US Civil War embalming house. This is the Bunnell embalming establishment during a campaign of the Army of the James. The Army of the James was a Union army that fought along the James River in Virginia, USA, in the US Civil War (1861-1865). This embalming house was operated by Lafayette Houghton Bunnell (1824-1903), an explorer who served as a surgeon during the US Civil War. Embalming is a technique used to preserve dead bodies until they can be buried.