behind AotW

Captain Antoine Leopold Gusman commanded Company A of the 8th Louisiana Infantry in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

Captain Gusman was captured in November 1863 and was held at Johnson’s Island for the rest of the war. He remained a prisoner much longer than most Confederate POWs, though – to November 1865 – because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Here’s the card from his Compiled Service Records describing that situation:

His photograph was shared to Ancestry.com by user Lancieux1962 in 2017. His CSR card is in the National Archives; I got my copy online from fold3.

Maryland Campaign veteran Christian Benjamin Deishler is probably among men of his company – “K” of the 5th Alabama Infantry – in this photograph taken sometime after 1900 at a unit reunion. Touch for a larger version.

Then-Corporal Deishler was wounded in action near Turner’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862 but survived the war and farmed for many years afterward in Texas.

Here he is in a 1901 picture with his wife Sarah Ann Doyle (1851-1943).

Both photos were posted to Ancestry.com by Christopher Eugene Holley in April 2022.

This post-war photograph of Sharpsburg veteran William R Stone, late of the 48th Mississippi Infantry, was posted online by family genealogist William R. Emanuel.

A widely re-printed newspaper piece contributed by an anonymous soldier of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry – the Bucktails – tells the story of the death of two soldiers, possibly of the 5th Alabama Infantry, near Turner’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862. It’s sounds apocryphal, but may be true.

The short version is that Colonel Hugh McNeil of the Bucktails made an amazing rifle shot, killing two of the enemy with one bullet, bounced off a rock. McNeil was himself killed two days later on the evening of 16 September at Antietam.

Here’s the version printed in The Democratic Press (Eaton, OH) of 1 January 1863. The paper is online from the Library of Congress (touch image for full story).

Thank you to Miles Krisman for poking me to look more carefully into the men of the 5th Alabama Infantry on the Maryland Campaign of 1862.

A 26 year old paper-maker from Dedham, MA, Clinton Bagley was a Private in Company I, 35th Massachusetts Infantry when he was wounded at Fox’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862. He was Sergeant Major of his regiment by the end of his service in June 1865, as seen in this fine photograph provided by his great-great-granddaughter Jane Christopher.

Bagley fought in just about all of the battles of his regiment through the war, as listed in his record in the Descriptive Book for Company I of the 35th Massachusetts. Here’s the War Department transcription of that record on a card (front and back) now in the US National Archives, hosted online by fold3:

Here are a pair of interesting documents from Ransom Warren‘s Compiled Service Records at the US National Archives. I got my copies online from fold3.

The first is the parole he signed with his mark in Sharpsburg after his wounding there on 17 September 1862 and subsequent capture by Federal troops. He was a Private in Company E of the 23rd Virginia Infantry.

And this is his Confederate certificate of disability which followed from the loss of his right arm to amputation.

2nd Lieutenant Thomas Scott Michaels was detailed to recruit for his Company in the 23rd Virginia Infantry in February and March 1862. Here’s his announcement, clipped from the Richmond Dispatch of 7 March 1862. I found it online thanks to the Library of Virginia.

This extract from an Antietam hospital record is for Private William Randolph Cox of the 14th Indiana Infantry. “3^d Div, 2^d AC” refers to 3rd Division of the 2nd Army Corps, of which the 14th Indiana was a part, and their field hospital was located on the R. F. Kennedy farm on the west bank of Antietam Creek. The better-known Pry and Neikirk farms are nearby.

Big thanks to his great-great-grandson Matt Wynn for sending me that card and alerting me to Private Cox.

This is Sharpsburg veteran DeWitt Clinton Wellen, late of the 31st Virginia Infantry, seen here many years later. His photograph kindly shared to his Find-a-grave memorial by descendant Darrell Groves.

This fabulous photograph is from Jeff Radcliffe who took it about a week ago at Arlington National Cemetery. Pictured is the original 1864 grave marker for Antietam veteran Michael Byrns, a Private in Company A, 63rd New York Infantry. It’s slowly being swallowed by that massive tree.

Jeff tells me he made the photo with a Hasselblad SWC using Ilford HP5 black & white film, scanned at 1200 dpi. I’ve reduced it somewhat for the web. Touch the image to see it larger.