behind AotW

Here are some excellent photographs of Henry Roger Jones very kindly sent me by his great-great-granddaughter Deborah Burks.

Henry was a 23 year old law student in Illinois in early 1861, but returned to his native state and enrolled as First Sergeant of Company C, 8th Connecticut Infantry in September. Here he is, on the right, in a picture taken with another soldier, not yet identified, about that time:

He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant the next summer and was seriously wounded in combat at Antietam on 17 September 1862 and briefly a prisoner of war there. Disabled for further field service, he was discharged in January 1863 and enrolled in the Veteran Reserve Corps in July 1864. That’s him in VRC uniform in these next two images:

He continued as a First Lieutenant in Regular Army service after the war; with the 43rd US Infantry (VRC) then with the First US Infantry after the two regiments were merged in 1869. Here he is in post-war service:

He retired in 1878 and was promoted to Captain on the retired list in 1904.

Deborah also transcribed the backs of each of these photographs; from the top down, 1 – 4:.

(1) printed: “Cartes de Visite by Davis, 245 Main Street, Hartford Conn.”
(2) printed: “J. T. Upson, Buffalo, NY”
(3) handwritten: “Henry R. Jones, Adjt, 11th Inv. Corps, Rock Island, Ill. Dec. 26 ’63. [added: Capt 20th VRC];” printed: “G. A. Douglass & Co. (Late Powelson’s) 230 Main Street, Buffalo, N.Y.”
(4) handwritten: “Henry R. Jones, Lieut. USA.;” printed: “R. S. De Lamater, Photographer, No. 258 Main Street, 3 Doors above Post Office [Hartford, CT].”

Rufus King Felder and his cousin Miers Martindale Felder enlisted together in July 1861 near their homes in Washington County, TX, and joined the Dixie Blues, later Company E of the 5th Texas Infantry. They had their photographs taken soon afterward.

Miers was seriously wounded at Manassas, VA on 30 August 1862 and was disabled for further service, but Rufus was with his company through all their battles, including on South Mountain and at Sharpsburg, MD in September 1862, and was surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.

He returned to Washington County and farmed and raised livestock, amassing a prosperous 800 acre operation by his death at age 82 in 1922.

In 1868 he married preacher’s daughter Margaret Eliza Matthews (1847-1884) and she bore him eight children. I believe these are the newlyweds:

Margaret died in 1884 birthing their last child, daughter Margaret Eliza (1884-1978), and Rufus re-married the following year, 20 year old Mary Loula Virginia Nelson (1865-1942), daughter of a local physician. Rufus was then 45. They had 4 more children by the turn of the century.

The photographs above were shared to Rufus’ memorial by Karen Webster in 2018; the picture of Rufus and Miers is in the Texas Heritage Museum at Hill College, Hillsboro, TX.

Here’s the very image of pre-war South Carolina aristocracy: a young Richard Caspar Simpson, then about 20 years old, posing with his shotgun and hunting dog.

He was oldest son and 2nd of 8 children of wealthy physician and slaveowner John Wells Simpson and his second wife Eliza Adams (1810-1854) and was raised in the Laurens District in upstate South Carolina. He graduated from South Carolina College (now USC) in Charleston in 1859 and was studying to be a doctor when the war began.

Along with a number of brothers, step-brothers, and cousins, he enlisted as a Private soldier in the 3rd South Carolina Infantry in April 1861 and was appointed Corporal by the fall of 1862.

His apparently unlimited future ended when he was killed in the battle at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

This remarkable photograph was contributed to his online memorial by Lynne Lewellen.