Historians Want Trip Home for Tennessee Soldier Remains

These remains were found in February, 2011. Archaeologists believe this soldier may have had part of his leg amputated. (Photo courtesy of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History)

The remains of as many as 11 soldiers thought to be from Tennessee have been found in Monterrey, Mexico. A developer ran across their shallow graves where they had been buried since the Mexican-American War. Local historians are now trying to fly them home.

The battle involved a regiment from Tennessee, led by William Campbell, who would later become the state’s last Whig governor and the namesake of Fort Campbell on the Tennessee/Kentucky line.

History professor Tim Johnson of Lipscomb University says all signs point to these bones being those of Tennessee soldiers.

“The remains have been found in the general vicinity of the tanneria, an old tannery, which was a fortress that the 1st Tennessee attacked on September 21st, 1846.”

In an email, the lead archaeologist in Monterrey says he hopes the remains will return to the U.S. But that requires a diplomatic transaction at the highest levels of government.

Captain Jim Page is an Army historian who has spent months writing letters to state and federal officials. He says getting back these remains sends a message to current soldiers that the country will get them home, one way or another.

“I know the Army today would do everything it could to bring my remains back and they’ve done a lot of effort to do that for our soldiers. This is a particularly simple case because remains have already been excavated. All we have to do is accept them.”

Archaeologists in Monterrey, Mexico uncover remains in May.

This summer, the office of Senator Bob Corker has become involved in trying to get a military team on the case. However, the Joint POW MIA Accounting Command has its hands full, primarily in Southeast Asia, recovering bodies from World War II and Vietnam.

If the remains do make it back to Tennessee, historians hope they’ll be reinterred in Gallatin near one of the few memorials to soldiers who fought in the Mexican-American War.