Soldier Reburial

While doing research about an article concerning the re-interment of soldiers found buried under a parking lot in downtown Tucson I learned a few things about Tucson history I didn't know before. I've been riding at Fort Lowell park for many years now and always assumed that the location of the park is where the fort originally was. Turns out I was wrong. Camp Lowell, as it was originally called, was located in what is now downtown Tucson. The camp's original location is marked by the present location of Military Plaza Park. The military cemetery established nearby was northeast of the corner of Cemetery St (now Alameda St) and Stone Ave. The military cemetery was probably attached to an existing cemetery set up outside the old Spanish Presidio (location indicated by the present El Presidio Park). The military cemetery was used for about 2o years but when Camp Lowell moved six miles away to a site on the Rillito River in 1873, the cemetery fell into disrepair. In 1884 the military burials were moved to the cemetery at the new Fort Lowell and the old cemetery closed. The cemetery land was used in part for a new railroad and part sold off for residential use. The residential area eventually became a commercial area which is what it is today. Two years ago, while the city was building a new county court complex in this location the soldiers graves were discovered. Somehow they were left behind when the others were moved to the new Fort Lowell. They had been lost for about 123 years. Their comrades that had been reburied at the new Fort Lowell cemetery in 1884 were moved to the National Cemetery at San Francisco when the post closed down in 1891. The remains of the 58 soldiers found in downtown Tucson two years ago will be reburied at the Southern Arizona Veterans' Cemetery on 16 May. It is hard to believe that a military burial ground could become completely lost and paved over. You can't help but wonder if people living in those houses built on top of the cemetery after the turn of the century were having experiences similar to the characters in the movie Poltergeist.