I know soldiers were buried on the battlefield where they died or near hospitals. There were a lot of bodies in the thousands that some Civil War soldiers were placed in unknown battlefield graves. This is quite sad as their loves ones were never able to give them a proper burial. Looking at the time period and the massive lost in lives, I can understand why many soldiers were likely placed in unmarked graves, especially if they were horribly disfigured and identification was nearly impossible.
While thousands of soldiers were buried on the battlefield at Gettysburg, they were mostly disinterred and moved elsewhere after the battle. Some of the Union soldiers were later buried in the National Cemetery. The families came and took their soldier home for burial. Records were kept of where they were buried and crudely marked... if the records weren't good enough or if the body couldn't later be found, those soldiers ended up in the "unknown" section of the National Cemetery. The Confederate soldiers buried on the field were later returned to their homeland, often to Hollywood National Cemetery in Richmond where there's a Gettysburg section. The records I'm working with say things like "buried in Michael Fiscal's clover field under a walnut tree south of the house." That doesn't mean there aren't a few bodies left on the field because I strongly believe that there are... especially on Culp's Hill. There was a soldier who was buried at Devil's Den that friends and family couldn't find again after the war. I believe he's still there. (Lt. "Joe" Smith Co. E, 4th Texas)
