The old grave of a United States Army captain in which a stove is buried

One of the greatest challenges after a battle or war is burying the soldiers who lost their lives.

Two Confederate graves from the American Civil War in Normandy, France
Vietnam: the Da Nang cemetery where Spanish and French soldiers rest

Sometimes this process isn't as thorough as it should be, and confusion can arise. This is the case of Captain Abraham Robinson Johnston of the United States Army, the son of a family of Irish origin, a member of the 1st Dragoon Regiment (now the 1st Cavalry Regiment) who fought in the Battle of San Pascual on December 6, 1846, during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Captain Johnston was the first to fall in that battle, dying from a gunshot to the head.

After the battle, the fallen were initially buried at a place called San Pasqual, located in what was then Alta California, part of Mexico, and is now part of San Diego County, California. However, 16 months after the battle, after the war concluded, the remains of the fallen were brought to San Diego. Captain Johnston's father fought for three years to have his son's remains moved to the family cemetery in Piqua, Ohio. When he succeeded, he had a stone marker placed marking the location of his son's grave. That stone marker still stands today.

But the story doesn't end there. In late December 1852, a box containing a man's corpse was found in the basement of a stove shop in San Francisco. It was eventually confirmed that the dead man was an officer who had fallen at the Battle of San Pasqual. Apparently, while the U.S. Army Quartermaster in San Diego was processing Captain Johnston's coffin, a fire broke out, affecting the coffin and three boxes containing stoves. Presumably, because the boxes were damaged, it was a stove box that was sent to Piqua. In 1970, researchers passed a metal detector over Captain Johnston's grave and the needle went crazy.

Everything indicates that Captain Johnston's family was never aware of the mix-up. But what happened to his coffin? In a video published today, Sidetrack Adventures tours the site of that battle and in California and the aforementioned cemetery in Piqua, asking what the final destination of that coffin could have been:

You can see some screenshots from this interesting video here. Here we see a monument placed in 1925 at the site of the Battle of San Pasqual, California. Captain Johnston's name appears first on the list of Americans who fell in that battle.

The Johnson family home in Piqua, Ohio. It's very well preserved and operates as a museum, where we can see what it looked like in the first half of the 19th century. You can see the interior in the video.

Near the house is this ancient Native American burial site. Out of respect for them, the Johnston family never incorporated this site into their farmland, so it is very well preserved today.

Near the house is the Johnston family cemetery, and in it is this grave, named after Captain Abraham Robinson Johnston. It is the grave where a stove is supposedly buried.

---

Main image: Sidetrack Adventures.