of text and I hope y'all have a good day!

[@joebeard4498]

Bit out of left field but what's the name of that archaeologist who paraded his wife in jewelery from supposed Greek figures and claimed to find artifacts after planting them? I think one was something he said was nestors

[@TomOkkaTom]

Well good on you for leaving some things for future generations to discover. Maybe you should also leave something in these shovel holes for future archeologists.

[@LuinTathren]

BrotherZael Thank you so much for sharing that information. Once upon a time, I wanted to be an archeologist. I ended up switching to psychology and anthropology. But archeology will always be my first love. Anyway, thanks for the info.

[@kari7403]

That's some really cool info! I'm glad you took the time to write it out.

[@sebione3576]

Couldn't you use a standard metal detector to locate a battlefield? Surely there would be fragments of weapons, armor, coins, belt buckles, something to give you some idea where to start looking. For the record I'm sure there's a reason this wouldn't work that just eludes me. That's why I'm asking :)

[@KensaiProductions]

My Paternal Grandfather served in WW2 as part of a Graves Registration Unit. He never spoke of his experiences with us.

[@thomasfoss9963]

What a gruesome task that sends chills over your body and makes you rethink about all the glory in war-----

[@philtoth8246]

@Thomas Panyi I would rather die a quick death than die with my thoughts a million times. Death by a thousand cuts...

[@stevewixom9311]

With a job like that, the stories you'd bring home are not the kind you'd ever want to share w/ your grandchildren. I'm proud of the man for just keeping those stories to himself.

[@Anarchsis]

They are the ones who saw the results of high powered weapons pounding into fragile human flesh, so it’s understandable he kept his experiences to himself.

[@icantdance6813]

My grandfather was a bridge builder. He mentioned constantly dodging bullets but stopped at that. They were so traumatised. The younger guys I've attended VA residential ptsd programs with have a lot of physical and mental problems caused by witnessing a friend explode next to them, and killing other humans. I ache for them. I served during an easier time/ place. I never saw death up close even during my 6 month cruise in the Persian Gulf Aug 1990Feb 1991.

[@radiophodity]

Eventually, all our graves go unattended. Conan O'Brien

[@cainster]

Look at his ratings. He should know.

[@googiegress7459]

@@cainster Savage but apt.

[@misaelfraga8196]

@@lfw641 I hate that old cemeteries are eventually unceremoniously removed built over. It's true after a few hundred years your grave might very well be desecrated. So what's the point? I'm think of being cremated myself. Save my kids an expensive funeral. I still would like a wake tho

[@lfw641]

@@misaelfraga8196 Yup, store up your treasures in heaven, everything here is temporary.

[@sebione3576]

@@misaelfraga8196 don't worry. I got you.

[@grahammewburn]

My father served in WWII. One of his duties was burying the fallen. Dad told me sometimes he had to wait for them to die. Then he would dig a hole and bury them.

[@becky2235]

That sounds horrendous. Could he at least comfort the dying?

[@NamNguyen-xt4yk]

jesus, and your dad not giving out a bullet to help a dying man? "had to wait"? i hope your dad was not holding hands, bring blankets or tell bed time story for the poor man during the "wait time"

[@sailorbychoice1]

Today I Found Out , Simon, I would love to know, "How old does a tomb have to be before someone digging about and taking things is no longer considered _grave-robbing,_ but archaeology?"

[@miamivicemami]

If they were poor and not white, it’s archeology and if they are rich and white it is grave robbing. See the pyramid in Egypt versus Westminster Abbey

[@absinthefandubs9130]

@@miamivicemami That's like 3k years of difference. You're supposed to know that.

[@jacrispy3275]

@@miamivicemami - you're not too bright, are you?

[@segarinnajohnson4092]

@@jacrispy3275 But it is true

[@jacrispy3275]

@@segarinnajohnson4092 - no, ancient pyramids and Westminster Abbey are pretty damn different.

[@MrGustaphe]

My home town was the stage for a battle in 1676. The battle itself was on December 4th, but the ground was frosen solid, so the ~10 000 dead were piled up next to the church until February when they could finally dig mass graves. By then, the priority was to get rid of them before they thawed, so no distinction was made between Danes and Swedes, which has lead to a poem describing it a few years later: "Here lie daring men, their bones and blood combined Among eachother so that none can be of mind That they weren't of one single faith and of one single birth And yet they could not live in peace upon one single earth" (Hans Gerner, 1681) [I took some serious liberties with the translation, and the 17th century Swanish doesn't carry over. Sorry about that.]

[@srdavis37]

It's alright. Still gets the point across.

[@ALLDAYKPOP]

Thank you for sharing that.

[@Gryphon2026]

Very interesting and sad too

[@danielgorzelniak3209]

Brother wars... so sad

[@jsoo67]

Cool poem and translation.

[@PL-rf4hy]

There's an excellent PBS documentary in the States called "Death and the Civil War" that discusses in detail the handling of the battle deaths from the U.S. Civil War (and the changed attitudes about death and dying stemming from that war). It's pretty heart-wrenching. It suggests that toward the end of the war, Confederate dead especially were left laying about all through the paths of battle, and that it was really the Daughters of the Confederacy organization that saw to it that these dead eventually got respectful burial after the war ended.

[@RivetGardener]

Having lived in Richmond, Virginia and visiting all the battlefields, yes the bodies of both sides were left to be for the vultures and time. One particular battle, Cold Harbor the bodies were left out for near 2 years until they were just bones in partial clothing before they were taken care of and buried.

[@suntzu8642]

In ancient Greece burying the dead after a battle with honors was not only usual. It was important. There were cases of soldiers being punished after a battle for leaving comrades behind or even worse if they stole from the corpse of an enemy. In my opinion that's the definition of honor.

[@marytataryn5144]

I'll grind your bones to make my bread" in Jack and the beanstalk now makes sense to me.

[@BritishJamaican777]

They would use human bones to make bone china plates, cups etc from people killed in the gas chambers. how gruesome is that?

[@JoseGranny]

@@BritishJamaican777 you watch too many movies 😆

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

@@JoseGranny You don't watch enough documentaries.

[@fiachra6052]

Aku Leet shut up

[@akuleet6029]

@@fiachra6052 Cognitive dissonance much? Pfft. It's ok, clearly you're not the only one around here kek.

[@eronacalloway9159]

Most went into MASS Graves, quickly, to avoid spreading diseases and unsanitary conditions.

[@jawn1977jaws]

The threat of a airbourne disease spreading after big battles was very real one, and many people, civilian and military alike, took to burying as many bodies as possible after battles, to prevent such a catastrophe.

[@irishrebublican7832]

@Pavor shut the Hell up

[@DCM88]

@Pavor Christianity is a judaic version of roman myths but they all focused on following a greedy, submissive and passive virgin jew who's nailed to a cross instead of chad warriors who built empires.

[@dearestterror5234]

@Zimmit's FunHouse Adventure if you're a athiest keep it to yourself you don't have to shit on someone's religion by saying it's a desease and not just a belief.

[@afreeman4302]

@Pavor what a Lefty Fucktard.I say you are a Lefty because only a lefty thinks he has the moral imperative to say such uneducated and hateful things.

[@zachquintana4998]

I’ve been watching your channel evolve for a while now, and I have to say that it’s one of my favorite biopic/random learning channels I know now. The tone used to be a little too sterile but now I feel like I’m actually getting a lesson from a personable teacher. The kind of lesson you’d get if you stayed after class during lunch to just talk.

