Middle school students work to get forgotten Union veteran a headstone

A forgotten Civil War veteran who died without a proper burial is finally receiving recognition, thanks to two eighth-grade students in New York.

Kendall Peruzzini and Mary McCormick spoke with Fox News Digital on Wednesday about their efforts to commemorate Daniel Walterhouse, a Union Army veteran who died in 1910. Both teens attend Albion Middle School in western New York.

Walterhouse, who was born in Orleans County, New York, in 1823, died at the Orleans County Alms House at around 87 years of age. He was an Orleans County native who enrolled in the Fourth Michigan Infantry in 1861.

Tim Archer, a retired service learning teacher at Albion Middle School, told Fox News Digital that the former Union soldier spent around a decade of his life at the poorhouse. He had been injured during the war and spent time in a Confederate prison camp.

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Mary McCormick (L), Kendall Peruzzini (M) and Tim Archer (R) sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss Daniel Walterhouse. (Maggie Stewart/Albion Central School District)

“[The almshouse] was a place where people that didn’t have anybody to care for them came,” the teacher explained. “Anyone from [people] with mental, physical disabilities, babies that were unwanted up to the elderly, immigrants that didn’t have family in the area, and blind people.”

The Orleans County Alms House was in operation from the 1830s to 1960, according to Archer. In 1910, Walterhouse was buried in an unmarked grave in a section of the poorhouse’s cemetery for people who couldn’t afford a headstone.

Archer was familiar with the cemetery for years, but was contacted by a historian from Michigan who inquired about a Civil War veteran buried in the cemetery. The retired educator presented the research opportunity to McCormick’s mother, a secretary at the school. 

In Archer’s mind, there were no better researchers to take the summer break opportunity than Peruzzini and McCormick.

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Peruzzini and McCormick both found details about Daniel Walterhouse’s life during their research. (Maggie Stewart/Albion Central School District)

“I’ve had both of these girls as students a couple of years ago prior to my retirement, so I knew they were good students and great girls,” Archer explained. “I knew they’d be good researchers, and I knew they’d be willing, even over the summer months, to participate in it.”

After doing copious amounts of research about the forgotten veteran over the summer, the girls successfully petitioned the Orleans County Legislature to approve a headstone request for Walterhouse. They’re currently waiting to hear back from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to approve their application for a headstone, which is likely.

Both girls said they love learning about history and found the project interesting. They were able to gather a few details about Walterhouse’s life, even though many of the poorhouse’s records were burned in a fire.

“He was a war veteran and he did get injured,” McCormick explained. “He got stabbed and captured, so I think it’s just really important that he gets recognized.”

“I like history a lot,” she continued. “We studied the Civil War in classes, and we’ve explained to our classes about this project that we’ve been doing, and it’s all very interesting.”

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“I find it very fascinating, finding out about the past and present,” Peruzzini added.

The two 14-year-olds consider it a huge honor to help commemorate Walterhouse, whose service they admire — even 160 years later.

“I think it’s an honor for me and Mary, because he should be respected and appreciated for all that he’s done,” Peruzzini said. 

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“I would love to recognize more people… I do think that there are opportunities for more war veterans to be recognized,” McCormick explained. “And out of this whole experience, I really think that we can learn to appreciate everything as we have…because we’ve learned about the alms house and how much they didn’t have, and how hard it really was for all these people. So for Daniel to get recognized would just be so amazing.”

Archer told Fox News Digital that Walterhouse served his country “in a unique way,” and said that the project was an important learning experience for the girls.

“The poorhouse is kind of an added uniqueness, in that these were people that were forgotten in their own day, much less a Civil War veteran who served his country in such a unique way for two years, and was yet forgotten even in his own lifetime,” Archer said. “And so that’s kind of the added segment to this that the girls have kind of brought forth, and the community is going to really recognize this if we can get the headstone in.”

The two students told Fox News Digital that they considered it an honor to help recognize Daniel Walterhouse. (Maggie Stewart/Albion Central School District)

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“When kids are able to do their own research and get outside of the classroom… it can excite a student more than just reading out of a textbook,” the educator said. “Plus, it helps them to get to know their community leaders by going to the town clerk or to the county historian or presenting in front of the county legislature.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs for comment.