Bone collector fined after taking Civil War soldier's bones

Man Fined for Taking Civil War Soldier's Bones
Nov 08, 2012
The Kansas City Star
by Brian Burnes

A Springfield, Ill., man has been fined and sentenced to community service after admitting he dug up and took from a Civil War battlefield several bones belonging to a soldier.

Coy Matthew Hamilton, 31, took the bones last year at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield near Springfield, authorities said Wednesday. A collector of Civil War artifacts riding a canoe down Wilson's Creek spotted a bone jutting from an eroded creek bank and stopped for an impromptu -- and illegal -- dig.

Hamilton on Tuesday took a deal to avoid federal prosecution, promising to pay $5,351 in restitution and perform 60 hours of community service. He'll work alongside National Park Service rangers at Wilson's Creek, site of the Aug. 10, 1861, battle -- a Confederate victory considered the first major engagement in the Civil War's western theater.
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