Captain Enoch M Vandiver commanded Company A of the 26 Alabama Infnatry in action on South Mountain and at Sharpsburg in September 1862. His photograph from Kirk D Lyons on his Facebook page Alabama Confederate Images.
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Pvt Joseph C Burns
Private Joe Burns of Company D, 13th Alabama Infantry survived combat at Turner’s GAp on 14 September but was killed by a gunshot through his lungs at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. His photograph was contributed to his Findagrave memorial by Bob Atchison.
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The view of a staff officer in Maryland
Lieutenant Richard C. Shannon of the 5th Maine Infantry was assigned as aide-de-camp to Major General Henry W. Slocum, commander of the First Division, 6th Army Corps, in March 1862. Although a well-educated young man, he was still learning his profession as a staff officer in August and September 1862.
Shannon left behind some wartime diaries which, although not especially dramatic as narrative, offer insight into his day-to-day experience in the field.
Of particular interest to me is this field notebook/diary he had with him on the Maryland Campaign.
It is a flip-page style that he probably carried in his pocket, and he used it both as a traditional diary – writing a brief summary of each day’s activity – and as a working notebook to keep orders, names, maps, and other things he needed to remember.
I’ll pull out some pages to give you a flavor, here. Click on any of them to expand for easier reading. (more…)
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Col Charles H Smith
Captain Charles H Smith led his Company D of the First Maine Cavalry on the Maryland Campaign and was Provost Marshal at Frederick from 13 December into January 1863. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in action at St. Mary’s Church, VA on 24 June 1864.
This carte-de-visite of him was sold by Cowan’s Auctions in 2013.
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Pvt Charles R Delano
Private Charley Delano of the First Maine Cavalry had his horse “shot from under him” at Antietam. He’s seen here in a photograph in Edward Parson Tobie’s History of the First Maine Cavalry, 1861-1865 (1887).
