Saturday, June 27, 2009

Big Day at Gettysburg Show


Today I attended the Gettysburg Show with Anne. We left early to make the ten o'clock opening, armed with business cards, books and my trusty laptop computer and scanner. Turned out to be a great day of progress for the African American soldier book.

Thanks to Ronn Palm and Paul Rusinoff, I had the opportunity to meet Tim Kernan, who generously allowed me to scan a pair of spectacular quarter-plate tintypes of brothers who served in the First Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry (African Descent), later designated as the Sixtieth U.S. Colored Troops. I look forward to learning about them, and am happy to make the acquaintance of Tim, a good guy who shares my interest in making these stories available to a wide audience.

The third image comes from the holdings of dealer and historian Henry Deeks, who inspired me to research and write about Civil War soldiers. The carte de visite of Lewis A. Fuller, reproduced here, is the first identified African American soldier in my collection.

Anne and I left the show with three new additions for the book and celebrated with a lunch at Dino's. Definitely a day to remember.

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Monday, June 01, 2009

First USCT Image

Yesterday, Paul Rusinoff generously shared his collection of wonderful images, and we spent several enjoyable hours swapping soldier stories, discussing great finds, and talking about the joy of detective work and life on the research trail.

The uniqueness of Paul's collection is based upon his desire to reunite personal objects that belonged to soldiers. A number of his identified images are accompanied by an array of artifacts that belonged to the subject, including journals, letters, military accouterments and other items. I admire Paul's passion to bring together these relics.

My main purpose for visiting Paul was to secure the first image for my book about African American soldiers. I left with a high-resolution scan of Corp. Garry Saunders of the 124th USCI.

I am delighted to have it, and am forever grateful to Paul for his help.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Two Views of Capt. Barnes


I recently added a carte de visite of Capt. Dennis Edwin Barnes (left) of the Ninety-third New York Infantry to my collection and am extremely pleased to have it.

I owned a carte of Barnes once before, and those familiar with the Daniel Lorello thefts know that I later returned the image to the state of New York. That image is shown here to the right. It is very likely both were made during the same sitting.

During the course of my research and the writing of his profile, I came to admire the story of his life as a successful peacetime businessman and mourn his tragic death during the Battle of the Wilderness.

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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Where is the Body of Aaron Hunt Ingraham?


There can be no doubt that Aaron Hunt Ingraham of the Forty-eighth New York Infantry fell in action at Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 1, 1864. His military service record, regimental history books, and other sources all confirm this fact, and that his body was buried on the battlefield and never recovered.

However, the location of his remains are now in question.

Yesterday, I received an email from Jim Kravchuk of the 150th New York Volunteer Infantry Association. Jim and others have been looking for grave sites of members of the regiment, and to date have identified more than 400. Jim, who lives in Amenia, the hometown of Aaron Ingraham, informed me that he "came across a large stone covered by brush that on one side of the stone it has one family [name] but the brush covered side has the Ingraham Family. Listed is Aaron H. Ingraham with a very old GAR marker in front of his name."

Is Lt. Ingraham's body buried beneath the stone? Or, does his remains rest on the Cold Harbor battlefield where he fell and the stone serve as a memorial to his life and military service? Further research will be necessary. One clue may be on the stone itself, which is located in the Amenia Island Cemetery. According to Jim, "the first burials at this cemetery didn't occur until 1869. There are some older stones there that were moved there from an older burial ground so that families could rest together."

Jim wants to clean the stone, and the Sons of Union Veterans have expressed an interest in rededicating the site.

If you have any information, please comment.

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Alert Flickr Member Spots Officer


An alert Flickr member, bch10, saw my carte de visite of 1st Lt. Robert S. Robertson of the Ninety-third New York Infantry, and left a comment that included a link to a Library of Congress image of the regiment's officers and non-commissioned officers, noting that Robertson sat front and center.

I downloaded the high-resolution, archival version of the image from the LOC (use this link, then enter call number LC-B817- 7515) and enlarged it to see the detail. I instantly recognized two of the other officers in the group, sending shivers through me.

The second man seated to Robertson's left is Capt. Dennis Edwin Barnes of Company C, who died in action during the Battle of the Wilderness. His image is in my Photostream. The officer with the sideburns standing behind Robertson's right is 1st Lt. Waters Whipple Braman of Company H. Braman later became a captain, and served as an aide-de-camp to generals David Birney and Gershom Mott. Braman's photo is not in my Photostream, but is included in Union Faces.

Robert Stoddart Robertson left the Ninety-third to become an aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles in December 1863. Five months later, during the Wilderness Campaign, near Corbin’s Creek, a Confederate charge broke the Union line. Robertson rallied the men, turned back the enemy attackers, and later received the Medal of Honor for his actions. Three weeks later, at Totopotomoy Creek, while carrying orders to a front line position, he suffered a serious leg wound that ended his military service. After the war he settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and served as lieutenant governor from 1886-1888. His full profile will appear in an future issue of Civil War News.

A detail of the LOC image is shown here. Sepia-toned portraits from my collection overlay it. (Note: The Barnes image was part of my collection for a short time. Purchased on eBay from Daniel Lorello, it has since been returned to the state of New York).

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