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Photographer, Archivist Locates Grave of Civil War Veteran

June 3, 2026 | The Paper of Montgomery County | ,

By Andy Chandler

There are still 150 graves that are not marked.
From left, Walter Brennan, Dennis Hutchinson, Bill Brennan, David Hoesli (Indiana Sr. Vice-Commander) and Jeff Lilly (Jr. Vice-Commander-in-Chief).
The dedication came 124 ears after Civil War veteran John Shryer’s death.

Photos courtesy Andy Chandler

A dedication ceremony was held this past Saturday morning at Terre Haute’s Woodlawn Cemetery for the grave marker of Civil War veteran 1st Lt. John G. Shryer of Terre Haute.

The dedication came 124 years after Shryer’s death and was part of an effort to locate the mark the graves of Companions of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States , or MOLLUS. It is the oldest hereditary order of Civil War officers and now their descendants. Its members include the five Presidents who fought in the Civil War (Grants, Hayes, Arthur, Harrison, and McKinley), and other distinguished names such as General Douglas MacArthur, Gen. Omar Bradley, General Jonathon Wainright and Crawfordville’s own Lew Wallace.

According to Jeff Lilly, the Junior Vice Commander and Chief, there are still 150 graves of members that are unmarked.

1st Lt. John G. Shryer was born in Greene County, Indiana in 1845. Like many, he answered President Lincoln’s call and joined one of the regiments Indiana Governor Oliver Morton was forming: the 97th Indiana Infantry Regiment. Shryer saw action during the Vicksburg Campaign at Champion Hill and was one of the first into the City of Jackson, Mississippi after it had fallen to the Union in May of 1863. He would go onto see action at the Siege of Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea and the last large battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Bentonville. He was present at the Bennett Place outside of Durham, North Carolina for General Joseph Johnston’s surrender to Gen. William T. Sherman. 

After the Civil War, he moved back to Terre Haute where he and his brother opened a hardware store which he ran until his death in 1904.

Shryer was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, but there was no record of his grave ever being marked. In December of 2024, Jeff and I set out to get a marker placed. After six weeks of research cemetery records and plots grids and measuring the area, I located his grave. An application was submitted to the Veterans Administration, and in the spring of this year, a marker arrived for placement. 

Today’s ceremony included speeches from the MOLLUS leadership, a 3-shot salute, and the playing of taps. It was attended by locals, veterans and historians of the local community.