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.
Notes
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.
Hospital lists after Antietam
4 February 2024
On 12 October 1862 the New York Times printed lists of soldiers who died at several field hospitals near the battlefield in the 2 weeks immediately after Antietam. They contain some excellent detail I’ve not seen elsewhere, and I’m saving them here [PDF] for current and future reference.
Philip H Foster (1862)
25 January 2024
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!
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