[@mellie9633]

His dry wit is well delivered.

[@thatsthat8421]

"And those who give the orders Are not the ones to die It's Scott and young MacDonald And the likes of you and I" - There were roses, written by Thomas Sands

[@bizybliztaverage9414]

The generals will be executed :D, you're not always gonna win with an army of dumbasses and spoiled brats

[@stevesloan7132]

Politicians don't fight in the wars that they start, and maybe that's the problem. Not the generals.

[@othernerd3841]

no shit sherlock generals help win wars by strategy they are taught and trained and avoided close combat as years of training will be wasted

[@roguephantom3741]

The dead in Russia were frozen on the battlefields and lost in the snow. Packs of wolves would dig them up and eat them. This caused an increase in wolf populations. Many new wolf packs only associated humans with food. Later, the packs would start picking off elderly and children from war-torn villages. terrifying.

[@sipioc]

trevor toasty That’s horrifying

[@jeroen3657]

source?

[@HaraKiriMaxir]

sounds about right, lions in Africa also got a taste for man, during the Arab slave trade in Africa as slaves too weak to continue the journey to the middle east were left for the lions.

[@derfunkhaus]

@THX22 They microwaved them on 50% power for 3 minutes, removed the uniforms and stirred, then microwaved for another 2.5 to 3 minutes.

[@HaraKiriMaxir]

@THX22 Battle happens in winter, bodies freeze, come spring they defrost, and the wolves have a feast.

[@Rose.Of.Hizaki]

There is actually a youtube channel of an official organisation of Russian or Czech origin who go hunting for the remains of fallen WWII soldiers. They quite often find the usual things like medals, and old ammunition, weapons, bits of old uniform and some other personal effects from the deceased .... I think the channel is called ' Юрий Гагарин - Russian war diggers' When they find fallen soldiers, they try to ID them before sending back to their country of origin. Be it Russia or Germany etc etc for proper burial. I think its great that they are out there looking for the forgotten soldiers.

[@jerrywatson1958]

If it comes from russia, then it's fiction at best. You can't believe anything from russia, they are out to destroy the west from within.

[@Rose.Of.Hizaki]

@@jerrywatson1958 Yeah. Same as the garbage that comes out of Trump every time he opens his mouth? Are you sure that its not Trump thats trying to destroy the west? A small organisation try and do a bit of good by recovering people from a dark time who were forgotten and return them to their home and you gotta open your mouth and turn it into some political bullshit? Keep your tinfoil hat on. It might save you when you fall down the stairs one day.

[@skeletonwar4445]

@@jerrywatson1958 I'm sorry? So you can't trust Television, Radio, solar cells and yoghurt? Because those were all russian inventions.

[@jerrywatson1958]

@@Rose.Of.Hizaki Oh please, Trump is Putin's puppet! His hand is so far up his ass, it's covered in shit! Any organization that exist in russia today is controlled by the state! You should do your research on Russia and the cold war. Which hasn't ended. You must be too young to know the dangers in this world. Sad for you..

[@skeletonwar4445]

@@jerrywatson1958 oof nigga you gotta stop doing drugs

[@offplanetfilms]

I travelled to a few old battlefields in the UK when I was a child. The grass in the fields was so green & lush! My father told me it was probably all the historical blood & bone fertilizer!

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Certainly makes you wonder about the South American Terra Preta, given what we know about their love of mass sacrifice

[@todiathink8864]

I read somewhere that, the second battle of Manassas was fought among the bones of the FIRST battle of Manassas. Human remains were literally EVERYWHERE.

[@Princess_Celestia_]

Yes and no... The main site of the first battle was cleared of bodies, but there was a lot of men killed outside the main battle site in isolated pockets, mostly as the Union troops retreated under Confederate artillery fire.

[@melissapandina9999]

My understanding was the dead soldiers were such a problem that burial units were deployed after the war to give folk a decent burial. I kind found the comment about our civil war misleading

[@stephenmartin8331]

My grandfather was at D-Day storming the beach. He never told us anything about it, only that he had served. Later, in his 80s, my uncle took him back to France and they visited the same beach he had stormed. During the tour, the tour guide showed the group the grave markers, to which my grandfather yelled out at her, I dont know who the hell you've got buried up here, but we dug big holes on the beach and just dumped the dead all in. Unless you went and dug them up, the gravestones are a load of crap! He was mean, but honest.

[@ChasedByPenguins]

They have dug them out and moved them at times.

[@Ozbikerbsa]

Yes they did rebury them

[@cubesanthony720]

Yes this is TRUE. .and Tons of White Lime Acid was poured on them.All t0 dissolve Quicly. . God rest. There souls Amen

[@CaptainFutura]

Yes they were all dug up and re-buried in the cemetery overlooking the beach, which contains all the US dead from 3 months of fighting in Normandy. Battlefield graves were generally temporary in WW2.

[@alfonsomunoz4424]

Mean, honest and unknowing that the bodies were indeed moved.

[@kylebennion6200]

I was a quartermaster graves registration in the army. Your break down is spot on. We are now called mortuary affairs specialists.

[@StephiSensei26]

"Where have all the young men gone? Gone to flowers everyone." We are a strange species, by any measure.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

As long as we keep producing young Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots ...

[@kimberlystratton7585]

Isn't that a song?

[@mickmccrory8534]

When will they ever learn..? When will they ever learn.?

[@americaforever]

@@StephiSensei26 Pete Seeger wrote it. He was a member of almost every communist front in existence. His idea of peace meant a lack of resistance to communism.

[@sovereignindividual2625]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver Keep bullying people and find out

[@truesonofliberty3267]

"We are insects, crawling on a muddy ball, devouring one another." - Voltaire

[@littledeadridinghood5253]

Very accurate

[@truesonofliberty3267]

@@littledeadridinghood5253 Here is something else that is accurate. kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4mqqYWBoaZqZqM

[@jemleye]

During WW2, Winter War to be exact, Finland became the first country to meticulously recover every deceased soldier possible (during continuation war even from hundreds of kilometers away from beyond the lines) and sending them all the way back to the village or town they had lived in so that their family could bury them in their home cemetery. This has been said to have been one of the factors that kept the Finnish morale and willingness to sacrifice themselves for their independence high during the onslaught of the Red Army.

[@tonikotinurmi9012]

About ww2 I wondered the same-not a word of winter war or continuation war. This may have been greatest psychological victory; Finns did try to bring most of their fallen ones (and thus leave USSR for their advancing troops to see). So, while slowly giving territory (sometimes not slowly though), Finns gave the impression that for every dead Finn there were 100 or so dead USSR soldier. So both Finns got solace and USSR soldiers got afraid...

[@lucyterrier7905]

My father at age 12 had to dig large ditches so those killed in WW 2 could be burried. He was born & raised in Poland. We heard all the horrible war stories as we grew up.

[@jeremyreid9582]

“Where did all the dead bodies go?” They are all sitting in the Senate.

[@MCAndyT]

What is that word he keeps saying? And why does he keep saying it like it's a word I would recognize? senate-aff?

[@SPSlovesmusic]

@@MCAndyT Simon was saying 'cenotaph' which is: a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere.

[@MCAndyT]

@@SPSlovesmusic Thank you!

