The details you provided in your second email is much more than the first and totally changes the situation.

You have to have a Court Order to remove the remains from a grave...period...dot. Anything else is grave robbing. In addition, given the age of the grave, I am sure the Georgia State Archeologist would have something to say about it. Those Archeology Protection laws can be so pesky sometimes.

I have some questions.

Why would a family remove the remains of a man and not his wife? It seems a selfish act only removing the remains of the veteran and not those of his wife. As a veteran I would be more than angry beyond the grave.

I would dig around a little about the good old " 'now retired' coroner...and former funeral home director." He of all people would know you would have to have a court order to exhume a body. He, being present, would make him an accessary to a crime.

I would question the property owner. If an old grave is located on someone's property, families are allowed easement to visit the grave but the property is still owned by the property owner. I suspect he knows more than he is telling. He does not recall the name of the person who "asked permission" to remove the body? If someone came up to me or was on my property digging in a cemetery I am going to ask questions. Having been one once, Rural Folks know when people come on their property and they don't take kindly to folks showing up unannounced. He may be wanting to get rid of the graves to help facilitate selling the land. Are there other stones in the plot? An old grave on property often freaks people out when it is being sold and makes it harder to sell. It also makes it harder to sub-divide.

The vault company would not say they helped remove remains if it were illegal. They would be admitting to be an accessary to a crime.

I would check with the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and any re-enactor organizations that depict Cobb's Legion or others in the area. They may have had their hands in any reburial ceremony.

I looked at Private William H.H. Butts', Company G, Cobb's Legion, Compiled Military Service Record and it appears he survived the war.

I would make a couple of phone calls to the Georgia State Archeologist Office and get a smart person to explain to me the process or moving a body. I would also consider calling either the Georgia Bureau of Investigation but the State Archeologist Office should be able to help.

I don't think I would call the local sheriff because he may be related to the vault guys or the retired coroner.

I would also look for old queries on the Geneology websites and also contact the County Historical Society and see who has been doing research on the guy. There should be a trail. Someone had to do some research and talked to people too. I would suspect they had money too. This stuff is not cheap, it is definitely not cheap if you are doing it surreptitiously, and it took more than a couple of people to do it and may have involved heavy equipment. You may want to ask the heavy equipment companies that help do the grave digging.

I do love a good mystery.

I hope this helps.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html