The cremated remains of Civil War Private Jewett Williams, 20th Maine Infantry, Company H, will be brought to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park for a ceremony honoring his military service.

Williams’ remains were recently discovered in Oregon and are being transferred back to his home state of Maine, but will pass through Appomattox Court House National Historical Park as part of the trip.

Williams joined the 20th Maine Infantry in Oct. 1864, when he was 21 years old. In April 1865, the regiment participated in the final campaign from Petersburg to Appomattox. In addition to fighting in the Battle of Appomattox Court House, the unit was also one of the regiments designated to receive the famed “Stacking of Arms” by the Confederate infantry as a result of the surrender terms agreed to by Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at the McLean House.

On April 14, 1922, Williams was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital for the Insane in Salem, Ore., and died there three months later. His remains were cremated and never claimed.

While researching the fate of veterans of the famous infantry regiment, Maine historian Tom Desjardin discovered online records showing the cremated remains of a former private in the unit had been sitting unclaimed in a copper can on a shelf.