Civil War gravestones get cleaned, repaired in Blue Earth County

Matt Mickelson stooped down to examine a tombstone at Glenwood Cemetery in Mankato.

He was preparing to clean it, but first he carefully ran his hands along its edges to feel for small chips and cracks. The delicate old stone belonged to a Civil War veteran, and it was the oldest that Mickelson had ever cleaned.

Mickelson was doing the work for the Friends of the Boy in Blue Civil War Veterans Memorial, a Mankato nonprofit aimed at preserving Civil War history and monuments. The organization wants to clean or replace Civil War gravestones in Blue Earth County, starting with about 125 in Glenwood Cemetery.

"Even though it was years and years ago, [the Civil War] had some type of effect on who we are today," said Mickelson, who started his company Headstone Revival early this year. "With this kind of project and service, it won't be forgotten."

Once he made sure the stone wouldn't fall apart during cleaning, Mickelson rinsed it with water and doused it with an eco-friendly mold and mildew clearing solution in a squeeze bottle.

While he waited for it to seep into the stone, Mickelson used his phone to look up the history of the grave, which belonged to Sgt. Milton Hanna, a Medal of Honor recipient who enlisted in Minnesota, fought in the Civil War and died in 1913 at age 71.

"It just kind of gives you a little bit more of a perspective of what some of those soldiers put themselves in front of to stand for their country," he said. "You appreciate the stone a little bit more when you get that background story."

After a few minutes, Mickelson, a 37-year-old Nicollet resident, carefully began to scrub – a process that took more than an hour and a half, using a scratch-resistant horse hair brush to protect the stone.

Many of the graves he has seen so far have been covered in moss, he said. Dark stains on the stone disappeared during the cleaning, but it would take weeks for the chemicals to finish processing and fully restore the stone to white.

"But once you get the solution on and you really start scrubbing it in and seeing the results, it gives a ... sharper image of what the stone is," he said. "It gives you the meaning behind the stone, and it's not just something on a plot of land."

More than 930 Civil War soldiers either enlisted in Blue Earth County or were buried there, including one Confederate soldier buried in Glenwood, said Julie Schrader, a Mankato resident and member of the Friends of the Boy in Blue.

Schrader has spent years compiling a database of Civil War veterans who died or were enlisted in the county, and her list is still growing. She has found names through history books, online records and the Blue Earth County Historical Society.

"My interest was just in trying to find out who all these men were and what became of them," she said.

Over the years, the organization found that many Civil War veterans' graves had fallen into disrepair, Schrader said.

"Some [gravestones] were broken, some were missing entirely," she said. "Descendants are long gone, and there's no one to take care of them anymore."

Schrader said she thinks that between raising funds and finding all the graves, the process could take years.

"Then, hopefully, with the success that comes from this ... we can continue on to other surrounding counties to pay respects to Minnesota Civil War veterans," Mickelson said.