James, the baby brother of the three boys, died during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
His burial is shrouded in mystery, as the only statement I can find of him being buried, was the one previously mentioned. The rest can only be speculation unless other data exists that I have been unable to find.
My Theory:
Joel and William were likely devastated, and possibly horrified at seeing the appalling conditions of how the dead were being buried. I would guess it would have been Joel and William who buried James. It could have been either, or someone else entirely. We don't know why they chose the cemetery he died defending, especially when so many more died there, but were buried in mass graves.
Perhaps they wanted to know their brother was safe, interred in a cemetery and not a mass grave.
The owner of the lands during the time, was Douglas H. Gordon, but he had fled with his wife and three children to safety elsewhere. Later, Douglas Gordon had every right and ability, to demand that the body be removed from the personal property. Yet as far as I can find, he never contested it, nor contacted the family to get the remains. When the National Cemetery was being created, loads of graves were dug up, and their inhabitants reburied inside the cemetery. James Coffee was not one of them. For whatever reason, his body was allowed to rest in the family tomb of the hill he died defending
In 1887 William had a son who he named after the little brother they lost, James C. Coffee.
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