This portrait in a portrait of two unknown soldiers leaves one to wonder the nature of their relationship. Father and son? Brothers? Uncle and cousin? Professor and pupil? Though their names are lost in time, the soldier standing with his sword is believed to be a Georgia officer. The photograph perched on the column may be a full-plate ambrotype.
The Pennock cousins of Ohio posed for this portrait early in the war. Lemuel (1842-1927), left, served in the ranks of 121st Infantry. Charles I. (1842-1920) served in the 11th Infantry and the 10th Cavalry. Jehu John Walton (1839-1909) also served in the 11th Infantry. They and their Buckeye regiments participated in major Western Theater campaigns.
This tintype tree belonged to Corp.Reuben Hunt Leaming (1843-1912) of Company F, 9th New Jersey Infantry, pictured in the carte de visite, left. Face recognition comparisons on Civil War Photo Sleuth yielded no matches to him According to one account, Leaming survived 30-plus engagements, from the 1862 North Carolina Expedition to the 1864 Overland Campaign. In 1865, he transferred to the 1st Veteran Volunteer Infantry and mustered out in 1866—four years and four months in uniform. Upon his death, one writer noted, “He was the splendid soldier on whose escutcheon was neither stain nor blemish.”
College-educated physician Richard Montgomery Gano (1830-1913) cared for neighbors in Bourbon County, Ky., until 1859, when he moved to Texas to raise cattle and horses. When war came in 1861, he resigned his seat in the Lone Star State legislature and raised a company of mounted rifleman, the Grapevine Volunteers, and commanded it as captain. He reorganized the unit into the two-company Gano’s Texas Cavalry and joined Col. John Hunt Morgan’s men on the 1863 Kentucky Raid. Thus began Gano’s rise to brigadier general, and regimental and brigade command in the Western Theater and Trans-Mississippi Department. According to one report, “Gano was in seventy-two engagements, had five horses shot under him, had his left arm shattered by a ball and escaped death so frequently that his men followed him fearlessly into the most desperate conflicts.” After the war, Gano returned to ranching and also became a minister.
A cavalry trooper holds the reins of a horse fitted with a bridle and saddle strap. In the middle ground are felled trees, and in the background an encampment.
This soldier’s finely tailored, ornate vest of paisley and checkered design contrasts with his coarse undershirt and greatcoat.
(trimmed) by an unidentified photographer. Dan Schwab Collection.
19th century portrait photographs breathed new life into various everyday items—jewelry, buttons and badges, grave markers, documents, and more. Here’s an unusual example: a brass pendulum bob likely used in a grandfather or large wall clock. Though the identity of the soldier is currently lost in time, there are clues to his identity. The distinctive five-button sack coat and hat brass suggest he served in Company C of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry. He holds a Saxon “Schuetzen” Rifle musket Model 1850, also known as a Dresden Rifle Short model, which the 12th was armed with in 1862-1863. Popularly known as the “Marching Twelfth,” the regiment participated in numerous operations, including the Siege of Jackson, Miss., and the Atlanta and Carolinas campaigns.
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