A pair of middle school students in western New York spent their summer doing something most kids would avoid - research. Kendall Peruzzini and Mary McCormick were offered a research project to work on during their break from school and the history-loving teens jumped at the opportunity. And now their hard work is paying off and a Civil War veteran will finally be getting the recognition he deserves.
Daniel Walterhouse was a Union Army soldier who died at age 87 in 1910, but wasn’t given a proper burial. Kendall and Mary, eighth graders at Albion Middle School, found Walterhouse had been injured during the war and spent time in a Confederate prison camp, before ending up in a poorhouse for more than a decade. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a part of the cemetery for people who couldn’t afford a headstone.
But that’s all about to change, thanks to Mary and Kendall. They successfully petitioned the Orleans County Legislature to approve a headstone request for Walterhouse and now they’re waiting to hear back from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to approve their application for a headstone. “He was a war veteran and he did get injured,” Mary explains. “He got stabbed and captured, so I think it’s just really important that he gets recognized.”
Source: NY POST
