Initially, sometime early last summer Louis Neuburger reminded us that a Civil War General was buried in the Slate Hill Cemetery and that his plaque was missing and perhaps we should do something regarding him. No one at the time knew anything about General Burnett and I took it upon myself to do some research about him and discovered his connection to Lincoln and the assasination.

At that point we decided to clean up the gravesite and try to replace his plaque but we had no idea what was contained on it. My son and I visited the site and did some maintainence around the stone and measured the space where the plaque had been and discovered it was quite large measuring 5 feet in length and almost 3 feet at its highest. I then did some research on the internet and discovered the website of General Burnett. At that point Michael Bennett, who is our camp Secretary and Treasurer and also the past commander of the Department of New York of the SUVCW contacted the Burnett website creator and General Burnett great granddaughter, Mary Van Deusen, via the net and of course we learned of the existent proof of the gravestone plaque, found by another General Burnett great granddaughter, Blaine Kimball.

A quote to replace it was obtained which approached $5000. Lou Neuburger did some checking with the county historian and found out that the grant amounts had been cut significantly by the County and that we could only apply for a grant of up to $300 and would have to spend it within a year of receipt.I thought about it and realized it would take a while to raise the money to replace the headstone plaque and we already were in the midst of raising $3000.00 for another project. Also, I noted that the original plaque said nothing about the General having been one of the three prosecutors of the Lincoln Assaination Conspirators.

I then proposed at a meeting in the fall that we raise money initially for an historical marker, which we could get for about $1000, which would list his accomplishments and which we could probably be able to accomplish within a year. This was approved by the camp and Lou Neuburger then got the paperwork for the county grant which he and I prepared and which he presented to the county historian, Theodore Sly. In January or February we were informed we received the maximum amount of $300.00 for the project from the County and the camp voted to add some leftover funds from 2 earlier projects to the Burnett marker fund.There also were several personal contributions from members including myself, Lou Neuburger and Warren McFarland. Other contributors should please let us know so that we can include your names here.

Lou then got a quote to have it made which was within the amount of money raised, and it was ordered in April or May of this year. I designed the plaque and the wording and our Past Camp Commander, George Miller, chose the color and installed the plaque in early July. George Miller and I along with my son, Jeffrey S. Albanese have been maintaining the gravsite since last year for the camp.