Gettysburg USCT Cartes
Paul came through again. He sent a CD containing scans of the six soldiers from the visitor center, and, much to my delight, four more scans of men not included in the public display.
Overnight, I was easily able to confirm the identities of eight men using Ancestry.com and the American Civil War Research Database.
Two men require further research.
The first is identified in the scan only as Jesse Keepson. Could not find him in any database. However, the same photograph is credited to the Bill Gladstone collection as a member of Company F, 108th U.S. Colored Infantry. Two other images from the 108th are also credited to Gladstone, which leads me to believe he bought them as a group. Armed with this information, I went back to American Civil War Research Database and searched through all the men of the 108th Infantry's Company F. Only one man named Jesse served in Company F, Jesse Hopson. I believe this is the same man, and will be contacting Paul to get a scan of the back of the carte de visite to learn more.
The second is identified as A.E. Jackson of the 78th U.S. Colored Infantry. Eight men with the first initial A and the last name Jackson served in the regiment, and none of the databases include a middle initial or name. To solve this mystery, I will need to visit the National Archives and request the military service records and pension files of all eight men. I also need to get a scan of the back of this image.
Labels: chevchuk, civil war, colored, gettysburg, gladstone, hopson, infantry, jackson, keepson, military, paul, soldier, troops, u.s., union, usct