Year: 2024
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Dr R.T. Royston (c. 1855)
It’s a shame about the condition of this daguerrotype – but at least we can get a hint about what Dr. Robert T Royston looked like before the war. A physician of some 10 years experience, he enlisted in the 8th Alabama Infantry as a Private in May 1861, but quickly became the regiment’s Surgeon.…
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Tom McBryde (c. 1930)
At 18 years old, in March 1862, Thomas Calvin McBryde left his parents’ small farm at Snow Hill in Wilcox County, AL to enlist in the Cedar Creek Guards, who soon after became Company C of the 44th Alabama Infantry. He survived a slight wound at Sharpsburg in September 1862 and a couple of serious…
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Walter and Steele Williams (c. 1861)
In October 1861 Walter S Smith (1845-1919), not quite 16, enlisted with his father, 40 year old Punxsutawney tinsmith Steele Semple Williams, in Company F of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry; Walter as a Musician, Steele as a Sergeant. Walter survived the war, mustering out as a Sergeant in July 1865. His father, though, was seriously…
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Brig. Gen. E.W. Hincks (c. 1865)
PHOTOGRAPH 166. Case of Recovery after a Penetrating Gunshot Wound of the Ascending Colon. Colonel Edward W Hincks, commanding the 19th Massachusetts Infantry, was severely wounded at about noon on 17 September 1862 at Antietam. He was hit by a bullet that went through his right forearm, then through his body, exiting very near his…
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Death by tompion
Tompion: a plug pushed into the muzzle of a rifle to keep out dirt and water. This example, probably for an English-made Enfield model of 1853, made of brass and cork, was sold by the Horse Soldier in Gettysburg. The soldier’s culpable negligence in failing to remove the tompion before firing, resulted sometimes in the…
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Thomas E. Sims (c. 1862)
17 year old farm boy Thomas E Sims enlisted as a Private in the Orange Guards – Company G of the 27th North Carolina Infantry – in March 1862. Which is probably when this photograph was taken. He survived the terrible combat at Sharpsburg in September that year but was mortally wounded in a little…
