behind AotW

This uniquely posed photograph is of Corporal Ignatz Gresser of the 128th Pennsylvania Infantry. From the Lehigh County Historical Society, it was published in Mahlon H. Hellerich’s Allentown, 1762-1987: a 225-year History (1987).

Gresser came to America from his native Germany at age 16, and was a cobbler in Allentown, PA before the war. He was (much later) awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism at Antietam in September 1862:

While exposed to the fire of the enemy, carried from the field a wounded comrade.

He mustered out with his regiment in May 1863 and returned to his trade in Allentown.