Signers Monument

His family's burial ground was at Rosney plantation, about nine miles from Augusta, and while Walton's grave was unmarked, they were able to unearth his skeleton after a careful search of the site.

The committee was able to identify the bones as Walton's based on damage to the right femur from a musket shot he had suffered during the British Army’s capture of Savannah in late 1778.

Then in the late 1950s, a retired school principal and amateur historian was able to convince the Georgia Historical Commission to excavate a grave site in the Colonial Park Cemetery he suspected might be Gwinnett's.

The dig turned up a badly-preserved skeleton but with an encouraging sign: its left femur was damaged in the area above the knee where Gwinnett had been shot in his duel.

After a review by a ballistics expert, who indicated the femur's damage was caused by a pistol ball, the controversy was referred to the city's historic commission, which issued a 34-page report declaring that "beyond a reasonable doubt" the remains were Gwinnett's.