These are just some of the hundreds of small marble blocks inscribed only with numbers. At the time of the Civil Ware, identification of the dead was difficult and usually made by friends, or from letters and personal belongings found in a soldier’s pockets or attached to his uniform. When friends had marched on, or letters had blown away in the wind, the men became ‘unknown soldiers.’ Here lie the remains of 979 totally unknown Union soldiers, lying shoulder to shoulder. Under each marble block lies a man who gave not only his life, but his identity, for a cause President Lincoln was to make clear at Gettysburg.