behind AotW

a companion to Antietam on the Web

Category: biography

  • Where photographs lead: Wilsons and a Medal of Honor

    A couple of weeks back Dmitri Rotov made note of Moe D’Aoust’s piece about Burnside and his bridge in the latest Civil War Illustrated. It is nice work.

    But it was Dimitri’s posted photo of John Moulder Wilson that caught my eye. A Medal of Honor recipient and on General McClellan’s staff at Sharpsburg, he needs a profile on AotW. Seeing his face was a goad for me to get to him.

    Curious, first, about the source of the picture, I followed a link to John M Wilson’s bio on Wikipedia, where it also appears.

    Horse Artillery Officers, AOP, 1862click to see larger image
    Horse Artillery Officers (J. Gibson, 1862, LoC)

    It’s a detail from one of three group portraits of horse artillery officers of the Army of the Potomac taken by James Gibson on the Peninsula in the summer of 1862. That’s “Jack” Wilson in the back row above, standing third from our right.

    Looking for more about him, though, got me three Wilsons for the price of one… (more…)

  • Exodus from Harpers Ferry

    Huzzah! for Don Caughey (Crossed Sabers) who’s put together a great series of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on the Union Cavalry expedition out of the trap that was Harpers Ferry on the night of 14 – 15 September 1862. He’s done a really nice job in illuminating a poorly understood episode in the Maryland Campaign.

    Maryland Heights (left) from Harpers Ferry, 1865click to see larger image
    Maryland Heights (left) from Harpers Ferry, 1865 (J. Gardner, coll. Library of Congress)

    As a kind of supplement to those posts, I’ve scanned some pictures of the prominent officers of that force. You know I like to see the faces.

    I’ve also made an attempt at drafting a map of the route they took from the Ferry to Greencastle… (more…)

  • They were Massachusetts men

    It has been another banner week for emails from descendants of battle veterans. This time the AotW Mailbag brings a pair of Old Bay State soldiers to the fore. Though from different Regiments and background, each had significant War service subsequent to the Maryland Campaign of 1862 where both were wounded–Sergeant Henry W Tisdale on South Mountain and Corporal Lewis Reed in the Cornfield at Antietam.

    South Mountain from Boonsboro, MDclick to see larger image
    South Mountain from Boonsboro (A. Waud, Sept 1862, Library of Congress)

    There’s much to learn from Lewis Reed and Henry W. Tinsdale, thanks to the efforts of their families. (more…)

  • Witness to murder: Henry R Rathbone

    Some of my Antietam boys are much better known for action elsewhere. One such celebrity was Henry Reed Rathbone (1 July 1837 – August 1911). He’s at the far left in this famous scene from 1865:

    Currier & Ives: Lincoln shot at Ford's Theater (1865)click to see larger image
    Currier & Ives–Assassination of President Lincoln (1865, US Library of Congress)

    At the fatal shot

    [i]nstantly, Major Rathbone sprang upon the assassin. Booth dropped the derringer, broke from Rathbone’s grasp, and lunged at him with a large knife. Rathbone parried the blow, but received a deep wound in his left arm above the elbow. Booth placed one hand on the balustrade, to the left of the center pillar, raised his other arm to strike at the advancing Rathbone, and vaulted over the railing. Rathbone again seized Booth but only caught his clothing…

    (more…)

  • Colonel Goodrich, New York and Antietam in the Newspapers

    Lowville (NY) Journal&Republican (October 1862)click to see larger image

    The 21st Century has been getting in the way of the 19th around me, more’s the pity, as I have been blessed with showers of Antietam-related material recently. Two of these cloudbursts just coincided; Colonel William B. Goodrich of New York at the focus.

    Fellow blogger and Antietam Ranger John David Hoptak kindly sent me his biography of the Colonel, freshly written for the Antietam Volunteer Newsletter, to fill a gap on AotW. It’s up now. It is very fine.

    Goodrich has the unfortunate distinction of being the only Union Brigade Commander killed in action at Antietam. Formerly commanding the 60th New York Infantry, as senior Colonel he was put in charge of his Brigade in the XII Corps on 16 September, the day before the battle.

    It was back in February that I first saw the Colonel’s face, however, courtesy of the first of a series of emails full of local newspaper lore and her own research from avid genealogist Connie Sterner. Connie is master of the North Country (NY) history site, which apparently began, as these things do, as a small project and got completely out of hand! (more…)