This excellent portrait, from a steel plate engraving, is of Connecticut-born physician Charles Squire Wood, who was Assistant Surgeon of the 66th New York Infantry and treated wounded soldiers on the field after Antietam in September 1862. This copy is… continue reading

This evocative piece is from an etching by New York artist William Henry Shelton (1840-1932). He depicted horse artillery troops at Chancellorsville in May 1863, and had a run of 750 copies printed by Bryan, Taylor & Company in New… continue reading

I’ve gone to Army Surgeon-General Joseph K Barnes’ Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870-1883) many times over the years chasing Antietam casualties, but never done a systematic scrub through it. I’m underway on that now.… continue reading

A 34 year old clerk from Philadelphia, Morrison Woodward was Sergeant Major of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves when they fought in the Maryland Campaign of September 1862. He wrote of his experiences there in his 1865 regimental history, describing the… continue reading

Colonel H.L. Cake of the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, in reporting his regiment’s part in the combat at Crampton’s Gap on 14 September 1862, included this detail: It was a most exhausting charge. By the time we had ascended half way… continue reading