[MSN] Albuquerque, N.M. Old civil-war cemetery plots secretly exhumed in N.M.

[MSN]

Old cemetery plots secretly exhumed in N.M.

Albuquerque, N.M.

Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens
of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped
them off about widespread grave-looting.

The exhumations, conducted from August to October, removed 67 skeletons from
the soil around Fort Craig - 39 men, two women and 26 infants and children,
according to two federal archaeologists who helped with the dig. They also
found scores of empty graves and determined 20 had been looted.

The government kept its exhumation of the unmarked cemetery near the
historic New Mexico fort out of the public's eye for months to prevent more
thefts.

The remains are being studied by Bureau of Reclamation scientists.

Most of the men are believed to have been soldiers - Fort Craig protected
settlers in the West from American Indian raids and played a role in the
Civil War. Union troops stationed there fought the Confederacy as it moved
into New Mexico from Texas in 1862.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/