behind AotW

This excellent CDV of Theodore Burr Gates is from the collection of descendant Piera Weiss who kindly provided us a scanned copy.

Then their Lieutenant Colonel, Gates commanded his regiment in battle on South Mountain on 14 September and at Antietam on 17 September 1862. He was promoted to Colonel soon afterward, and was brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers in March 1865.

He returned to his law practice after his term expired in late 1864, but also continued in state service and was commissioned Major General in the New York Militia in 1867.

Corporal Addison A. Townsend of Company I, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry was wounded at Antietam in September 1862 and discharged as disabled for further military service in April 1863.

Here he is in about 1883 in a lovely photograph cared for by his great-great-granddaughter Nancy Faulkner Brooke and sent to us by Tony Townsend.

You’ll notice the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) pin on his tie – in 1883 he was a founding member of the Union G.A.R. Post 96 in Shullsburg, WI (later renamed for their first commander Thomas H. Oates). He was the last surviving member of the post at his death at age 87 in 1926.

Private Michael Ball of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry may have been as young as 16 years old on the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and was probably wounded twice there, on South Mountain on 14 September and at Antietam three days later. By the end of 1862 he was back home with his parents, and afterward had a long career farming in St. Croix County, WI.

This excellent post-war likeness was sent by great-great grandson Ryan R Ball.

Their great-great-grandson Phil McLane sent me this lovely photograph of Catherine and Nicholas Broadwater, who married in 1868. Nicholas was a Private in the 7th South Carolina Infantry when he was wounded at Sharpsburg in September 1862. He survived the war to return to farming in Edgefield County, SC for the rest of his life.

Boley Embry Lord was a 22 year old private in the 24th Georgia Infantry when he was severely wounded by a gunshot to his left leg in action at Crampton’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862. He was captured there and in US Army prison hospitals into April 1863, when he was finally exchanged to go home.

Here he is many years later with his wife Margaret in a photograph kindly shared by great-great grandson Keith Evans.

Paschal Clue Eddings of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry was wounded at Sharpsburg in 1862, at Gettysburg in 1863, and on the Weldon Railroad in 1864, and also survived a stint as a prisoner of war. He was 5th Sergeant of his Company by the end of the war, but came home to almost nothing: his father and 3 brothers dead, step-mother gone, and the family farm burned down. He made a new life farming in Benton County, MS and married late, at age 54, but still had 7 children.

This postwar image – possibly from a photograph taken around the time of his wedding – is courtesy of his great-grandson Galen Paton.

Simon Pincus was a Sergeant in Company C, 66th New York Infantry when he was wounded in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in March 1864 and mustered out of service in August 1865.

This portrait, probably based on or painted over a photograph, was kindly provided by its owner, his great-great-grandson Ross Schacher.

On the afternoon of 17 September 1862 the 4th Rhode Island Infantry were in action at Antietam in a large cornfield on the Otto farm above the lower (later Burnside’s) bridge:

… as the enemy showed the national flag (the corn concealing their uniform), and as our troops had been seen in advance on our right, moving diagonally across our front, the order to cease firing was given, and a volunteer officer to go forward to ascertain who was in our front was called for. Lieutenant George E. Curtis and George H. Watts immediately stepped forward, and placing themselves one on each side of the color bearer (Corporal Tanner, Company G), carried the flag up the hill within 20 feet of the rebels, when the enemy fired, killing the corporal. Lieutenant Curtis seized the colors and returned, followed by Lieutenant Watts.

This fine photograph was sent me by Robert Grandchamp from his personal collection. The quote above is from Lieutenant Colonel Curtis’ after-action Report.

A photograph in the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at the Library of Congress. A former VMI cadet and later US Congressman, Lieutenant Turner was noted for his actions on South Mountain on 14 September and at least slightly wounded at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

In April 1861 Marcellus Newton Moorman was appointed Captain in command of the Lynchburg (VA) Artillery and he led them in action on the Piper Farm at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

Here he is about the time of graduation from the Virginia Military Institute in 1856, from the fine VMI Archives collection.