behind AotW

22 year old Private Charles H. Tarbox of Company G, 35th Massachusetts Infantry had been in the Army for exactly a month when he was killed in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

This photograph of him was shared on Pinterest by Scott Doss. I do not know what uniform that is he’s wearing. Pre-war militia or military school, perhaps? Or maybe a costume provided by the photographer.

This is William Ransom Johnson “Willie” Pegram in a photograph contributed to his Findagrave memorial by Mike Serpa. Pegram was an excellent artillerist, though notably nearsighted. The story in Richmond was that’s why he got so close to the enemy before engaging.

He was Captain commanding the Purcell (Richmond) Artillery in Maryland and he was slightly wounded in the head at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. He was promoted to Major in March 1863 and Lieutenant Colonel in February 1865, but was mortally wounded at the battle of Five Forks, VA on 1 April 1865 and died the next day. He was then only 23 years old.

Lawyer Marmaduke Johnson formed the Richmond Light Artillery Battery in March 1862 and was their first Captain. He led them in Maryland in 1862 and was promoted to Major by 1864. He was Lieutenant Colonel commanding an artillery battalion in March 1865.

Great-great grandson Thayer Dixon shared his portrait of Colonel Johnson, seen here.

This is Lieutenant Charles Frederick Williams, Jr. of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry. He was mortally wounded in action at Fox’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862 and died of wounds in Middletown, MD on 22 September.

His photo is from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the US, Massachusetts Commandery (MOLLUS-Mass) Civil War Photograph Collection, US Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC). The USAHEC, formerly the US Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) has hosted [gone in 2021] the excellent and massive MOLLUS Mass Collection online for at least 10 years (yay!), but they slapped this watermark over everything (boo).

Read more about the Collection history at Carlisle in a 2011 article by Molly Bompane.

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update, 10 February 2021

Thanks to Heather Goyette in Ridgway Hall at USAHEC for the following instructions to find the MOLLUS images online:

The digital MOLLUS images … have been uploaded into our current Arena search page … You can then search … by entering the names of people, places, things, etc [in the search box]. As before, be sure to spell them out and not use abbreviations …

Clicking on the “Museum & Archives” tab near the top of the search results page will weed out library-related items …

To browse through individual album images enter “MOLLUS-Mass Civil War Photograph Collection” [in the search box] to see a listing of all digitized albums available, or enter something more specific such as “MOLLUS-Mass Civil War Photograph Collection Volume 4” to see what is available for an individual album. After selecting an album click on “Show linked records” to expand the list, and you can then click on individual image links to open them.

This new search interface will take some practice, but I’m so glad I can get the images again. And no sign of watermarks yet. Thanks USAHEC!

Below is Lt. Williams on page 4943 of Volume 96 of the Collection, with other officers of the regiment, from USAHEC.

Private Patrick McCormic was mortally wounded by a gunshot to his face in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862. The bullet entered his mouth, broke his upper jaw, then passed down and back through his neck nicking his carotid artery. He died early on the 29th in a US Army hospital in Frederick, MD.

Some of poor McCormic’s surgery is described in this excerpt from the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870).

This fine carte-de-visite (CDV) of Lieutenant Frederick M. Edgell was sold by Cowan’s Auctions in 2006.

Edgell, a Mexican War veteran, commanded the First Battery, New Hampshire Light Artillery in Maryland in 1862 and was promoted to be its Captain in March 1863. He was appointed Major of the First New Hampshire Heavy Artillery in November 1864 and mustered out with them in June 1865.

After service with the 2nd New Hampshire Infantry in 1861 and earlier in 1862, Herbert Bradwell Titus was commissioned Major of the 9th New Hampshire in July and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in August. Near the lower (“Burnside”) bridge at Antietam on 17 September 1862:

Among the officers who were severely wounded were Lieut. Col. Herbert B. Titus and Captains John B. Cooper and Smith O. Whitfield. Lieut. Col. Titus was himself taking an active part in the conflict, having picked up the rifle of a disabled soldier, when he was struck in the side by a bullet and compelled to leave the field. As the word was passed along the line, expressions of sorrow and regret were heard on all sides.

He recovered and was promoted to Colonel in November. He was discharged for disability in September 1864 but was re-commissioned in November, honored by brevet to Brigadier General of Volunteers on 13 March 1865, and mustered out on 10 June 1865 in Alexandria, VA.

For about three years immediately after the war he was a “special agent” of the US government, collecting captured and abandoned property in the South and recovering Confederate ships in England and France. He later farmed and was a lawyer in Washington, DC and New York City.

His photograph is in the Library of Congress.

This fine photograph of George Buchanan Clark is from Wayne Jorgenson, online on his First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment site. George was a Private in Company A of the First Minnesota when he was captured in action at Antietam in September 1862. He was exchanged in December, wounded at Bristow Station in October 1863, and mustered out in May 1864.

He reenlisted in the consolidated First Battalion of Minnesota Infantry and was appointed Corporal, but was captured again, in June, near Petersburg, VA and spent the next 8 harrowing months in Andersonville and other prisons. He was paroled in February 1865 – emaciated and missing all his teeth due to scurvy – and eventually returned to his unit, was promoted to Sergeant, and finally went home in July 1865. He never recovered physically and died in the Milwaukee Soldiers Home in 1887 at age 44.

Sergeant Howard Rand, Company K, 6th New Hampshire Infantry was killed at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

While our men were exchanging shots with the enemy, both parties being posted behind trees, logs, or anything else to cover their heads, Sergeant Rand of Company K came along to W. W. French of Company B, who was behind a tree, loading and firing as fast as he could, and requested the latter to step back and load both rifles and let him do the firing awhile for both, as he considered himself a “good shot.”

French consented, and Rand took his stand at the tree. French passed the rifle up to Rand, who stepped to one side to get a better view of his man, but the “reb” was too quick for him, and shot him in the forehead, killing him almost instantly. He fell over upon French, and both rolled partially down the hill. French, laying his dead comrade aside, took his place at the tree again, but was careful not to let the “Johnnies” get the first shot at him.

There was something exciting in thus exchanging shots for an hour or so, with an enemy posted three or four hundred yards away, and where you could only now and then get a glimpse of him. This was sometimes carried on by the pickets and sharpshooters for hours, till one or the other was shot, and then the fun was over.

— Lyman Jackman, History of the Sixth New Hampshire Regiment in the War for the Union (1891).

Private George Washington Buck of the First Minnesota Infantry was wounded at Antietam in September 1862 but survived to muster out of service in May 1864. He was a Private in the 198th Ohio Infantry for about a week in April-May 1865 and collected a $100 bonus for that enlistment.

The photograph of his resort on Spider Lake, Manitowish Waters, WI is on flickr from user livinginwi2002.