On a trip to the Marietta National Cemetery (500 Washington Avenue, Marietta, GA) I noted that Dennis Buckley a Civil War veteran buried there was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. Buckley is buried in Section G, site 6686 (shown below at the red dot). His grave with the special Medal of Honor headstone was easy to find in the first row where the cemetery road parallels Roswell Road. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it took 142 years for him to get that headstone!

Private Buckley of Lindsay, Ontario, was one of eighteen men born in Canada awarded the Medal of Honor in the Civil War. He enlisted at Avon, New York, and was mustered in as a Private in Company G of the 136th New York Volunteer Infantry on September 25, 1862. At Banks Ford in Fredericksburg, Virginia on January 11, 1863, he was captured by Confederate forces, but was paroled on January 23, 1863.

During the July 20, 1864, Battle of Peachtree Creek, his regiment was pursuing retreating members of the 31st Mississippi Infantry when Private Buckley crawled on his hands and knees and captured their regimental flag that was dropped on the ground when its color bearer was shot. After gaining possession, he waved the captured flag, and was shot and killed. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously on April 7, 1865.

Peachtree Creek shown below.

He was buried in the Marietta National Cemetery under the under name of “Dennis Burkley”. John DuBois of Caledonia, NY, discovered the error in 2006 while performing research on Buckley’s unit. He found records that listed Buckley as a member and a grave number that matched the grave at the cemetery with Buckley’s name misspelled. When reading the handwritten cursive ledger to make the original headstone the ‘c’ was read as an ‘r.’ The mismatch between the names led to Private Buckley’s grave not being marked with the proper headstone. The cemetery confirmed the error and his grave was marked with a Medal of Honor headstone at a ceremony in 2006.

Source

The Washington Post March 24, 2006