By Phil Spaugy
When I first encountered this compelling image from the Rich Jahn Collection, I believed it would serve as the foundation for an engaging article on Ohio soldiers. The image had the added benefit of an accompanying typewritten note that identified the soldiers as, “Three Union Infantrymen from the Pennock Family,” Privates Charles, John, and Lemuel Pennock. (11th) John and Charles and (121st) Lemuel, Ohio Volunteer Infantry.” (Lemuel is identified by the 121st in the infantry bugle on his forage cap.)
The bonus for me was the 11th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI), which is one of my favorite Buckeye regiments, with several of its companies being recruited from my part of western Ohio. It was not long after beginning my research that several anomalies were uncovered, and that is when, what seemed to be an easy image to define, it became one that proved to be quite the trip down the rabbit hole.
The first item that struck me was that although all three Pennocks were shown posing with Model 1854 Type I Austrian Lorenz rifle muskets (Lemuel’s is hidden by the image frame). This is rather strange, because the 11th was never issued the Austrian Lorenz, while the 121st was. In fact, Lemuel’s Company K was the last company in the 121st to have them replaced by the Springfield rifle musket in mid-1863. This raised the question of why two soldiers would pose with arms that were not issued to their unit, while one (Lemuel) would?
This led me to check the rosters of the 11th for Pennocks. There, I found John of Company C, and Charles of Company D, both of whom were identified on the typewritten note.
Puzzle solved, right?
Not exactly.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to find the location where the image might have been taken.
This is when things started to really misalign.
Let us start with the 121st, which mustered in September 1862, and for the entirety of its enlistment served in the Western Theater. They saw their first action at Perryville, where they suffered severe casualties largely due to their lack of training. After Perryville, they moved to Lebanon, Ky, and then on to Franklin, Tenn., where they remained until June 1863. In both locations they performed garrison duty.
The 11th entered service in June 1861 (more than a full year prior to the 121st) and saw hard service in West Virginia and the Second Manassas and Antietam campaigns before being transferred west in January 1863, where they were posted in Carthage Tenn., to protect the far-left flank of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland. They remained in Carthage until the beginning of the Tullahoma campaign in June 1863.
In Civil War portraiture, the weapons and equipment visible in an image can offer critical clues in the process of identification.
So, by the spring of 1863, while both the 11th and 121st were in the Army of the Cumberland, the regiments were separated by about 80 miles on two different flanks. It would not be until after the Chickamauga Campaign that both units would be near each other in Chattanooga. By this time, both units would be armed with Springfield and Enfield rifle muskets.
Given the above, it seems that it was highly unlikely that other than the probable identification of Lemuel due to the 121st of his forage cap, the other two soldiers were the Pennocks of the 11th. It should be noted that Lemuel was the only Pennock on the roster of the 121st.
This cast a bit of doubt on the provenance of the description with the image. I contacted Rich Jahn to find out if there might be a period identification of the back of the tintype, and he told me there was none.
A search on the internet did turn up this sale link which might just be the origin of the image description.
On I went, looking for Pennocks in other Ohio units that might have spent some time in locations with the 121st. And, it did not take long to discover that the 98th OVI, not only mustered close to the same time as the 121st (August 1862), but from September 1862 on they brigaded with the 121st. Furthermore, in the ranks of the 98th there was John, Levi, and Richard Pennock, all of company C. As of the publication of this column, research has not established the three Pennocks relationship, though it appears they may be cousins as Levi’s “Find A Grave” page lists no siblings named John, or Richard. Sadly, John would die of disease at Camp Dennison in late June 1863.
Another anomaly in the image is the apparent new appearance of the leather accoutrements. The way the cartridge box is slung over the top of the Model 1841 infantry belt, instead of being worn beneath the waist belt, indicates the image was taken early in the soldiers’ service. Keep in mind that both the 98th and 121st were new units and brigaded together in Lebanon, Ky., during the fall of 1862 and later from February to June 1863 in Franklin, Tenn. As mentioned above, the 11th had seen hard service before they transferred to Tennessee and would see hard campaigning during the Tullahoma Campaign.
I am still down the rabbit hole looking for the missing pieces of the unsolved Pennock puzzle. However, I do feel that the soldiers identified as John and Charles Pennock of the 11th are not correct. Although the image has two items that may support Lemuel’s identification—the 121st regimental designation of his forage cap and the Model 1854 Austrian Lorenz rifle musket.
Is this enough evidence to prove that this is in fact Lemuel Pennock?
I welcome the input of the Military Images community to help solve this puzzle.
Special thanks to Amy Robey Spaugy, Rich Jahn and Larry Strayer
for their research assistance.
References: Ohio Ordnance Record Book, author’s collection (Courtesy of Paul Davies); Ohio in the Civil War (OhioCivilWar.com); American Civil War Database; Fold3; Find A Grave; Research Arsenal; Spared and Shared; Dan Masters Civil War Chronicles; Newspapers.com; Lyle, Lights and Shadows of Army Life; or Pen Pictures from the Battlefield, the Camp and the Hospital; 11th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, A History of the 11th Regiment; Reid, Ohio In The War, Volume II.
Phil Spaugy is a longtime member of the North South Skirmish Association (N-SSA). He studies arms and accouterments of federal infantry soldiers with an emphasis on his home state of Ohio, firearms of the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, and the Iron Brigade. He is a partner with Jim Hessler, in Hessler Spaugy Action Travel. Phil is a retired aviation services company executive who lives in Vandalia, Ohio, with his wife, Amy. He is a MI Senior Editor. Contact Phil at PhilSpaugy@gmail.com.
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