Stop 2: Leighton and Jesse Forsythe
Graves #6632 and #6633
Lying side-by-side are the graves of Leighton G. Forsythe and Jesse H. Forsythe, the only known pair of brothers interred here at the National Cemetery. Both were privates in the 4th US Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Older brother Leighton had enlisted under his real name, but twenty-two years old Jesse enlisted under the name Charles Dunn. This was probably because the brothers wanted to stay together and military policy forbade brothers from serving in the same regiment. They managed to serve together, they would also die together. The brothers were killed on August 7, 1898 when they were struck near Potomac Run, six miles north of Fredericksburg, by a train on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Why they were there is unclear. They may have been walking toward Brooke, VA to catch a train to Washington DC where their unit was camped.