The remains of perhaps a dozen soldiers killed during the Mexican-American War in the mid 19th century returned to U.S. soil Wednesday in Dover.
The U.S. Army honor guard solemnly transferred two flag-draped containers holding the 170-year-old remains of as many as 13 soldiers to the Dover Air Force Base mortuary for analysis.
Uncovered in Monterrey, Mexico, the remains are thought to be members of the First Tennessee Infantry Regiment, which suffered heavy losses storming a fort in the area.
Anthropology professor Hugh Berryman from Middle Tennessee State University is leading the research. He called it a rare opportunity to learn what the life of a soldier was like in the 1840s.
“It’s almost like you’re able to do an interview with these men because we have all this expertise that we’ll bring in that can tease information out of those bones and make some sense out of it,” Berryman said.
The work will involve a battery of tests, says Col. Louis Finelli, who directs the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.
“That process may include DNA testing, elemental analysis, we’ll include family and history gathering with the Middle Tennessee State University staff, so this will be a long process – a couple months at least,” Finelli said.
He says it’s unlikely they’ll be able to identify individuals from the remains, but that historians from Middle Tennessee State University will try to make those connections.
Tennessee Congresswoman Diane Black (R), who observed the ceremony, says the remains will likely be buried in a national cemetery in the Volunteer State if they’re found to be from there.