Received in a e-mail. Is it true?
George:

Cold Harbor Grave-Robbing Inspires Reward Offer

Feb. 4, 2002--A grave believed to have held the
remains of four soldiers killed in the 1864 battle of
Cold Harbor was dug up on private property and the
bones were deposited at the base of a tree in Cold
Harbor Battlefield Park nearby, Virginia State Police
announced Friday.

The remains appear to have been stripped of artifacts
normally buried with Civil War soldiers, police said.

Henry Kidd, Virginia state commander of the Sons of
Confederate Veterans, announced that his group was
offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to
the arrest of whoever desecrated the grave.

"We take this very seriously. We don't think there's
any place to mix greed with the blood of our
ancestors," Kidd said. Police reports gave no
indication as to whether the grave held Union or
Confederate soldiers' remains.

Anyone wishing to collect the reward, Kidd said, must
be willing to testify in court about their knowledge
of the crime.

Police began investigating after a resident of the
area described a site on Old Quaker Road where he said
the remains of several bodies were buried in a
makeshift grave. The site was under a pile of stones
at the foot of a tree.

"They had been stripped of any kind of cloth, of
buttons, buckles, items and artifacts that are usually
found with remains from that period buried in that
area," state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
"And that's what the investigators are trying to
determine - obviously, the motive behind the
desecration of these graves."

The search warrant stated that the original grave was
on property which appeared to belong to William I.
Peele. Peele's wife, Kelley Peele of Strain Avenue in
Mechanicsville, said she and her husband were trying
to reach their attorney and would have no comment for
the press until they had done so.

"There is no information that will be disclosed right
now until the lawyer is talked to. And that is the way
that will be," she told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

David Ruth, assistant superintendent of the Richmond
National Battlefield Park, was out of town at the time
the investigation began and could not comment on it
directly. He did note that Civil War artifacts have
considerable value.

"There's a market for buckles, for buttons, and it's a
very high priced market," he said. "Just a Union
standard buckle that at one time was very common now
sells on the market for over $100."

No charges have been filed. Hanover Commonwealth's
Attorney Kirby Porter declined to comment on
an ongoing investigation.

"When my bones they lay down

In the cold cold ground

Have someone play Dixie for me."