“The whole affair started with a chaotic exercise in grave-robbing.”
Occasionally, unusual circumstances arise that call for the excavation of a historical burial. In 1977, the grave of Civil War hero and Confederate officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Mabry Shy, age 26, was disturbed.
Or was it?
The military leader was reared in Franklin, middle Tennessee, not far in mileage from Smithville, Tennessee.
“Upon further examination, a body was discovered that was thought to have been a recent murder victim. After a thorough examination, the body was identified as Colonel William Mabry Shy, age 26, who was born in Kentucky on May 24, 1839. He was one of 10 children. His older brother, James Louis Shy, organized the Perry Guards, which became Company G of the 20th Tennessee Infantry. After the Battle of Nashville, the lands were covered with the dead and wounded. Among them was Colonel Shy, handsome in life, heroic in death. He was known to be a man of deeds rather than of words. He was modest and gentle, always calm and collected in battle,” remembered www.tennessee.scv.org.
Word of Colonel Shy’s death reached his family. Being unmarried, the unpleasant chore of recovering his body fell to his parents. His body was buried in the family cemetery at Two Rivers near Franklin, Tennessee. It is only speculative that his body was embalmed and what embalming fluid was used to preserve his body so eloquently?
“After cleaning and examining the bones, Dr. Bass concluded that the extra body in the grave was that of a male in his mid to late 20’s, who originally stood between 5’9” and 6’ tall. There was no obvious indication on what had killed the man, but he estimated the time since death to be between two and six months. As to his presence in another man’s grave, the team postulated that the grave robbers had opened the grave to remove any valuable grave goods they could find. The grave robbers were interrupted and ran away.”
“While visiting Colonel Shy’s vandalized grave in Franklin, Tennessee, I discovered the grave robbery had been traced back to a young man from Franklin,” wrote Bob Henderson, an historical video reporter. “According to today’s property owner, the culprit had been on a construction team who had been renovating the house.” He was never prosecuted, and died years ago in a motorcycle accident.
Continuing in the Nashville Banner newspaper on Dec, 31, 1977 it read, “On Christmas Eve, 1977, Franklin, Tennessee authorities investigating the tampering of a Civil War’s soldier’s grave discovered a second body had been placed in the grave, probably within the past year. The body of Colonel Shy, in its steel vault, was undisturbed,” officials said. “The grave had been dug down three to four feet” by the unknown grave robbers, while the recent body had been partially dropped on Shy’s metal casket. The grave-robbers were scared away from finishing their job.
Dr. William Martin (Bill) Bass, the case’s anthropologist (see below), arrived from Knoxville and determined that he “had located the head and other body parts. On January 4, 1978, four days later, a headless body was found in a sitting position on top of the antiquated cast-iron coffin, and, repetitively, was dressed in what appeared to be a tuxedo. Bass estimated the body to have been dead two to six years. Two days later, it was further revealed that the corpse apparently died from a serious blow to the head. Not to mention, his later discovered head was found with a hole from a Minié ball (pronounced min-ee-ay) had penetrated his non-attached brain. His head was powder-burned around the hole made by the shot. Bass said the victim was a white male with brown hair, approximately 5’11”, 175 pounds, and was from 25-26 years old. Bass further determined that the man had been dead 6-12 months. The Chief Deputy, Fleming Williams, said, “It looks like we have a homicide on our hands.” In further observance of the embalmed body, Dr. Bass again said some of his skin was still pink and there were remains of brain and intestinal muzzle-loaded firearm wounds.”
The Minié ball was the number one firearm during the Civil War, and caused 90 percent of all war casualties. Interestingly, it weighs about ten times as much, and travels about half the speed of regular Army bullets. The Minié ball also leaves huge wounds, and does lots of damage to tissues and shattered bones, wrote www.wikipedia.com.
The Nashville Banner, the local Republican newspaper, reported, “However, when the remains were recovered from the grave, the team working the investigation found a large hole in the top of the coffin, approximately one-two feet in diameter. It was made by the grave robbers with a pick axe or a shovel. “Hanging upside down over the pit and using a flashlight, Dr. Bass peered into the hole and found precisely what he was looking for – nothing.”
On January 13, 1978, Chief Williams said, “Our conclusion is that whoever dug down into Col. Shy’s grave found the cast-iron coffin, broke through the top of it and pulled Col. Shy out, and then stripped him of everything of value (Grave Robbers). Because the body was in such an excellent state of preservation, no one involved with the case considered that it might be Colonel Shy, who had been buried for 113 years!”
“If not for his historic stand and tragic death at the Battle of Nashville, Colonel Shy would be just another forgotten name on the long list of casualties suffered in this senseless battle. When the Battle of Nashville was fought, the 20th Tennessee Infantry was organized on June 12, 1861 in middle Tennessee. It originally contained 880 men, but when paroled at the end of the war on May 1, 1865 at Greensboro, North Carolina, it listed only 34 men. The 20th Tennessee had fought from one end of the Confederacy to another. Their record shows them engaged in such battles as: Fishing Creek, Shiloh, Port Hudson, Murfreesboro, Hoover Gap, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville in the Civil War,” wrote www.tennessee-scv.org.
Continuing with the possible grave robber’s motive wrote www.tennessee-scv.com, “Our conclusion is that whoever dug down into Colonel Shy’s grave found the cast-iron coffin, broke through the top of it and pulled Colonel Shy out. Then, stripped him of anything valuable.”
In finalization, the person, or persons, responsible for vandalizing the grave of Col. Shy, were never apprehended by personal identification.
The Science of Forensics has, in recent years, became recognized as an aid to law enforcement. If this case of vandalism had not been properly investigated by a competent Forensic Anthropologist such as Dr. Bass, the truth might have never been learned and the law would still be looking for a murder in Franklin, Tennessee (Williamson County).
In 1981, Dr. Bass opened the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility (more commonly known as THE BODY FARM) and the world of forensic science was irrevocably changed for the better. The Body Farm has been a crucial part of forensic and crime solving from the moment it took in its very first research subject (body).
