Tree Shaped Tombstones - Rest, Soldier, Rest.

Silver Lake Cemetery in Portage Wisconsin.  It had a few Tree Shaped tombstones. These two make an interesting pair.

James Forbes appears to have been a Civil War veteran.  The weathered bird on top of his monument looks a bit more martial than most.  Was it once a mighty eagle instead of the less militant dove one usually encounters?

 The personalized inscriptions on these stones are always interesting.  This one reads: "Rest, Soldier, rest.  Thy warfare o'er".

A nice bit of recognition for one of the boys in blue, marching to that last destination a quarter century after Appomattox. 

This next marker also has a GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) marker indicating his veteran status.  His is an odd monument, qualifying as "Tree Shaped" only on the basis of this delicate little branch on top.  The monument proper has interesting insets of colored stone around a central panel.

A panel that is blank, seemingly robbed of a metal plaque at some point.  What the story is and which soldier rests here remains an enigma.