This magnificent portrait, probably a heavily tinted photograph, is of Sergeant Phelan Harris who carried the colors of the 8th Alabama Infantry at Sharpsburg, and was wounded in the action there. Found on Findagrave, its provenance is unknown.
Year: 2020
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Lt A.H. Ravesies
This is Lieutenant Augustine H Ravesies, who was acting Adjutant of the 8th Alabama Infantry when he was wounded at Sharpsburg. His ambrotype was sold by Cowan’s Auctions.
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William Kidd and daughter Adele Jane (c. 1875)
Private William Kidd, Company F, 16th Mississippi Infantry suffered grievous wounds to his face at Sharpsburg, but survived to go home to his family. Here he is with his daughter Addie Jane. You can see the face covering his wife made to hide the damage. The photograph kindly provided by his great-great-grandson Marshall Miller. The clipping is from the Muscatine (IA) Weekly Journal of 21 November 1862, from Laura Elliott.
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William S. Fitzsimmons
Private William S Fitzsimmons of Company C, 8th Ohio Infantry was seriously wounded at Antietam. Afterward he studied the law and was admitted to the bar in Bucyrus in 1868, but died young in 1870, not yet 30 years old, at least in part due to the effects of his wound. His photograph provided by descendent Laura Phelps Rogers.
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Piecing a soldier’s story together
With a nudge from a record in the Frederick Patient List database, I went looking for 2nd Lieutenant J. Corfro of Company I, 1st North Carolina Infantry, only to find he probably never existed, despite his shiny new government-issue marker at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, MD.
The Lieutenant lived only on paper, in Federal hospital and burial records, which have him admitted to a US Army hospital in Frederick in September 1862 and buried at Mt. Olivet after he died on the 20th. He appears in no roster, muster roll, or other military record for the First North Carolina or any other military unit.
I believe he was actually Lieutenant William D. Scarborough, who, incidentally, has an equally nice stone at Mt. Olivet.
The bits of available information about Scarborough, recorded under many names including Corfro, are sometimes confusing and contradictory, but I think I have made some sense of them. Follow along and see what you make of him …
