Layton Morris: Missing in Action

Today I received this low-resolution scan of Corp. Layton Morris of the Twenty-fourth U.S. Colored Infantry. It appeared for auction on eBay, date unknown.

The individual who sent it to me is a genealogist who specializes in researching African American descendants. This person does not own the original image, which appears to be a carte de visite inserted into a period photograph album page.

I want to find out who the rightful owner of this image is, and, if he or she would share this photograph with me for my forthcoming book on African American soldiers.

Please contact me if you have any information about this image.

Progress Report

Yesterday I emailed my editor at The Johns Hopkins University Press an end-of-the-year update on the African American book. To date, I have secured scans of 74 images, and researched and written 15 profiles. I had set a goal of 75 images and 10 profiles, and so am pleased with my progress.

This year's goal is to locate 21 more images (for a total of 95) and write 45 more profiles. This will be a challenge, and I am cautiously optimistic.

Also mentioned in my email: "Looking ahead, 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of the first organized black regiments, and 2013 the 150th of the U.S. War Department making the organization of black troops official. The publication of the book with these dates in mind may be advantageous."

Time to get to work!

Speaking and Book Signing at Manassas Museum

This Saturday, Aug. 15, I'll be at the Manassas Museum speaking about Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories. Afterwards, I will sign copies of the book. My presentation includes profiles of several Virginians featured in Faces, including the soldier on the cover, Sgt. William Crawford Smith of the Twelfth Virginia Infantry. Also included is a statistical survey of soldiers from my database of 200 Civil War veterans.

This event is part of the Civil War Trails Old Town Walking Tour. Led by guides in period clothes, the tour is focused on the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), fought on Aug. 28–30, 1862. This year marks the 147th anniversary of the Confederate victory. The tour begins at 10 a.m. Cost: $10/person. For more information about this tour contact the Manassas Museum at 703-368-1873.

The museum is located at 9101 Prince William St., Manassas, VA 20110-5615.

Comrades in Arms

This is the title of my latest article in the July/August 2009 issue of Military Images Magazine. Also known as MI, the popular publication celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with this issue. Inside is a dozen images from my collection, all of groups of two or more soldiers. The brief introduction reads:

Considering the large number of surviving examples of Civil War period vernacular photography, relatively few are group portraits. This may leave an impression that singular individuals fought the war’s great battles, and this is true on a micro level, for the history of the Civil War is the stories of its soldiers. Yet we know from letters, journals, and other first-hand accounts that bands of brothers were linked by strong bonds and esprit de corps due to their pre-war connections, patriotism, sense of duty, and shared military experience. This gallery pays tribute to all Civil War comrades in arms and celebrates the photographers who recorded their likenesses.

The twelve featured images are also part of my Flickr Faces of War Collection.

Interview on ACW Essays & Research

Greg Rowe, the author of American Civil War Essays & Research, posted an interview with me based on a series of email questions I recently answered at his request. The result, The stories of Civil War soldiers as told by a visual journalist, is an excellent account of my author experience. I am especially pleased that he included a number of details, including my days as a baseball card collector.

This Blog Now Available on Kindle

Amazon's now features Faces of War on Kindle. For a monthly subscription fee of $1.99, you can take this blog with you and peruse it at your leisure.

A bit of a skeptic when the Kindle first launched, I wondered why folks would use it instead of other mobile devices.

Recently, I had an opportunity to take one out for a test drive. It's simple interface, comfortable screen size, light weight and portability impressed me. I would definitely use it as an alternative to other mobile devices. And now I can appreciate the hype associated with it.

The interface, while easy to use, is a bit primitive mechanically. The button action is not as smooth as modern keypads and there is a bit of a delay once the key is pressed. I assume that will be tweaked in future releases.

I don't think Kindle replaces books, for the experience of clicking through an e-reader is completely different from holding a hardbound volume and flipping through pages. Also, the clarity of text and images on a printed page is superior to the Kindle monitor. However, it is certainly an excellent tool for distributing content, and this simple fact caused me to offer this blog for subscription.