[@jasperbooth6383]

HIIIIIII- OOOOOOOOOOHH!!!!!

[@oscardog6719]

Jeremy Reid they all voted for Biden😁

[@ericbrandenburg9267]

My ancestor Peter Bristow was a Confederate soldier who died in Petersburg VA at the battle of the Crater. It was a huge explosion, and his remains could not be identified. The Union troops callously tossed his remains in, with many others, in a mass grave. His marker is at Gloucester Courthouse where his name is carved on a monument.

[@Gottaculat]

Makes one wonder just how dark the origins of the Tooth Fairy may be...

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

And what else did he do to the stricken wounded and dead besides take their teeth!

[@someperson7]

Wondering things like that will not lead to happiness

[@megaflamer]

like most fey myths its of norse origin. the milk teeth of children (specifically from your own family members) was thought to bring good luck to warriors and so children would be rewarded in some form for them. Usually by placing the teeth in some secluded space where they would then 'transform' into the reward. This tradition is the earliest recorded of the tooth fairy. Of course once it spread further south Europe did as Europe does and turned it into a bunch of horror stories to scare children (among others it was said if a witch got their hands on your teeth they would have total control of you)

[@TheDevler23]

Whoa...that line in jack and the beanstalk finally makes sense to me and is the creepiest thing ever..."Fee fie foe fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll crush his bones to make my bread" This isn't exactly how I expected to start my day today...

[@lordgarion514]

You should Google "dark meanings of children's stories".

[@Nobody-11B]

They'll give you a new outlook on things.

[@Beryllahawk]

Same. I should know better than to watch Simon if I have food in front of me...seems like every time I end up watching something that puts me right off of eating. The teeth of dead men as dentures. Gad. -shudder- Though this makes the whole battlefield scene with Thenardier (in Les Miserables - novel, not the stage adaptations lol) even more grimly humorous. The guy is literally robbing dead French soldiers; but he then is also wearing one of the uniforms he has pilfered, stealing the dead man's reputation right along with his valuables. Talk about dark comedy.

[@punchfukker3383]

_♪ashes, ashes, we all fall down!♪_

[@mirkokvesic1598]

Fa from faich (fa!) "behold!" or "see!"Fe from Fiadh (fee-a) "food";Fi from fiú "good to eat"Fo from fogh (fó) "sufficient" andFum from feum "hunger". Thus "Fa fe fi fo fum!" becomes "Behold food, good to eat, sufficient for my hunger. Yes copy/paste, but interesting

[@mike-carrigan]

Thank you for speaking so positively of the Graves Registrations Corp. I just retired from them a couple of yeas ago, now called Mortuary Affairs.

[@AliceinDisneyWorld1125]

My boyfriend's family just found out they had a family member who was in the Civil War. His head was blown off by a cannon, and they buried him where they found him on the battlefield to keep the troops from seeing him and losing morale.

[@nunyabusiness4904]

It's important to know that the dead from the Battle of Gettysburg were mostly just left where they fell and after the battle was over and the residents of Gettysburg returned home they found thousands of dead bodies littering their streets, fields and even in their homes, these people had to clean up after the battle, many soldiers ended up in unmarked mass graves and occasionally these graves are still found today, these days when a grave is found the body is relocated to a more suitable burial spot. If it is determined that the body belongs to a Confederate soldier their remains are shipped to Richmond VA before going to their final resting place because Richmond was the capitol of the CSA and therefore the capitol of the nation they fought for.

[@bz1mm]

Nunya Business Did you just blow in from stupid town? President Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address from the recently created Gettysburg Ntl Cemetery. All the Union Dead were burried and had headstones within a couple of months.

[@nunyabusiness4904]

@@bz1mm no I didn't blow in from stupid town, but I am from the Gettysburg area and have been there many times, the local history fascinates me so I've taken several tours and spoken to people who work in the national park about it, one of the schools in the area found a mass grave in the 90s while they were building a set of bleachers for their football field.

[@frankperkin124]

The US government gave out contracts for burial soon after the battle. Union graves were marked if possible, and Confederates were buried in mass graves. After siting in the hot sun for a few weeks, often you had to use buttons to identify the side. But then, many Confederate uniforms used Federal buttons.

[@PiratePete-te8qp]

I thought Montgomery Alabama was the Confederate capital.

[@RikoJAmado]

I have to say I am impressed by how eloquently many of those soldiers were able to narrate their experiences. Any of them could have gone on to write vivid works of literature.

[@MsHarpsychord]

People definitely valued being about to write centuries ago. Very few people could read and write so those who were lucky enough wanted to leave a good impression.

[@juanmonge8]

The writing seems “aristocratic”. I doubt a common soldier could write so well.

[@whiskey1mantis357]

@juan monge Then you should read letters written by combatants from America's civil war. They were very eloquent and descriptive.

[@RadenWA]

Maybe back in the day not everyone has an education that teaches them how to read and write so if they can write, then they would come from a higher class background.

[@chupacabra9357]

They might've been embellished and stuff to make it sound better.

[@castleanthrax1833]

You've got to love the eloquent description the bloke gave after waking up with only a hat and a boot. You'd think he'd say "I woke up after being shot and some bastard was trying to steal the only shoe I had left".

[@tSp289]

Surprised to find no mention of Visby! One of the only exaples of a battlefield not picked clean, proibably because the battle went on for days under a very hot sun, so by the time it was over, no one was too keen to strip the bodies and they just buried them, armour and all. The anerobic conditions caused by all the decay also meant much of the iron armour was preserved. Some of the best examples of un-tarnished medieval armour come from this battle.

[@Worldopain]

My grandfather was an engineer that drove a bulldozer in the Navy during World War 2. He landed on the beach at Okinawa at night after the battle. He said they pitched tents in the dark only to find out they had slept on top of bodies. It was his job to make the mass graves.. He didn't really talk about it. I just recently found a picture of the battlefield from that morning in his stuff.

[@GeneralKaleRan]

Would you be willing to show it?

[@healththenopulence5106]

Yeah, you are in possesion of a historical piece please share it untill America goes to war with Venezuela. We need more pictures like this, hopefully people will realize war is hell. If pictures of the cut off limbs and ground meat on the battlefields were everywhere, people would be more reluctant to go to war.

[@Torgo1969]

I hear you. Every day I look at an old pic of my grandfather in his USMC days as an infantryman in Guam. He's thin and shirtless and unsmiling in his muddy boots. I don't know whether that pic was taken before or after he saw his buddy Cooksey take a bullet to the head.

[@craiggraves5599]

I always listen to soldiers stories. The real truth and feeling of being there. I would love to see those pictures

[@underwaterdick]

@@craiggraves5599 the real truth isn't just the stories. It's the look in their eyes every time something reminds them of war, it's the things they either avoid doing or feel a compulsion to do because of their time at war. It is the respect or hate that they show for their once enemy.

[@VerdeMorte]

Spartans considered childbirth a type of honorable battle... Huh... THE MORE YOU KNOW!

[@chocolatebudgie]

Well... more the only way a woman could claim some of the warrior's glory that was so central to their violent society.

[@donnabarronpatreon6733]

Yup. More women have died in childbirth than ever men in war. We’re an over-specialized species. Then again, our brain size is shrinking (partly due to becoming more efficient, like bird and fish brains), so that may help a bit.

[@PeacefulJoint]

@@donnabarronpatreon6733 That's a god damn lie only a feminist would try to claim as truth.

