behind AotW

Seen here with Captain Louis Schaffner of Company A is 2nd Lieutenant Poinsett Cooper (standing) of Company G, 82nd New York Infantry (formerly 2nd New York State Militia), in a photograph probably taken soon after their respective commissioning in September and October 1861.

Poinsett was First Lieutenant of Company D, 42nd New York Infantry when he was wounded in combat at Antietam in September 1862.

Here’s Cooper again, a little older and wiser, probably in mid-1863, by which time he had been promoted to Captain and assigned as acting Assistant Inspector-General on the staff of Brigadier General Alexander Webb. They saw action together at Gettysburg.

Cooper was wounded 3 more times but survived his tour of duty and returned to his native Brooklyn in 1864, where he married and later opened his own express business.

The 1861 image at the top is from the Medford (Mass.) Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection, shared online on the Digital Commonwealth.

The later picture, a carte-de-visite, was among a set of Webb and his officers sold by Heritage Auctions in December 2014.

Private Philip Henry Foster of the ill-fated 16th Connecticut Infantry was killed by a bullet to the chest at Antietam on 17 September 1862. This photograph, probably taken in July or August 1862 shortly after his enlistment, is thanks to collector Guy DeMasi and was forwarded to me by John Banks – thanks to you both!

This stunning portrait of Major Peter Fayssoux Stevens (1830 – 1910), Superintendent of the South Carolina Military Academy – the Citadel – was painted by his granddaughter Grace Annette DuPré (1894 – 1984, NYT obit).

Miss DuPré and grandson Paul Stevens donated the painting to the Citadel in 1959. The original resides in the archives there and a copy hangs on campus in Bond Hall. Thanks to Citadel Archivist Major Tessa Updike for kindly providing this.

The plaque at the bottom reads: