American Civil War hero honoured in Melbourne 113 years after his death
Medals and a New Testament given to his descendants at a ceremony organised by US Consul General and Australian researchers
Henry Ouseley Blake Lane, an 18-year-old Union soldier who helped prevent the burning of Washington in 1864 and fought at the Battle of Opequon, was posthumously honoured last week at Brighton General Cemetery in Melbourne, more than a century after he died alone and in poverty in a St Kilda hotel. The ceremony, attended by US Consul General Colin Crosby, included the return of two medals and a pocketbook New Testament to Lane’s descendants, ending a trail that began with a 1913 probate notice in The Age.