[@origamiandcats6873]

@Peaceful joint 300,000 women die in childbirth globally but many more died in the past. 2% of women who gave birth died. So it's probably true.

[@PeacefulJoint]

@@origamiandcats6873 I'm not gonna bother posting any stats in the likely hood you don't really care about the truth. If you do care to learn the truth, simply Google "historical war death statistics". But keep in mind those numbers don't include civilians killed.

[@patrickm4935]

Gettysburg has a crazy history. The Union had deep graves, the losing side were put in mass shallow graves. History has it heavy rains in the area would uncover bodies for decades. The smell was also said to have lasted decades as well. Very interesting place to visit.

[@markokrasa3584]

I hope you get all the likes and good comments that you deserve. I’m so enthralled by the depth into subject-matter in your episodes that it passes me by completely. My god

[@hankhammer1776]

Young men: History's proven most expendable commodity.

[@Torgo1969]

But women have always been the primary victims of war!

[@Torgo1969]

@@ForeeverActanonverba That infamous Hillary Clinton quote (for which she has never apologized, to my knowledge) should have been enough to prevent her from coming anywhere close to being elected to public office. That she was elected to the Senate and came close to being elected POTUS really shows how little so many people care about the male half of the human race.

[@hozman5700]

@@Torgo1969 women are considered spoils of war

[@Torgo1969]

@@hozman5700 Why is that? Is it because they would rather submit to the conqueror instead of fighting to the death to protect their loved ones?

[@hozman5700]

@@Torgo1969 What choice would they have? Either way women are naturally programmed to prefer sleeping with whoever is the dominate male at the time. In the event of a sack thousands of women would be raped. The victorious men would simply belive it's their right as bad as that sounds.

[@2HRTS1LOVE]

There are some great videos here on yt of Russian military cadets digging up battlefields around the former Stalingrad and Leningrad areas, recovering the remains of both Russian and German soldiers and giving them respectful burials. It's a difficult, back breaking job, they find all kinds of artifacts, but their dedication and honor in that job is inspiring. Well worth the watch.

[@davidfortier6976]

Dedication and honor? I think you should look into how the USSR "incentivized" its military personnel.

[@bmolitor615]

@@davidfortier6976 maybe actually watch the videos in question before you get triggered by the mention of "Russia" and start spewing random and in this case completely irrelevant venom.

[@wannacashmeoutside]

In memory of all the soldiers who went to war and never came back, and bodies never recovered ❤ you are not forgotten.

[@philipe7937]

Very interesting, I always wondered what happened to all those bodies after a big battle. Thank you for the video.

[@baragoth]

In 1520 there was a large battle in Uppsala, Sweden, against Denmark, consisting of some 6000 soldiers, called Good Friday Battle. The dead were left on the ground and soon it was completely forgotten. Not until 2001 was a very large massgrave uncovered in the middle of central Uppsala and the battle was recognized.

[@criticalhard]

They should have left the bodies there...

[@baragoth]

@@criticalhard They actually did. They dug up bones from around 60 individuals before they stopped. There are probably still hundreds left and not to deep under ground either. Like literally just beneath the soil.

[@uruiamnot]

Who won?

[@baragoth]

@@uruiamnot It was during heavy snow and the danes had problems keeping their guns dry. The swedes did not have that problem with their axes. The danes retreated and the swedes thought they had won and started plundering the battlefield which gave the danes enough time to arrange a counterattack which ultimately won the battle.

[@marinanjer4293]

500 years!!? Bones can be so pesky😒😒😒

[@marychace1011]

My grandfather was in France during WWI. After the Armistice was signed, his unit, along with others, was tasked with recovering bodies from No Man's Land and burying them in a grave.

[@scammicus7110]

Identity disks, or "Dog Tags" come in two pieces. In "extremis" situations where forces are isolated and normal casualty evacuation isn't possible (airborne, airmobile, SOF or just cut off) has a special protocol. One tag is wedged in the mouth and secured by a kick to the jaw before burying and marking the location of the fallen soldier when transport of the remains is not possible. This ensures that whatever else might happen, the skull can be identified. That location and the remaining tags, are passed back, up the chain of command, for the graves registration teams to recover them when conditions permit. Given that a significant majority of casualties on the modern battlefield are head trauma you can see the challenge. I wouldn't be surprised if future conflicts see the use of microchips so medics can scan soldiers for ID, which could be removed after active service.

[@MichaelsGuns]

There's a reason most of us today (OEF/OIF) have one dog tag in our boots through the laces and another in our pocket through the belt loop.

[@KevinBenecke]

I the more recent wars such as WW1 and WW2 when they had things like tanks and other vehicles, I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the graves are where the person fell because during the course of battle, the tanks and vehicles most likely wouldn't slow down for a dead or dying body. They would most likely have run right over and crushed it. The only way to collect those bodies would be with a shovel and a sponge. So most likely they were left where they fell. I'm not trying to sound gross. But it would be the truth.

[@thatgirlinokc3975]

Bless the souls of the unknown soldiers. 💙

[@MrBryan-hr1rp]

@@MicrophoneHell-ec3bm It seems like you can't go through 2019 without someone looking too much into a sentence and getting triggered

[@thatgirlinokc3975]

@@MicrophoneHell-ec3bm and many were not. Military personnel take commands. Only a few make those commands. Pick a positive reason, any reason, to hope all those who died rest in peace. Bless your heart as well❤

[@uglyweirdo1389]

@@MicrophoneHell-ec3bm I've always wondered how military service gives moral superiority. My opinion has been that the opposite is true.

[@uglyweirdo1389]

@@MicrophoneHell-ec3bm lol

[@MistahBryan]

@@MicrophoneHell-ec3bm Well, ain't you a cup of bitter piss. :/

[@jackhaugh]

I did a horse back tour of Gettysburg battlefield this past summer that ended up being 4.5 hours long. The last half hour was spent discussing the removal of not just human but horse remains from the battlefield. Horses had an incredibly short life span during the US Cival War. I believe something like 17 days for a Calvary horse and 2 months for a draft horse. There were over 500,000 horses killed at Gettysburg, something that is often overlooked, and over 1/4 of all the horses in the US died during the Cival War.

[@bernarddavis1050]

Half a million horses killed in one battle? Come off it, someone been pulling your leg.. Divide that by 100 and I might start believing you.

[@ubertroopertv1557]

It is a great question. My first thought on it though would be that surely mass graves give you an incredible archeological footprint. If we can find the odd caveman after 10’s of thousands of years, then surely the locating of mass graves from the past 2000 years would be easy to find. The bodies will never be far from the sight of battle. Nobody is carting 100’s of bodies for miles, especially if they are a fallen adversary.

[@richhughes7450]

Exactly. If they wanted to find em, they could easily. I know it would have been and would be expensive, but ww1 warfair is notorious for the 100s of thousands of bodies missing. These poor souls deserve to be found and given a proper burial. arceological digs to uncover trenches bunkers etc have uncovered bodies without even trying.

[@jefflarson1652]

@@richhughes7450 What is a proper burial and why would the dead care? People have an abnormal obsession with what has become an archaic process.

