Side by Side in Eternity

Every gravestone in every graveyard has the potential to frame a story far more complex than the dates found upon its surface. It's common for spouses to be memorialized together as a final affirmation of the vows and commitments made in life, or for bereaved parents to be buried with children who tragically preceded them in death. Close proximity burials of seemingly unrelated figures, though certainly less common, can similarly reveal the complex tales of people who otherwise walked together in life, by choice or by chance. For example, the Confederate burial of Union Col. Robert Gould Shaw was certainly meant as a dishonor--Shaw was buried in an unmarked, low-lying coastal trench alongside the fallen African American members of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment he had commanded at Fort Wagner. After the war, however, the men's remains were recovered and reinterred--meaningfully, still together--at the newly commissioned Beaufort National Cemetery. This book explores a dozen unique examples of such side-by-side burials over the course of U.S. History. In each story, the authors begin by describing each of the protagonists' final chapters, before spooling out the tales and significance of their actual journeys to such interwoven endpoints. The evolution of funerary practices and observances in the United States is interspersed throughout, with a special focus on military honors and burials.