I've been "talking to" by email, a gentleman who is (and I quote) undertaking a project to locate the graves of veterans of the American Civil war (1861-1865) or their widows buried in the mainland UK, of which there are at least 1,300.

William Steele served from Dec. 1, 1863 to Feb. 29, 1864 as a Private on Co. G of the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and then transferred to the U.S. Navy, serving as a Sailmaker's Mate on the USS Minnesota, Quaker City and Princeton till his discharge on August 21, 1865.

He was shown on his Federal War Pension application papers in 1898 and 1901 as living in Thurso and working as a fisherman, but by the year of his death
he was an inmate of the Poorhouse at Halkirk. He never married.

As I have some photos of Halkirk Gravestones on my site, he contacted me to see if I could help to locate the grave, but unfortunately, I no longer live in Caithness, and William Steele is not named in the Halkirk part of the Caithness MI Inscriptions. I pointed him to the Archives, and he has received a plan of the cemetery in which William Steele's plot is marked.

Unfortunately the plan received does not make it clear if the grave is stoneless in the oldest part of the cemetery, which is the only part I have photographed, or is in the lower part, down from the area round the church, with or without a stone. I suspect the latter, but only because I can't marry up inscriptions from the MIs with the names on the plan.

So to my plea for help.....would anyone be able to (and have the time to) have a look in the Halkirk Cemetery and locate the grave, if I email a copy of the cemetery plan to them. My correspondent would very much appreciate a photograph of the spot, whether it has a stone or not, in order to pinpoint the position of the grave, and if there is no stone, perhaps a photo including some of the surrounding stones.

If anyone can help at all, PM me with an email address and I'll send the copy of the plan.

Thanks for reading.......and my fingers are crossed.