Hello -

Was reading from Virgil Carrington Jones 1956 book on "Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders" (title right?).

In it he describes in some detail (several pages) how the corpse of Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry (yup, the same one in the Ken Burn PBS CW series whose moving letter to his wife is read during poignant music) was apparently exhumed, his head decapitated, and his body burnt by Georgia soldiers (21st GA Infantry?).

Supposedly the 21st Georgia was "handled roughly" by the 2nd Rhode Island during the battle of First Manassa, so the interpretation of the Federals at the time was that the exhumation and desecration was for morbid revenge purposes (???).

Does anyone have any more details on this?

Did Major Sullivan Ballou's head/skull ever turn up somewhere or is it in someone's collection of CW relics and curiosities????

y.v.o.s.,

Kenneth Byrd