[@richhughes7450]

@@jefflarson1652 called respect. Do you think any one of them soldiers would want to be left buried in an unknown grave. Their families should have had a grave to visit cos that's what families do

[@jefflarson1652]

@@richhughes7450 Well, as a fan of cremation over the grossness of planting people in the ground, I figure that when I'm dead, I really don't care where my body ends up. I would never "visit" a family member in a cemetery either. I want my memories to be of people I loved when they were alive, not confined to some somber place. You want to celebrate a lost one's life? Have a party on their birthday and invite people to reminisce about the great times enjoyed together.

[@richhughes7450]

@@jefflarson1652 I get your point but mothers fathers sons and daughters like to have a place to visit their loved ones. I too don't care what happens to my body when I snuff it but I'm in a minority.

[@hejla4524]

You can still see the burial mounds from the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) in Greece.

[@sirrathersplendid4825]

When you consider warriors carried much of their wealth on their back it's hardly surprising they were stripped. Weapons and armour were horrifically expensive at the time. A suit of ringmail was worth several cows. Clothing too, was relatively far more pricey than it is today. The cloth from a uniform might be worth several months of work to a labourer.

[@patricioansaldi8021]

clothes, armor, weapons: all things that were carefully worked and would have lasted many lifetimes when cared for, passed down through generations. it is quite noteworthy that the spartans would honor their dead by leaving that precious bounty behind.

[@ptbot3294]

Still continue today with all the gears U.S. soldiers wear. But if you happen upon the corpse of a taliban probably nothing much of value

[@johnm3152]

"Hey, these boots fit!" -- the Unknown Soldier

[@elPominator]

"I like that coat" - - Marv

[@Pau_Pau9]

"There is piece of bread in his coat pocket! Oooh nice, pocket watch!"

[@seoulkidd1]

If you die first we splitting up your gear

[@AutoFirePad]

Hmmm I'm hungry....

[@Trappy-C]

Nice ass...mn hair hasn't fallen off yet lmfao lol hahaha

[@chrisc475]

8:03 Bones from battlefields were also collected, ground down and used in fine bone china.

[@btuesday]

An elderly man years ago told me he grew up on a farm that was part of a Civil War battle ground. In the 1920s and 30s, whenever there was a great rain a skeleton or two would be discovered.

[@justhuman3977]

After the battle of Arnhem (Netherlands) in sept 1944, most of the German deaths in the town of Oosterbeek were collected to be buried at German cemeteries and the allied ones buried on spot where they fell by the civilians ( my grandmother had to partake in this) who then were ordered to evacuate the area. The remainder of the British casualties however were left behind, witness accounts as they returned in 1945 tell of horrible scenes as they entered their abandoned houses only to find the fallen still inside.. They were left in the woods,houses and gardens and were removed after the liberation in May 1945. Police reports indicate that as far as the 70"s still remains were found on the surface of the woods and in gardens, and even today they are still being found at work sites and so on. This is just one battlefield.. I can only imagine that our blood soaked earth must hide the remains of those who came before us somewhere, but wherever they are, they rest in peace and should stay that way.

[@tommygunn63]

Only a few years ago an Allied soldier, I think Commonwealth, was found in someones garden.

[@Naivebraulio]

dude, it's like the 3rd time that I clicked on the video thinking that it was Michale from Vsauce

[@nejnej00]

He's multiplying

[@LOLImBaker]

You watched this three times? Lmao

[@hollowtrove3492]

I've mistaken him for Michale as well, lol

[@cristianduque2879]

uhhh, i thought something was diferente in diferente on this video but i couldn't notice what was it...

[@zerofriends5592]

Vsauce has a video on this identification issue. Look it up

[@johnwright9372]

In his autobiography Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves describes how the WWI recovered British dead and wounded were relieved of their valuables by the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) including watches, rings and money. The soldiers in the trenches nicknamed the RAMC "Rob All My Comrades". He also describes his regiment marching to the front along trenches. Lying on the lip of one trench was a dead soldier whose arm was hanging down and some of the passing soldiers would high five the dead hand with a greeting. Such was the black humour.

[@scottsarchitecturehildebra1761]

You do a fantastic presentation. Thanks so much for your efforts.......

[@squamish4244]

One Roman centurion who was killed in the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest in Germany and whose remains were never recovered had a tombstone erected in his hometown in Italy that survives to this day. The inscription reads: _"To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, from Bologna, first centurion of the eighteenth legion. ​53 1/2 years old. He fell in the Varian War. His freedman's bones may be interred here. Publius Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, his brother, erected this monument."_

[@sumanmikhail]

May God bless his soul!!

[@squamish4244]

Amen.

[@SoWhat1221]

I'd just like to point out that this individual was almost certainly a pagan, since this battle happened in the year 9 AD.

[@squamish4244]

I think the man would have appreciated the sentiment ;)

[@richardrobertson1331]

The Roman soldiers were promised if they were mortally wounded in battle, their commanding officer would send out an "auditor" after the battle to listen for any soldier still breathing (hence the origin of the title . . . using his auditory capabilities). His job was to dispatch any soldier still breathing, since it was assumed a severely wounded soldier would otherwise die a miserable death from infection.

[@williamotoole8666]

Fascinating. Do you have a reference for that?

[@tnhl77]

I'm a night auditor at a hotel makes my job sounds so much darker

[@richardrobertson1331]

@@williamotoole8666 A well-read friend told this to me several years ago. I found it fascinating, as well, having never heard it from another source (before or since). I have since moved away from that friend and have lost contact with him. I should have pursued it at the time since a quick check on the web provides no confirmation. Thanks for asking.

[@beefyblocks]

@@richardrobertson1331 if thats is actually true it is a pretty cool origin.

[@ssgtsimmons2327]

tnhl77 what are the odds I find someone with the same job as me. Hampton?

[@wannacashmeoutside]

Two of my great grandpas (my maternal grandmas dad and maternal grandpas dad) both left to war when my grandparents were babies and never returned, their bodies never recovered. 💔

[@krisfrederick5001]

I've often wondered how much of the Earth's sand and soil contains the remains of all of these people of all these Wars.

[@jamesjvis6823]

Well, people have been dying as long as we have been alive, and almost all are part of the Earth in some way by now.

[@smesh4190]

Very little % compared to the volume of earths land tbh, mayne 0.01%

[@russiannpcbot6408]

None in oil. Oil reserves are typically created by ancient decomposed plants at the bottom of ancient seas. Many of these sea beds are now above sea level, so we can easily access them.

[@garyg7647]

@axi seve soylent green

[@russellmurray3964]

@@garyg7647 I dont' know if you've heard this or not, but . . . it's made out of PEOPLE!

[@spelunkerd]

One day in the winter I found a dead coyote a few feet from a rattlesnake hibernacula. I wondered if it died in the fall just as the snakes were returning to the den. In any case, I visited the area every week for a year, and was witness to how the coyote body decayed. As spring emerged it quickly decayed, consumed by insects, bacteria, and scavengers. After a few weeks of warm weather there was a fatty layer of organic matter seeping into underlying soil, with loose fir scattered about, bones sticking through. Within a few months there was only a scattered pile of bones. Then over the summer, animals took those bones away so that within a year, all evidence of the corpse was completely gone. The emerging grass in the area did better over the next few seasons. If bodies are not protected by overlying dirt they quickly disappear, and even the bones don't stay in one place for very long. Even if dead soldiers are left to rot on the surface, not much remains after a year or so.

[@giorgiol77]

spelunkerd I love it when comments are as good as the video. Thanks for your participation

[@frankspikes4867]

I find it most entresting that most organic matter is bio degradable.

