Category: biography

Reynolds and his battery at Antietam

8 February 2009

In spite of my recent neglect of the subject of the Battle here on the internets, the rest of the interested World continues to feed the machine. To all of you who’ve sent me things, I’m making some time now to catch up with getting all those gems online on AotW, and thanks very much to all for your patience and persistence!

Major John A. Reynolds, Chief of Artillery, XXth Army Corps (1864, courtesy Scott Hann Collection)

By way of immediate example, above are scans of a carte de visite (CDV) sent by Scott Hann to fill an empty spot on this officer’s bio page. Scott has a massive collection of images and has been most generous in sharing some of the best with us to help put faces with the names of the men at the Battle.

John Reynolds was Captain of Battery L, 1st Regiment New York Artillery (Light) at Antietam. In this post, I’d like to tell you a little bit about the battery’s commander, and feature a first hand – if dramatic and lengthy – description of their experience in Maryland in a contemporary letter written by one of his Lieutenants to a Rochester newspaper. (more…)
Command of the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry at Antietam

16 November 2008

Eric Wittenberg has put up a fine post featuring James Childs, Colonel, 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, killed at Antietam on 17 September 1862. Elements of the Fourth were among the few Union cavalrymen engaged at Sharpsburg that day – the Federal mounted arm was not a major factor in the battle.

Eric’s study – and that distinctive photograph of the Colonel – reminded me of a gap in my digital collection of portraits. In particular the face of the man who followed Childs in command of the unit, his Lieutenant Colonel James K. Kerr. As usual, looking for Kerr led to other serendipitous connections and people … thanks Eric!

Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry [McClellan Drilling Troops, 1861] (artist unknown, Phila Museum of Art)

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On the trail of the Corn Exchange Regiment

5 October 2008

146 years to the day after the historical events, a lucky group of us tracked the unlucky 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers to the places and views of the Battle of Shepherdstown Ford (20 September 1862). Under the capable guidance of Dr Tom Clemens and members of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association (SBPA), we waded the Potomac, scaled the heights, and walked the field.

ANB Visitor’s Center – a postcard perfect day

We gathered Saturday the 20th at the Antietam Visitor’s Center, drove in convoy to the Dunleavy spread near Shepherdstown, WV, and then carpooled to the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal Park [NPS site] back on the Maryland side of the Shepherdstown (Boteler’s, Packhorse, Blackford’s) Ford… (more…)
Stalking the wild model 1857 12-pound light gun-howitzer

14 September 2008

Mannie sneaks up on the prey

I drove through the fog to Sharpsburg yesterday, much earlier than is usual for me to be up on a Saturday. Arrived too early for the ANB Visitor’s Center to be open, in fact, but in time to catch Mr. Mumma cutting blossoms to place inside. Ranger Mannie was out early, too. (more…)
Horatio Gibson of the Flying Artillery (1)

5 May 2008

James F. Gibson, of Mathew Brady’s Washington studio, took a lot of photographs as he traveled with the Federal Army on the Virginia Peninsula in early summer 1862. Among these are a number with particular interest in artillery and artillerymen. Well represented among them are Horatio Gates Gibson and his command, the combined Companies C and G of the Third United States Artillery.

Capt. H.G. Gibson, 3d US Artillery, June 1862 (James F. Gibson, Library of Congress)

This is Regular Army Captain Gibson in the midst of his command in June 1862. It’s a detail from a stunning picture of the entire battery of six 3-inch ordnance rifles and the nearly 100 officers and men who were present on campaign. Gibson and many of these were in action from the Peninsula through Antietam and Gettysburg to Appomattox Courthouse with the Army of the Potomac.

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