Dr Joseph Ruff Gibson, recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania medical school, was commissioned Assistant Surgeon, US Army on 16 April 1862, but it took a while for the formal paperwork to catch up with him. Here’s the official… continue reading

Captain Thomas McArthur Anderson commanded a battalion of the 12th United States Infantry in action between the middle bridge over the Antietam and the town of Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. Many years later, after a long and arduous Army… continue reading

United States Military Academy graduate J. (Jacob) Ford Kent (May 1861) had a very long, impressive military career and maintained an impressive mustache for even longer. He was first in combat at Bull Run in July 1861 and was wounded… continue reading

John Benson Williams, US Military Academy Class of May 1861, was First Lieutenant, 3rd United States Infantry at Antietam in September 1862, and commanded Company G there. Antietam was the peak of his young military career, however, as he was… continue reading

This is the packet ship Saranak of the Cope Line entering port with a steam tug at Philadelphia, PA in a brilliant watercolor by David Johnson Kennedy of August 1851. Irish-born Antietam veteran Colwell Carr of the First Pennsylvania Reserves… continue reading

Here’s a lovely photograph of 3 couples taken by Le Rue Lemer in Harrisburg, PA, probably in late 1866 or early 1867. That’s Captain Marcus Albert Reno, First United States Cavalry, left front, and his wife Mary Hanna Ross (1843-1874;… continue reading