Category: biography
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Following a CDV
Ron Coddington recently [2007] bought a CDV of three Clark brothers from Maine. One, Charles Amory Clark, was with the 6th Maine at Antietam and later was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership at Chancellorsville.
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A Painter and a Coffin for Two Stetsons
(Stetson Company) Anniversary weekend at the Antietam battlefield, Harry Smeltzer came upon the stone honoring Lieutenant Colonel John L Stetson. Stetson was killed at the head of the 59th New York Volunteer Infantry, at the farthest reach of the disastrous Federal Second Army Corps advance into the West Woods on 17 September 1862. Harry also…
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Where photographs lead: Wilsons and a Medal of Honor
A couple of weeks back Dmitri Rotov made note of Moe D’Aoust’s piece about Burnside and his bridge in the latest Civil War Illustrated. It is nice work. But it was Dimitri’s posted photo of John Moulder Wilson that caught my eye. A Medal of Honor recipient and on General McClellan’s staff at Sharpsburg, he…
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Exodus from Harpers Ferry
Huzzah! for Don Caughey (Crossed Sabers) who’s put together a great series of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on the Union Cavalry expedition out of the trap that was Harpers Ferry on the night of 14 – 15 September 1862. He’s done a really nice job in illuminating a poorly understood episode in the…
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They were Massachusetts men
It has been another banner week for emails from descendants of battle veterans. This time the AotW Mailbag brings a pair of Old Bay State soldiers to the fore. Though from different Regiments and background, each had significant War service subsequent to the Maryland Campaign of 1862 where both were wounded–Sergeant Henry W Tisdale on…
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Witness to murder: Henry R Rathbone
Some of my Antietam boys are much better known for action elsewhere. One such celebrity was Henry Reed Rathbone (1 July 1837 – August 1911). He’s at the far left in this famous scene from 1865: Currier & Ives–Assassination of President Lincoln (1865, US Library of Congress) At the fatal shot [i]nstantly, Major Rathbone sprang…