[@passmethesaltplease9350]

Same with humans obviously, its crazy imo

[@119winters5]

@@wunderlichcatt4420 Can you like fuck off with your shitty advertisement honestly, you dont even have any of those "videos" you just mentioned why the fuck are you here ? Are you really interested on the decomposition of organic matters or just to post shit like that to attract horny 12 year olds

[@v44n7]

@@119winters5 relax man, its a bot

[@stevenmartines8872]

When I was in New Jersey for work I drove past an old cemetery with a large tombstone marking a mass grave of British & Prussian soldiers from the Revolutionary War.

[@XRioteerXBoyX]

What were Prussian soldiers doing in New Jersey? Any idea of what the battle was called? I'd like to look into this further. Thanks in advance! 👍

[@stevenmartines8872]

@@XRioteerXBoyX The Prussians were hired by the British as mercenaries to help them. Not sure what the battle was, as I am not familiar with the local history there. Just read the giant headstone in the cemetery while I was sitting at a red light.

[@wrangle123]

hessians or prussians?

[@angrytedtalks]

Nice to know that George Washington remembered the British he betrayed and murdered. He was a very poor army leader and was guilty of many war crimes.

[@thomasfoss9963]

@@angrytedtalks Calm down there Angry Ted- He wasnt the best military strategist but I'm not sure about any attrocities------

[@sannelahm9322]

Am I the only one who loves that the Spartans gave their women died in childbirth a gravestone like a warrior? ❤

[@notreallydavid]

'in regards to' - ouch! That ear-grinding plural... 'with/in regard to', or (better) 'regarding' Great video; loved the excerpts from historical texts.

[@1973Washu]

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow between the crosses row by row.

[@savigemjd]

That mark our place, and in the sky, the larks still bravely singing fly.

[@CreatorCade]

Scarce heard amid the guns below we are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn and saw sunsets glow, love and were loved...

[@user-qj1bt1uv2n]

and now we lie In Flanders field.

[@Nobody-11B]

Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch, be yours to hold it high! If you break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

[@Seadog7981]

Epar.

[@stopspammingmesrsly]

"war is sweet to those with no experience of it"

[@Meegwun]

Which is why gullible young men are so easily duped into it. Does anyone else see the irony of that truism juxtaposed with "today's sponsor"? Fuck sakes.

[@DovahFett]

Unless you're a general that enjoys the thrills of it, like Alexander and Caesar. To some the experience is what makes it sweet. Maybe it's because they were generals and not soldiers.

[@skybot9998]

All wars are popular for the first two weeks.

[@RadenWA]

yeah, just like those people who went to join ISIS

[@cdjhyoung]

Have you ever noticed that the old soldiers that talk the most about the war are the ones that were furthest removed from the flying bullets? The ones that watched as their buddies died and barely avoided death themselves are never the ones talking about the glory of war.

[@MatiasGeraldoThe2nd]

Painfully incredibly interesting. Thank you for this!!

[@mrmkieselbach]

Thanks, this is a great question and an excellent explanation.

[@davidm3118]

One of the frightening things discovered after the fall of the Soviet Union was how often battlefield casualties - Axis and Soviet, were just not recovered. Despite the great memorial of the Mamayev Kurgan at Volgograd (Stalingrad) it was discovered that there were still areas - now forested - that held the bones thousands corpses untouched since 1943....

[@trumpetmano]

True, I have a couple of Russian and Ukrainian friends who metal detect WWII Battlefields and they'll tell you there are FIELDS and FIELDS of bones in Russia and the Ukraine...

[@plazmica0323]

Well hundreds of thousands died there, not to mention more after war to today. Digging up all of them would require real army of diggers and several years.

[@intersanctum]

@@plazmica0323 Millions.

[@danielebrparish4271]

Some of those were secret burials that was part of Stalin's massacre of captured Polish military personnel when he divided up Poland with Hitler. Many millions more were the result of his collectivization policies. It was illegal to write anything about these places until 1991 when Yeltsin exposed them as part of his campaign to unseat Gorbachev. They also released their plans to exterminate the people in three other cities as well as those in Soviet prisons. The coverup is known in the West as the Katyn Lie.

[@danielebrparish4271]

Some of those were secret burials that was part of Stalin's massacre of captured Polish military personnel when he divided up Poland with Hitler. Many millions more were the result of his collectivization policies. It was illegal to write anything about these places until 1991 when Yeltsin exposed them as part of his campaign to unseat Gorbachev. They also released their plans to exterminate the people in three other cities as well as those in Soviet prisons. The coverup is known in the West as the Katyn Lie.

[@deano43]

Feel bad for all of the unknown or forgotten that died in war.

[@LeDuckDuckGoose]

You will be forgotten too when you die. Who really cares?

[@lipeng3937]

@@LeDuckDuckGoose the difference is they sacrificed their lives to protect their country, that deserves to be memorialized.

[@LeDuckDuckGoose]

@@lipeng3937 My point is for how long? How many generations do we have to remember? Should we be remembering those who died in battles during A.D that lead to our lives? Are their lives worth less because it happened so long ago?

[@jimmys1128]

Feel good for all the unknown or forgotten that did good acts.

[@akasteveps5805]

where did all the bodies go, lets see there were no dead bodies, check out all the photos from all wars no fighting no battles no bodies no wars

[@MarkBarrett]

That's harsh. Your own comrades stipping you while still alive, only to leave you to die in pain. "Coup de grace."

[@JR-ly2pu]

Fighting against your enemy just to be thrown into a landfill next to them like rubbish all while your king eats his mutton and sleeps wonderfully not even knowing your sacrifice.

[@rogersheddy.8497]

Regarding the American Civil War: Benjamin Butler who was called by the Confederate sympathizers "Beast Butler" once tried a man who was a sympathizer who was walking around in bars and taverns in New Orleans claiming he have a cross made from the Bones from a Yankee Soldier and he was exhibiting this cross to people. Butler had him arrested and tried and he sentenced the man to two years hard labor. as this was well before the end of the war it's a certainty that the man had served out his full term if he did not die in the meantime. Most of the battles were fought in the South, many of them on southern farms. When these soldiers fell there, the Confederates and locals would often gather the bodies of their soldiers and make sure they were buried. If they buried the union dead it was usually very shallow and on the spot. Post-war, dirt poor farmers were plowing their land. You might recall that there was such a thing as the bone and rag man. Firms in the north often send agents to purchase Bones from the southern farmers-- as Horses made excellent targets many of them were killed so they would buy horse Bones from them. At least that was the idea. The southern farmers would often mix in other bones with these horse bones and apparently the agents didn't ask any questions. See, they were paid by the pound. In addition to that the southern Farmers would pick up bullets and save them to sell to scrap dealers for the lead brought $0.04 per pound. Of course compare that to the price of a civil war bullet today... Once a very big hairy fellow walked into a pizza joint where I was sitting down with some friends and he was talking about how he went metal detecting all around the South and he was finding all these really cool artifacts and he boasted about digging up a lot of Yankees talking about the belt buckles and buttons he was pulling up out of the ground. I did not have a chance to tell him that a fair number of these "Yankees" might actually have been Confederates. To know the difference he would have to look at the direction the buckle was facing. Even as early as 1862 the Confederacy was chronically short of uniforms so they often took captured Union material and used that. There are comments about almost entire regiments wearing Union uniforms and carrying their Confederate battle Flags. The way they would demonstrate conclusively that they were Confederates and not Yankees was to take the belt plates that read "US" and turn them upside down. Now if you find a belt buckle and you use your metal detector to find the buttons for the uniform blouse. If there are four or five buttons in a line above the letters "US" then it is being worn in a union fashion. If when you see the words "US," the buttons look like they're below the letters, then you have found a rebel. This fellow could have dug up his great-great-grandpappy and not even known it.

