Civil War sailors buried

[PegLeg45]

Been following this off and on.... thought it was interesting:

http://news.yahoo.com/civil-war-sailors-buried-faces-known-194124218.html

Civil War sailors buried: Their faces are known, but who are they?

The Navy buried two sailors found in the turret of the USS Monitor, the famed Civil War ironclad. Forensic anthropologists reconstructed their likenesses, but their identities are a mystery.


Two faces that witnessed America's greatest and bloodiest struggle peered at the world once more on Friday, as the Navy buried the remains of the last known casualties of the Civil War at Arlington National Cemetery.

As part of the ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the USS Monitor's role in the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862, the Navy exhibited two busts showing the facial reconstructions of the two men, based on skulls found when the Monitor's turret was raised in 2002. The work was done by some of the country's top forensic anthropologists at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Center in Honolulu.
While the men's approximate likenesses are now known, their identities remain a mystery.

[dipisc]

Hi;


     Just wondering if any good DNA was found on them...Any Current relative would give a hint if they start tracking down those (monitor sailors ) unaccounted for ?

[fightingquaker13]

Very cool. That actually made the front page of our local mullet wrapper. Good for them.

[tombogan03884]

Hi;


     Just wondering if any good DNA was found on them...Any Current relative would give a hint if they start tracking down those (monitor sailors ) unaccounted for ?

I've been following this on the evening news, the last I heard, (Fri night) comparing the busts to photographs they had narrowed the possibilities to 5 names and were looking into the possibility of DNA testing.
I don't know if they can get anything useful from bones that have been in the ocean so long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monitor#Loss_at_sea

While the design of Monitor was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters. This feature probably led to the early loss of the ship, which foundered during a heavy storm. She sank on 31 December 1862 off Cape Hatteras; sixteen of her 62-member crew were either lost overboard or went down with the ironclad, while many others were saved by boats sent from Rhode Island.