Militaria Week at Collectors' Quest

Some weeks back I uploaded soldier cartes de visite to Collectors' Quest, the social network for collectors. Today they launched Militaria Week, which features collections from several individuals, including me. Check it out! I like the idea that they've brought together people of diverse interests on a wide range of subjects.

According to CQ's About Us page:

Collectors' Quest is a digital media brand for the passionate collectors' community. We combine a mix of high-quality broadband video, social networking and ecommerce.

Collectors' Quest gets deep in the trenches to focus on entertaining, informing and harnessing the passion of collectors.

We enable collectors to meet others who share their interests, organize and catalog their collections, as well as buy, sell or trade with others. Collectors can also watch collecting related videos and read about the latest and greatest trends in the collecting arena.

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.

Book Signing at New Market

Thanks to sutler Nick Sekela, I will be signing copies of my books at the The Battle of New Market Reenactment. I'll be set up in the bookstore tent, adjacent to sutler's row, on Saturday, May 16, from 10-3, and Sunday, May 17, from 10-2. I am informed that this year's event will be especially impressive, due in part to the cancellation of the Spotsylvania reenactment.

Hope to meet you there!

Extended Version of the AJC Review

Writer Bill Hendrick informs me that an extended version of the review that originally appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been published on the Georgia Online News Service. The article includes more details and quotes.

Gray Faces of War Reviewed in AJC

"Gray faces of war" is the headline of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of Faces of the Confederacy, which appeared today in print and online.

"Coddington’s prose is as unpretentious as the faces he shares, yet authoritative. It resurrects details that broaden our understanding of those sad times and sheds valuable light on the shape of modern culture," writes Bill Hendrick, a longtime AJC staff member who left the company last year. Bill interviewed me for this review, and also spoke with David Wynn Vaughan of Atlanta, one of the collectors whose contribution made this book come into its own.

I like this quote for two reasons. I write in a clear, direct style and try to use first-person narrative to advance the soldier's story. I also refrain from injecting my own point of view, for it is the soldier's story, not my own. I also stay away from generalization unless it helps put the soldier's experience into greater context or bring additional meaning to the story.

Also, Bill's reference to the Civil War period's influence on the shape of modern culture is spot on. Anything contemporary writers of history can do to convey the confusion and chaos of those times can only benefit those who continue on the American journey. Our story is one of shades of gray. As time marches on and memories fade and disappear, the subtle shades are reduced to a stark contrast of black and white. Lost is the complex and complicated tangle of cultural and political issues at the core of the wars, economic crisis, scientific milestones and other watershed events that make their way into our history books.

I first met Bill Hendrick twenty-three years ago at the AJC. Our careers overlapped in the late eighties: He had by then established a reputation as one of America's top business writers, having predicted the 1987 stock market crash; I was a rookie staff artist who had joined the company shortly before the first Apple computer landed in the department.

Bill descends from a Virginia family whose sons fought for the Confederacy.

Officer Identified

I've had this carte de visite in my collection for years. The only clues to the identities of the subjects: A modern pencil inscription noting that it had been removed from an album of soldiers belonging to the 135th U.S. Colored Infantry, and the photographer's name, J.C. Elrod of Louisville, Ky.

Recently I began working on an article for a future issue of Military Images magazine. The working title, "Comrades in Arms," headlines a survey of a dozen cartes de visite of soldiers posed in groups of two to six. The image of this pair of officers from the 135th was on my list of photos to definitely include: The quality and contrast of the print is excellent, age toning minimal, and the casual pose of the men is uncommon.

In preparation for writing the caption, I researched the 135th and found that its brief term of enlistment (March to October 1865) began in North Carolina and ended in Louisville, Ky., where this image was taken by the photographer Elrod. This detail fit nicely with the modern pencil note on the back of the mount.

Next, I searched the USAMHI Old Civil War Photos Database. The results included three men from the 135th, all officers. I requested photocopies of the images. Reference Historian Art Bergeron responded promptly, and I received the copies in yesterday's mail. One of the images, a bust view of 1st Lt. and Adjutant Horace S. Bradley, is without a doubt the same individual seated on the left of my carte de visite. The facial features and mustache are identical, and both wear the same close-fitting hat, patterned tie, dark military vest, and leather straps.

