behind AotW

From the New York Daily Herald of Thursday, 25 September 1862. Parked here for reference and as yet another go-back-and-check project: a list of those killed, wounded, and missing among the soldiers of the 42nd New York Infantry – the Tammany Regiment – at Antietam in September 1862.

(touch for the full list)

First on that list is the Adjutant, Lt Patrick James Downing. He’s seen below, at left, in a photo taken later in 1862 or early in 1863 with his brother Denis (1841-1871).

The picture, of unknown provenance, was shared online by the American Fenians blog in 2017.

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.

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.

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:

This is Michigan farm boy Francis E. King, probably in about 1858 when he was 15 years old.

At age 19, in August 1862, he enlisted as a Private in the 17th Michigan Infantry. Just over a month later he was killed in the Battle of Antietam.

Thanks to John Banks for providing a copy of this lovely daguerreotype, from the collection of Nick Sacco.

Charles Urquhart Williams was a staff officer to Brigadier General David R Jones at Sharpsburg in 1862 and after Jones’ death in January 1863 was with Brigadier General Montgomery D Corse. He was captured near Petersburg in mid-1864 and was a prisoner to the end of the war.

He was afterward a prominent lawyer in Richmond, VA, where this photograph was probably taken, possibly on the occasion of his service in the Virginia Legislature (1875-77). Thanks to g-g-g-grandson Jerrold Johnson for sending me this copy.

Private James Burke of Company D, 27th Indiana Infantry was wounded at Antietam on 17 September 1862. Here he is perhaps 25 years later, about the time he began receiving a government pension for his war service.

Thanks to Polly Kaczmarek for this photograph. She got it from her grandmother, who was James’ granddaughter.

Polly notes the similarity with the photocopy, below, of a picture found in his pension file in Washington, DC. In it, as she says, he’s “shirtless and scrawny,” at least in part due to his wartime experiences.

Willard Dean Tripp had early war service as a Corporal in the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a 3-month unit, then helped form a new company and was commissioned their Captain in December 1861. They became Company F of the 29th Massachusetts Infantry, part of the famous Irish Brigade at Antietam. He led them for 3 years and was briefly the regiment’s Lieutenant Colonel near the end of his term in December 1864.

The fine photograph above is among the holdings of the US Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, PA.

The USAHEC has another picture of him, this one taken later in the war; he looks to have aged a bit. It’s from a page in Volume 117 of the MOLLUS Massachusetts Collection.

Given the moniker George Samuel Franklin David Worcester at birth, he dropped the Franklin and David as a young man to be afterward known as George Samuel Worcester. He was a Sergeant in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry when he was wounded at Antietam in September 1862. After recovering, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery and was successively promoted to Major by the end of the war.

He’s pictured here at that rank in an Alexander Gardner photograph in the MOLLUS Massachusetts Collection at the US Army Heritage and Education Center.

There’s another copy of this image, on a CDV, in the Boston Public Library.