behind AotW

This impressive gentleman is Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward. The picture is from his own History of George G. Meade Post no. One … Grand Army of the Republic (1889).

He was a 17 year old musician in the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry at Antietam and was promoted to Corporal by the end of the war. He was afterward in insurance and then trained as a dentist and practiced in Philadelphia for the rest of his life.

He was an officer in the National Guard of Pennsylvania, active in veterans’ organizations, and wrote the History of the One-Hundred and Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 in 1883.

His wartime photograph, inset above, is from the 2nd edition of his History (1906). The cover of his first edition shown below.