Preliminary research reveals that Pennsylvania-born Horace Seymore Bradley (1833-1892) served in the Fifteenth Illinois Infantry before joining the 135th. His brother-in-law, John Edgar Gurley, served as the colonel of the 135th.

I would like to identify the man seated next to Bradley. My first thought was that it may be Col. Gurley. However, this man wears the shoulder straps of a captain. Gurley was originally a captain in the Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry, but by the time of this sitting would surely have worn the shoulder straps and uniform coat with two columns of brass buttons that befit his rank. Check out the image on Flickr. Perhaps you know who he is.

The Joy of Indexing

Writing the index is perhaps the single most thankless task involved in writing a book, but is all-important. A well-organized index is a helpful guide and handy reference to persons, places and things. A poorly-organized index, or no index at all (gasp!), has caused me on more than one occasion to groan audibly — unless Google Books has digitized it.

Having been exposed to countless indexes during the course of my research, I determined to arrange the index for Confederate Faces in a simple, direct manner. In short, it breaks down into five categories: Names of people, Geographic locations, military operations (skirmishes, raids, battles, and campaigns), military facilities (forts, prisons), and troops (by state).

I wrote the bulk of the index in one very long day. (Once I got into a rhythm, my impulse was to keep going with it.) This was Monday. Then, I spent about two hours yesterday tweaking the organization and double-checking my work, and dedicated a little time this morning to a final review.

The index is the last hands on writing I'll do for this book.

Proofreading Deadline Met

It is with more than a little relief that I sit here looking at the securely packaged box that contains the edited proof of Confederate Faces. Proofreading is one of the most tedious parts of the publishing process for me, as it requires my full focus and undivided attention.

My proofreading method involves a comfortable (but not too comfortable) chair, a strong light source, and a glass of water. Then, I read aloud (hence the water), word for word, syllable by syllable, pronouncing each phonetically, mindful of spelling and punctuation and content and accuracy.

When I find an error, I leave the chair and go to a table set up in another room. On this table are the rest of my materials, including a duplicate copy of the proofs and a blue pencil. I grab the blue pencil and make my marks using typesetter symbols — ital to indicate italics, l.c. to denote lower case, etc.

Then, back to the chair and on to the next revision. I consumed many hours by this process: 281 pages plus the foreword, preface and introduction at about four minutes per page (yes, I timed it!). I managed two full rounds of editing, finishing late last night.

Anne managed to read through a sizeable portion, and it helped to know that someone I trust was reading behind me (and it didn’t hurt that she really enjoyed the stories, including one that brought her to tears).

I initially titled this post “Proofreading Completed.” But, considering that I’m not sure proofreading is ever completed, as one can read through over and over again, I decided on the “Proofreading Deadline Met” as it accurately reflects that I read as much as I could until the time came to send it in.

BTW, I didn't bother to proof this post.

Next: Writing the Index.

Worth the Wait

Back in 2002, I reluctantly cut 2nd Lt. James W. Converse Jr. of the Twenty-fourth and Forty-seventh Massachusetts Infantries from my manuscript for Union Faces because my research efforts turned up so little information about his life. Moreover, his military service record contained little information beyond his muster reports, and his pension file yielded few personal details.

A couple weeks ago, while sorting through my files, I came across Converse's folder and wondered if any new information might appear online. A search of Ancestry.com turned up several excellent references, the best of which is the Family Record of Deacons James W. Converse and Elisha S. Converse by William G. Hill (privately printed, 1887). This book includes a letter written by Converse's colonel, Lucius B. Marsh, who wrote, "Young Converse was, as his photograph shows, small in stature, but closely put together; a fearless eye and a calm, quiet, but determined countenance. He never indicated fear, but was always ready for dangerous work." The photograph that Marsh mentioned was not included in the book, but it may very well have been the image reproduced here.

Additional quotes from Marsh, and other details about Converse's life and military service, will appear in a future Faces of War column in the Civil War News.