COLUMBUS, Ohio – An amateur historian says at least six grave markers at an Ohio cemetery designated for Civil War soldiers from the South misidentify Union soldiers as Confederates.
Dennis Ranny, a 59-year-old Civil War enthusiast stumbled across the graves at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, and something just didn’t seem right, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
A marker in Row 41 designated to represent a Confederate soldier that reads "John Kennedy; 33 KY VOLS; C.S.A.," caught the eye of Ranney.
The Civil War buff recognized that the Confederate States of America regiments in Kentucky didn't have numbers that high, he told the Columbus Dispatch.
Skeptical of a possible carving error, Ranney began to pursue Kennedy's story.
Ranny couldn't find Kennedy in any Confederate records. He decided to look at the Union records, "just for the heck of it," the newspaper reports.
That's where he found an entry for "John Kennedy; 33rd Kentucky Infantry; U.S.A." and thought "Oh my God," he told the Columbus Dispatch.
Kennedy had been wrongly marked as a Confederate soldier since at least 1869.
Ranney firmly believes that six graves are misidentified, and has suspicions of four more but hasn't found proof yet.
Some board members of the society that leads tours at the cemetery and keeps some historical records believe that Ranney's conclusion may be true.
Member Dick Hoffman says it wouldn't be too surprising, because there are other known errors at the cemetery.
Click for more from The Columbus Dispatch.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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