behind AotW

Private William E. Cree of Company C, 5th Alabama Infantry was about 18 years old when he fought at Turner’s Gap on 14 September 1862 and was captured there.

He was taken again at Gettysburg in July 1863 and died of the effects of scurvy in a Richmond hospital in October 1864, just two weeks after being released for exchange from the Federal prison at Point Lookout, MD.

The assistant surgeon-in-charge, Dr Bartlett Anderson Curtis (1825-1866; Jefferson Medical College ’53), signed this form listing the only item of military clothing Private Cree possessed at his death: a blanket, valued at $6.00.

This Inventory and Appraisement of the Military Clothing of Private Cree is from his Compiled Service Records file at the National Archives; my copy from fold3 online.