[@MrBottlecapBill]

@Matthew Chenault As someone who metal detects, I can assure you they aren't finding buried bodies. The machines don't have the power to find anything that deep. Anything deep enough to avoid the farm plows is too deep to attract a metal detector. If however the graves were shallow and the farm plows had already dug up and destroyed the bodies, the guy metal detecting wouldn't know the difference. As stated, most valuables would NOT be left on the bodies to be dug up later, they would be reused or recycled. That stuff was expensive. Stop using your indiana jones imaginations.

[@jacobthompson9871]

You have no idea what you are talking about. There is ONE, one photograph of a confederate soldier wearing a US belt plate upside down. There are more of Union soldiers doing this. The commonly accepted explanation is that they are dragoon belt plates from before the war that buckle in the opposite direction, hence being turned upside down. As far as Confederates, it was only a minority that wore US plates, and US gear in general. The Confederacy was able to supply most of its soldiers at the state or national level with their own CS plates and buckles and even accouterments. Often they wore civilian style buckles, more so than US marked plates. Of course there were times when Confederate armies were under-equipped, but it is LAUGHABLE that you would suggest entire regiments were kitted out in Union uniforms. Unless you are speaking of 1st Mananas/Bull Run that is a flat out lie. North Carolina had stockpiles of coats at the end of the war. Lee's Army was well supplied at Petersburg in 1864. When discussing equipment and uniforms, one has to look at each campaign. Sherman's soldiers were as rag tag as any confederate army during their march to the sea in 64. There are plenty of accounts of entire armies being in tatters on campaign and getting resupplied with new equipment and uniforms. All you have to do is look at quartermaster reports and first hand accounts. You can find reports at blueandgreymarching.com for example and see hwat each regiment received at what date in certain armies. It is not all inclusive but it is a good reference. On the note of war dead, you are making total and grossly inaccurate generalizations. The Confederates did not avoid burying Union dead... That is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Both sides buried all the dead from a battlefield, and went to great lengths to do it. They did not ignore bodies from one side. Usually, they had combined mass graves or separated into Union mass graves and Confederate mass graves. Case in point, Battery Wagner, 1864. A Union assault failed to take the fort. In this force were a very large number of African American soldiers of the 54th Mass. The Union dead were buried in a mass grave in front of the fort, including the African-American soldiers, even though it remained under siege. Granted, they were probably given a respite to bury the dead. But why, may I ask, would you dare suggest Confederates ignored Union dead when the garrison of Wagner, who had little reason when they knew the battle was not over, buried their Union attackers? They could have piled the dead in front of the works as another obstacle for the next assault, or they could have left them there to rot and discourage the next assault. No, they buried them. By and large, both sides respected each other as belligerents, especially when it came to the dead, wounded, and, to a slightly lesser extent, prisoner. There were times where the armies moved on quickly and the civilian population was not up to the task of burial. These are the times when the dead of BOTH sides would have been left in the open and were sometimes rediscovered. Such is the case at the Battle of the Wilderness. It was fought in dense woodland in northwestern Virginia. Much of this battlefield had been subject to a battle a year earlier as part of the battle of Chancellorsville. Soldiers from both sides found dead from the previous year's battle. Bones picked clean by animals, bleached in the sun. If there was any "disrespect" shown Civil War dead, its the fact that many national battlefields have national cemeteries where only Union bodies were buried after being exhumed from mass graves. Confederates at these same battlefields remain in mass graves.

[@rogersheddy.8497]

B K. I am trained in archaeology, and have read many accounts. Lots of ground was not farmed then, still is not today. Bodies and even grouped burials are still found. Read other comments here as to shallow burials. There are accounts of soldiers marching past old battlefields, observing dead from those battles, still there, exposed.

[@rogersheddy.8497]

J T I've gone through plenty of first-person accounts and the references to the fertilizer collectors are well-known from people going about in the 1870s even the 1880s. It was not uncommon for a Confederate officer to take a Federal Jacket which was often better made of superior wool and affix Confederate Insignia and piping on it. One account I remember quite clearly the officer wrote to his wife saying that he was going to put his good coat in his baggage and wear "the old tattered one" because of several incidents he saw in which some of his own men were killed by others of his men because of mistaking them for Yankees--because of the salvaged uniforms they were wearing. His good coat had formerly been a federal Captain's coat to which he had a fixed Confederate insignia including all the sleeve trimmings. If you look at what our friend Simon says it was not uncommon at all for people to strip the dead of both sides because any coat any jacket was worth good money and could be sold to anyone even civilians. Besides if a man is freezing in the winter and there's a nice heavy blue wool Cape that he can wear over his gray uniform I should think he would take that Advantage rather than stand there and freeze to death. that's a human response to Natural situations. There were so many people buried in so many out-of-the-way places that wind farms went back in the cultivation years later a lot of this was happening. Just like the noble savage, there's the idea of the Grand Cavalier the southern gentleman Who Never Was ever morally wrong. We know that was not always the truth.

[@meeeka]

Roger Sheddy. Somehow, I don’t think it would have made much difference to that fellow. Quite the contrary.

[@richardpowell4281]

"Good day for the crows"- Agamemnon [Troy]

[@hisexcellencypresidentofre4118]

Could you guess why vultures and other birds of prey came circling the battle field just before the battle begins? Because there's gonna be a feast.

[@1xoACEox1]

Lol that was on tv last night

[@Mirokuofnite]

Murder of crows, unkindness of ravens, wake of vultures.

[@TheCrimsonAtom]

I was thinking about the scene from Troy where they collect the dead after the first battle at the gates, great movie.

[@lasigna0212]

That's why there still is a good population of Griffon Vultures today in Greece.

[@theglumrant9477]

On the way back from Naseby, both sets of soldiers buried them in two mounds next to each other near Thrapston, on their way back to London. They're both marked but very anonymous

[@bgdavenport]

Outstanding narration and historical reference.

[@Bleriotman]

I know of 2 battle graves that have been found. A. The graves of the Swiss Guard from the French revolution. Their bodies were discovered in the same graveyard as the casket of American Naval hero John Paul Jones, when they were digging to find his casket. They were re-interred and are still there. Jone's casket was removed and shipped to the U.S. for interment at Annapolis, at the Naval Academy. B. The battle of Visby, where the mass grave of the losers of the battle was discovered and excavated. Some of the skulls were later modeled as desk paperweights, particularly one that had an axe impact across the skull face, crosswise, just above the lip area, which showed the battle axe had penetrated to the mid-diameter of the cranium at that point, leaving a half-moon shaped gap in the cranium, into which an axe head would fit perfectly. .A grim reminder of warfare.

[@Ba_A]

John Paul Jones the "hero" but also a pedophile who raped a 10 year old girl in addition to brutally assaulting her. His defense? "I thought she was actually 12 years old, I had paid for sex, her father said it was ok, and her mother is a prostitute.". Judgment....."That sounds reasonable, you're free to go."

