The grave of Corporal Alva E. Wilcox, located in Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg, PA.
Many of the 17th CVI’s Gettysburg dead are buried in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Some were brought home by their families after the battle, some were transferred from temporary graves and some were never found and/or identified. In Evergreen Cemetery, adjacent to the National Cemetery, there is a small soldiers plot, and within that plot is the grave of Corporal Alva E. Wilcox, age 27, of Company D.
Wilcox was seriously wounded on July 3, one of several casualties in the regiment caused by sharpshooters in town. It appears that he was wounded somewhere near the gatehouse to the cemetery, at least according to some accounts. 3 days later, on July 6th, Wilcox died and was laid to rest. It’s said that Elizabeth Thorn, the pregnant wife of the caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery, buried 91 soldiers in this section of the cemetery. It stands to reason that she may have been responsible for burying Wilcox after his death as well.
This is not the only gravestone for Wilcox. Another stone is located in West Cemetery in Madison, CT. Wilcox, a carriage-maker, enlisted in Bridgeport, but his father-in-law Abner Dowd was a Madison resident and Alva himself was born in nearby Killingworth before moving to Bridgeport. Alva Wilcox’s widow, Sarah, is buried in West Cemetery as well as numerous other members of the Wilcox family. Sadly, Alva and Sarah were married in Clinton, CT less than a year before, on August 24, 1862 – just before the regiment left the state.
It would be an interesting research project to find out if the marker in Madison is a cenotaph or if the family had Alva’s body moved to Connecticut after the war.