Identified With a Twist
The carte de visite up for auction on eBay immediately attracted my attention for aesthetic reasons: Three wonderfully posed Union officers by Brady in great contrast and condition. The only detail that would have put this image more desirable would have been for the soldiers to be identified. Sure enough, within a short time after the dealer posted the item, another eBayer, who owns a copy of this same image, identified the men as the Clark brothers, James W., Whiting, and Frank. All three served in Maine regiments.
I had already planned on bidding on the image before the identification, and, after winning the auction, posted requests for information about the three brothers on GenForum and the Maine Civil War Discussion Forum. Within a couple hours, Andy MacIsaac replied to my Maine forum post: He explained that a regular participant on the forum, Andrea Solarz, was related to the brothers.
Armed with this information, I emailed Andrea and learned that the brother identified as Frank (on the right) is actually Charles A. Clark, who served as adjutant of the Sixth Maine Infantry. Moreover, Charles was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Banks Ford, Virginia, on May 4, 1863. On that day, his regiment surrounded by Confederate troops, Clarkâs led his men out of a dire situation and safely back to Union lines.
One of my most exciting eBay events!
posted by Ron Coddington at 3:20 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for posting the picture and the story. Since he's one of mine, too, I've chased CA Clark a little further.
Ron - I appreciate your being a good steward of the picture! (Of course I would have done my very best to outbid you if I had known the CDV was on eBay, but given that I didn't know about it until after the fact, I'm happy that it landed in your hands...lol).
Cheers,
Andrea S.
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