[@benjgoodell]

" be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" Never thought of it that way.

[@MizBryteEyez]

"Fe Fi Fo Fum I smell the blood of an English mun"

[@westwater73]

Your bones will build my palaces your eyes will stud my crown..... Motorhead

[@MJLeger-tz4so]

Fertilizer, eh?!

[@georget8008]

In ancient greece, the battle of Platea (479 BC), was the last battle of the Persian wars, it marked the final defeat of the persian empire and it is considered perhaps the bloodiest of antiquity. Herodotus writes for almost 200.000 dead persians and allies. According to an ancient writer who visited the battle place 70years after the battle, human bones and remains were scattered all over the area. What shocked me most was when I learnt a few years ago that the locals in the area of Platea (which still is a small town north of Athens, Greece), call the area of the battle "kokkala", which in modern greek means "bones"

[@thecommenternobodycaresabout]

So, in WW2 my father's father, my grandfather, was spared from being killed or sent to concentration camps in Germany, unlike many others of the local population, because he had only one brother and seven elder sisters to feed. Instead the local Germans forced, him and a few other locals of similar age, young boys at that time, to bury no less than 120 dead men in a mass burial site at a nearby village. Needless to say that my grandfather was feeling disgusted at the sight of a naked man and pleaded us, his grandchildren and young kids while he lived, to always wear something that covers our torso. There were many other things that left him scars during that period but that stood the most to us kids back then. Rest in Peace Gregory.

[@jamesberlo4298]

In the Poppy Fields of Flanders there are so many Dead from temporary Graves that were lost and many Bodies just not found that there are many places you cant walk a Yard and sit down without getting Jabbed by a Bone of a Man (or Boy) who was Killed.

[@hihu7200]

No. WW1 was 100 years ago. Bodies decompose. Also, Flanders is in a coastal area. It is wet there. As for metal items, there is the iron harvest every year in former battle fields. Farmers dig up relics of WW1 all the time. Long story short, you are full of it. Maybe you saw that in a movie or in a video game. It is not real. They are just pixels or dots of colors in various combinations on a screen.

[@frankteng5476]

Hi Hu I don’t understand how that has anything to do with the fact that he made a parody of Flander’s Field. He wasn’t claiming to know anything he was joking but you have a stick too far up your ass to see that. You sound like the people that make fun of the previous generation for growing up differently.

[@vainokojo8473]

In Finland during ww2, fallen comrades were carried out of the battlefield, cleaned and buried in their home town.

[@qwertyqwertovich4912]

Its not that easy in a big scale wars

[@vainokojo8473]

@@qwertyqwertovich4912 Yes, I know that and wasn't trying to say that it is. Just pointing out an interesting aspect about the topic

[@qwertyqwertovich4912]

@@vainokojo8473 Oh,ye,sure,sorry. I didnt mean to be pushy

[@daveh3997]

And in the Winter War, Finns propped up dead frozen Russians as a warning to others. rarehistoricalphotos.com/body-frozen-soviet-soldier-propped-finnish-fighters-intimidate-soviet-troops-1939/

[@pipboyapproved1361]

Finns were descent indeed, even with Estonian comrades (soomepoisid) who went to help out against Soviet Union´s invasion. Many fallen Estonians were transported back to Estonia despite perilous (if not extremely dangerous) sea journey over Gulf of Finland. And marshal Mannerheim (head of command of Finnish army) was a real gentleman to bid honorable farewell to men that helped him during the war and left to resist the Soviet army in Estonia. et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soomepoisid#/media/File:Marshal_Mannerheim_farewell_to_the_Estonian_regiment_JR_200._17.VII.1944._Suomen_pojat_estonian_volunteers_in_Finnish_army.png

[@568843daw]

It is not spoken about because mothers would be reluctant to send their boys into war. The public really does not need to know this stuff. In the Navy they used to bring the body to a morgue and a complete autopsy would be done.. The services have an assigned team that removes the dead. The bodies are typically stacked someplace, something like stacking wood. The location is Generally behind buildings or wherever as long as it is out of sight of reporters. Then they are processed. If there is a body or enough of one than they put the remains in bags and the bodies are shipped to a processing area so they can be washed, dressed & placed in a coffin. If it’s just parts, than they wash them and place them in a bag and then it goes into a coffin. The United States military, no matter the Branch, goes to great lengths and expense to recover our fallen hero’s. Whether the body is on land or under water, stuck in snow or covered in mud, if it can be reached by a diver or rescue crew, that body WILL be recovered. As it should be. That is all!

[@armartin0003]

My thanks for the British General's comment on the Battle of Heilsberg. I've used his quotation to give flavor to my own fictional work. Cheers.

[@Pau_Pau9]

Someone should make a realistic video game where enemy soldier does not simply disappear into ether after a kill. These bodies can be collected by farmer players and used to fertilize his farm in farmville.

[@uhhhhyourmom]

Man-Ung Yi Thats how Grandad grew the best corn.

[@tenid4824]

welcome to the neighborhood, i got a lot of fertilizer! like 80 tons of it! hey Derek, sprechen sie dick?

[@sarinvx]

EA will the player 50 cents to bury each enemy you kill

[@sheogorath2657]

Man-Ung Yi I think verdun doesn’t despawn bodies

[@spudthepug]

Wreck It Ralph, Adult Edition.

[@HaleysTusk]

The irony of an episode about what to do w/ the dead after a war being promoted by a virtual war simulation game.....

[@leodwain90]

What did you do with the spare time gained from saving two letters?

[@villevalste1888]

You mean one letter? Typing "/" takes two button presses AFAIK.

[@leodwain90]

@@villevalste1888 Oh I do apologise, one letter saved then 😂

[@Nugcon]

lmao

[@Anthony-qu7qd]

Very disrespectful

[@Everton885]

My grandfathers job in the army was apparently to grab the fallen soldiers after a battle. He never told us this or talked about his experience. His brother was the one to say what he did and we still don’t know much else. His military records were apparently destroyed in a fire so we can’t look up what he did or where he was. Only just a medal of his help in liberation of the Philippines. That’s all we know of what he did.

[@russellhawkins366]

A grotesquely detailed and highly educational review behind the commerce and profits made from the dead youth of battles in yesteryear - things have much Improved.

[@delerocky]

At 5:34 when he said "the jerk"I first thought he was talking about the guy that stripped him of his clothes instead of the jerking action of attempting to remove his boots.

[@iapetusmccool]

"I was woken up by some jerk trying to steal my boots".

[@exquisite8738]

Whilst the man beat my meat I woke up by the feeling of mutual ecstacy and post-nut clarity.

[@lynngatrell7965]

Maybe this is the origin of of calling someone a jerk.🤷‍♂️

[@bizybliztaverage9414]

Isn't taking of boots mean they'll execute you in mass

[@stevecooper6578]

"Am I really going to defile a grave for money? Of course I am" I can't help myself if a raider or opposing faction in fallout has ammo, caps, or any useful junk it'll definitely be taken, nobody with stop Ken the Sole Survivor of Vault 111 from collecting glue from his enemies

[@janetseager4069]

Thank you. I have often pondered this question myself

[@mchlnlmns]

Earlier in Belgium after the battle of Waterloo bones were brought to the local sugarfactory. The bones were then crushed, burned and used to purify sugar. So basically people sort of consumed the dead.