Nebraskaland

April 2023 • Nebraskaland 41 the site. In the early 1900s, graves were found in two locations west of the fort. Portions of other headstones also were found. Jack Rathjen's discovery of a broken piece of limestone, 16 inches wide, and 2¼ thick, inscribed with "Gabriel Field, 1st. Lieut. 6th Regt. Born in Jeff erson Coun …" about one mile north of the location of the fort, however, was signifi cant. In 1956, Marvin Kivett, director of the state museum with History Nebraska, led an excavation at the location. In the 50- foot by 5-foot trench, they found fi ve graves, two containing adult males, two containing children and one empty, with no artifacts to indicate the military standing of the males. Two years later, Kivett returned after amateur archeologists uncovered another grave only feet from his earlier work. In it they found the remains of an adult male in a hexagonal coffi n, the right leg having been amputated. At the foot of the grave, in a rectangular wooden box, they found the rest of that right leg. The headstone, examination of the skeleton and two historical references to Field's amputation, however, left historians certain these remains were that of Field. There is no record of the location of the Fort Atkinson cemetery. The location of these graves so far north of the fort, however, makes sense to historians. It is on the edge of the bluff overlooking the location of Camp Missouri, where so many died of scurvy that fi rst winter. With so many buried, it made more sense to continue using that cemetery rather than creating a second. Most grave markers were made of wood and lost to the elements. Because Field's was made of limestone, "That shows how much he was liked here from his troops, the people he was stationed here with," Grof said. Reburied at Fort Atkinson Bill Rathjen is the fifth generation to farm the ground north of Fort Atkinson. His great, great, grandfather, Henry Frahm, settled there in 1856. Bill was born a century later, in 1956, two years after his father, Jack Rathjen, uncovered Gabriel Field's headstone. He grew up hearing the stories of the area's history, and the discovery of Field's grave, from his father, who passed away last September. "He was always a history buff," Bill said. "He was interested in the local history. He lived all that as a kid. He got stories from the generations before him. He loved to tell stories and he retained all that." Bill's parents supported the effort to preserve the fort that began with the creation of the Fort Atkinson Foundation in 1961. The foundation and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission purchased the property in 1963, creating Fort Atkinson State Historical Park. Bill remembers University of Nebraska students staying in tents on their farm during excavations that followed and helped guide the reconstruction of the stockade and other buildings found at the park today. His father always hoped Field's remains would be reburied at Fort Atkinson, Bill said. Work by Game and Parks staff to do just that began in the 1990s. In 2013, with funding provided by the foundation, the Monument to the Deceased was dedicated east of the Visitor Center. In recent years, staff followed up on previous genealogical searches conducted by Carlson to see if there were relatives of Field who might want to claim his remains. None were found in Kentucky, where Field is a common name. Other descendants were known to have lived in Ohio and Indiana. Few were found, and none knew of Gabriel Field. That cleared the way for Field's remains, which have been housed in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution, History Nebraska and other locations for the past 65 years, to return to Fort Atkinson. That pleases Bill Rathjen and his wife, Glenda, and would please Jack, as well, they said. "It's something that is important for Bill and me to pass down to our grandkids," Glenda said. "We want them to know this story and their great-grandfather Jack's part in it." Like Jack, "He was a veteran, and we need to honor our veterans," she added. "Dad was always concerned that he wasn't reburied," Bill said. "It bothered him that he was, for years, in a drawer in Lincoln and then in the Smithsonian. "He would have been thrilled to know [Field] was going to be reburied at Fort Atkinson." N A reinterment ceremony for Lieut. Gabriel Field will be held at noon, April 16, 2023, at Fort Atkinson State Historical Park in Fort Calhoun. Archaeologists uncovered Gabriel Field's remains, including his amputated leg, in 1856. HISTORY NEBRASKA

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