Remains of three black Civil War soldiers laid to rest

(Fort Indiantown Gap) — After 130 years spent in an overgrown, backyard cemetery in near Carlisle, three African American veterans of the Civil War have been permanently laid to rest at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in Lebanon County.

At a ceremony, Private Greenbury Stanton, Corporal William Anderson, and Private John Nelson were praised for rising to the challenge to fight for the freedom of their peers.

Members of the honor guard presented a flag to the many times great granddaughter of one of the veterans, Dr. Beverly Stanton of Gettysburg.

She says the experience was overwhelming.

“They told me that they were going to have a little something. But this goes–this is way beyond the realm, and it makes me honored to be able to be a descendent of that family,” she says.

The Pennsylvania National Guard says it hope the reinterment, with full military honors, will be seen as an attempt to right a wrong done to fellow soldiers in arms. I’m Rachel McDevitt.