I totally understand.
The same thing happened in my family. Lt. Fielding Price of the 1st Arkansas Cav. died in the Yankee prison in Little Rock on Feb. 1, 1865.
I know the family tried to claim the body but since he had died with smallpox and there was the danger of spreading it, his body could not be claimed.
I have been told he was first buried at a local cemetery.
Then after the war, his body was moved in to the area outside the national cemetery, that part which is not kept up is what I have been led to believe. At least I have a good idea where he was laid to rest.
The man had many descendents who have been tax payers for many a year.
Now, the U. S. government can fight a foreign war spending billions and still it cannot keep up a cemetery. How ironic is that!!