A Civil War veteran is getting his gravestone, nearly 120 years after his death.
At Mt. Zion Cemetery in Wheeling, there’s a history that dates back to 1863 – with veterans of different wars buried there. WCHS TV estimated two thousand veterans are buried there and one of those is Charles James Fonner, a Civil War soldier who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg and died in 1902. Until now, Fonner was buried in an unmarked grave, but he’s finally getting a gravestone, thanks to his descendant Frank Fonner, who did some digging on Ancestry.com and found out about Charles. Frank sent a form to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs asking for a veteran’s headstone and the wish was granted. The headstone will be placed in the spring when the weather is warmer.