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All they could decipher on the crumbling headstone was a "CH" and the right-most vertical line for a capital "N."
Still, John Lowman and his son, Eric, were sure they'd found the grave of Civil War hero Charles Seston in Fairview Cemetery, New Albany.
The Lowmans collect the names of Indiana Civil War soldiers throughout the state, in neighboring states and in national cemeteries. They photograph the gravesites. Since 2002 they've listed more than 17,000 names of Civil War soldiers and, if possible, their stories.
"We started when Eric was in high school," John Lowman said. "Then I started the list again three years ago."
John lives in Burket and delivers medications for Pillbox Pharmacy in Warsaw.
Eric lives in Fayetteville, Pa., and works for The Great T-Shirt Shop in Gettysburg, where he's close to the battlefield.
An avid reenactor, Eric is a member of Historical Extras and appeared in the motion picture "Gods and Generals" as well as in other Civil War-era movies and documentaries.
Seston was of interest to John and Eric because he was a Medal of Honor recipient and because his gravesite was unknown.
In December, they finally discovered Seston's burial site. He was buried beside three Seston infants. They found the infant's grave markers first.
"All we knew was Seston was supposed to be in the city cemetery," John said. "We just couldn't find him. We didn't know Fairview Cemetery used to be New Albany's city cemetery."
A trip through burial records and back issues of local newspapers failed to reveal the location of Seston's grave site, but they read about the Charles Seston's funeral and learned his father's name was John.
A deed was registered to John Seston, who probably bought the plot to bury his son.
The Lowmans had looked at the gravestone in 2003.
It wasn't until December 2004 when they scraped away decades of dirt accumulated on the smaller stones that they realized the round-topped headstone with a barely discernible flag belonged to the Medal of Honor recipient.
Seston was a sergeant in the 11th Indiana. He died in third battle of Winchester while carrying the colors, according to "Indiana's Roll of Honor, Vol. II" by Theo T. Scribner. His dying words are reported to have been, "Some one catch the flag!"
Of the 45 Indiana Congressional Medal of Honor recipients during the Civil War, Seston was one of two soldiers to receive the medal after his death.
The Lowmans reported finding Seston's grave, the find was verified and a new gravestone, weighing 250 pounds, eventually was ordered.
In September, on the anniversary of Seston's death, a tombstone rededication ceremony was attended by a honor guard of Civil War reenactors. The local men represented Seston's old unit, the 11th, and Eric Lowman, serving as color-bearer, dressed in a replica of Gen. Reub William's 12th Indiana uniform.
The graves of most Civil War veterans have been marked with new stones, courtesy of the government. That Seston's grave had gone unmarked for so long amazed John Lowman.
"Most places we've been to have new stones," John said. "Seston's grave was the last unmarked Medal of Honor recipient in Indiana."
He has seen many of them. Since July 2002 he has logged 25,000 miles and visited 800 cemeteries and collected 17,000 names.
He and Eric plan to publish a book with short stories about the soldiers.
Lowman doesn't know what kind of stone was used to make gravemarkers 150 years ago.
"Limestone? Sandstone? All I know is that they deteriorate. They were marked with flags, cannon, stars or sabers. That's what to look for," he said. "Sometimes I can't scrape it off enough to get information. We used steel wool to clean the Seston infant gravestones."
John has traveled to Gettysburg, Pa., Arlington, Va., Tennessee and Mississippi, collecting names of Indiana soldiers.
He'll never get them all and doesn't expect he will. Many men moved west following the Civil War. Others were buried in mass graves near the battle grounds. Others were buried in private, forgotten cemeteries.
He's found the weed-covered grave of B.F. "Barton" Mitchell, the man who found Gen. Robert E. Lee's famous "lost order."
In Bean Blossom he found grave sites for the Vanbuskirk brothers who reportedly were the tallest men to serve in the Civil War.
He dedicates Saturdays to his searches. Eric often joins his father during the summer or at other vacation times.
"There are still several prominent officers from Warsaw we haven't found," he said.
John is related to several Civil War soldiers. William Hugh Bowen is buried in Silver Lake and is John's great-great-grandfathers. William Hugh Bowen served in the Co. F, 12th Indiana.
Oakwood Cemetery in Warsaw also has a Civil War-era William H. Bowen listed, but he was a cousin.
Other great-great grandfathers are Joshua Tucker, who served in Co. I of the 8th Indiana and Martin Lowman of the 42nd's Co. D.
