Civil War enthusiast identifies three soldiers buried in Raleigh

Good morning folks! - I found the below story on my morning internet hunt. It was found on a TV station’s web site in Minnesota.

Civil War enthusiast identifies three soldiers buried in Raleigh

A Civil War enthusiast has identified the remains of three soldiers buried in Raleigh - including one Minnesota Yankee resting among Confederates.

Charles Purser spent thousands of hours scrutinizing hospital logs, regimental rosters and cemetery records to put names to the headstones at the Oakwood cemetery in RALEIGH, North Carolina. He recently identified Drury Scruggs, who marched to the Civil War from his home in North Carolina's mountains and later died at Gettysburg. There's also William P. Wallace, a farm boy from Montgomery County. Both had been resting under anonymous headstones.

Purser also spent time working with New York-based historian Glen Hayes. Comparing notes, the researchers decided that John O. Dobson from North Carolina didn't exist. They agreed that John O. Dolson - a Yankee from Minnesota - had been shipped to Raleigh in his place.

Purser, 67, plans to hold a ceremony in September to honor the three soldiers with new headstones."It's three American soldiers getting their identity," Purser said. "That's what tickles me."

Purser, an Air Force veteran and retired postal carrier living in Garner, first helped rescue the Confederate cemetery from neglect in the early 1980s.

He now has names for all but five of those buried at Oakwood, save 14 unknowns in a mass grave.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)