Civil War soldier’s Michigan grave finally gets headstone

EMPIRE, Mich. (AP) – The grave of a man who served in the U.S. Civil War has been formally marked at a northern Michigan cemetery.

Claude Fields ensured that Ruel Boynton’s service wouldn’t be forgotten. Fields is manager of the Maple Grove cemetery in Empire Township, west of Traverse City. He has performed research on many of the dead who are buried there.

Fields says it’s “not right” when a veteran doesn’t have a headstone. He worked with a funeral home to get the federal government to approved a headstone for Boynton.

Boynton died in 1910 after settling on a 160-acre farm in Leelanau County after the Civil War. He and wife Martha had eight children.