After placing a flag at the grave of James H. Lane, background right, Boy Scouts Tristan Alfie, 11, left, and Liam Imbody, 12, center, and Cub Scout Fergus Imbody, 7, right, make their way through Oak Hill Cemetery on Saturday, searching for other Civil War Union soldier graves to place flags near.

A group of Boy Scouts wandered through Oak Hill Cemetery on Saturday to help honor Civil War veterans.

“Here’s one,” said assistant Cubmaster Brian Van Schmus, using a map to navigate among headstones. Each Scout grasped a handful of small American flags attached to sticks as they followed along.

Van Schmus rammed a metal rod into the soggy ground, leaving a hole for a Scout to place a flag next to the grave. Then they were off to find the next.

“Once you find one name, then you have a reference point,” Van Schmus said. “You can start finding the rest of them from there.”

Scout Liam Imbody, 12, said placing the flags helped the boys earn service hours.

“It’s a symbol of veterans,” Liam said.

About a dozen members of Cub Scout Pack 3052 and Boy Scout Troop 59 assisted the Kansas Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War with their yearly task of making sure that those who fought to end the Confederacy and slavery in the United States are remembered. More than 200 Union veterans are buried at Oak Hill, 1605 Oak Hill Ave.

“A lot of people don’t know that Kansas was termed the Soldier State after the Civil War because of the high number of veterans who moved to Kansas,” said Van Schmus, also a member of the Civil War group. “So we have a large number of graves from all across the country here at Oak Hill Cemetery.”

The Scouts placed just less than 100 flags on graves.

“That means that tradition will be carried on, and that’s very important,” member John McCoin said. “I’m glad that (remembrance of the Civil War) hasn’t been lost in the U.S. Our being out here to put up these flags today exemplifies that.”

One volunteer had mixed feelings about the service activity.

“It’s kind of sad,” Scout Tristan Alfie, 11, said. “You see all these people that have died … but it’s fun to put the flags (out.)”

The Scouts were intent on finding the headstones but also hunted for the earliest birth date they could find.

“1842,” said Liam, pointing to a large headstone.

“1814,” Tristan shouted back. “Winner!”