Civil War Photos: Alfred A. Stratton

I recently visited the Met to see the exhibit "Photography and the American Civil War" and ended up liking it so much that I bought the gorgeous catalog by Jeff Rosenheim. Today, as I was flipping through the pages, I came across the below image of Alfred A. Stratton of Company G of the 147th New York Volunteers. I recognized him immediately.

He is certainly the same person as the "Unidentified Soldier" pictured in this carte-de-visite in the Liljenquist Collection at the Library of Congress. The image in the LOC digital collection correctly identifies his company and regiment, but not his name.

CDV in Liljenquist Collection

Poor Alfred didn't live very long after these photos were taken. He died at age 29, allegedly from complications from his injuries. Berry Craig has written a biography of Stratton on the Orthotics and Prosthetics Business News website. There are actually quite a few photos of Stratton floating around, as he was photographed both for medical documentation and to help raise money to support himself after the war.

Civil War Photos: Lucretia Electa and Louisa Ellen Crossett

Sisters Lucretia Electa and Louisa Ellen Crossett in identical skirts, blouses, and jewelry with weaving shuttles

The photograph above was taken on September 26, 1859, by a photographer based in Lawrence, MA. It depicts Lucretia Electa Crossett, age 22, with her sister Louisa Ellen Crossett, age 18. As you can see, the women are dressed identically down to their jewelry, and are holding weaving shuttles. Lucretia is also wearing a pair of scissors in her skirt.

Civil War Photos: Abram M. Carhart

The image above is a tintype in the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs. The man pictured is Abram M. Carhart. This is his story, as told in Heroes of Albany by Rufus Wheelwright Clark (1867).

Civil War Photos: Lewis Cashdollar

Lewis W. Cashdollar (New York State Military Museum)

It was face of the man in this picture that drew me in. He looks resolute, but slightly scared, and extremely young. His name was Lewis W. Cashdollar. Though he volunteered to go to war, he was really just a boy - a 19-year-old fisherman from Tivoli, New York. He paid a heavy price for his service, losing a leg in September of 1864 in Winchester, Virginia, but he lived to see Tivoli again, and his wife, Adelia A. McDonald, whom he married the same year that he enlisted.

Civil War Photos: Joseph Egolf

Colonel Joseph Egolf (New York State Military Museum)

I think you can tell why I chose this photograph for my next Civil War Photo investigation. Apart from the obvious, there's just something amazing about this man - the way he holds himself, the tidy way in which his empty shirtsleeve is pinned in front of him, his stalwart expression, and his meticulously groomed sideburns. He's someone whom I wanted to get to know.

Civil War Photos: William Glenny

I spent the morning searching the photographs on the New York State Military Museum website, trying to find one that would seize my attention the way that the photographs of Chester F. Dewey and William Carason did. What I found was two photographs, one with a detailed description on the reverse, that succeeded in capturing my imagination.

 

Civil War Photos: William Carasaw

William Carasaw (New York State Military Museum)

Why did William Carasaw volunteer to fight in the Civil War? In his forties at the start of the war, he was too old to be drafted, and living as he did in New York, he could have easily avoided the conflict altogether. My investigation into this question revealed a fascinating story that ties Carasaw to famous abolitionists Gerrit Smith and John Brown. Yes, that John Brown.

Carasaw was born in Watervliet, New York, in 1820. In 1849, he and his wife Eliza Reid Carasaw moved to North Elba to be part of what would be known as "The North Elba Black Colony." The colony consisted of forty acre lots granted by abolitionist Gerrit Smith to "free blacks of New York State who measured up to his standards of good moral character, industriousness, and temperance" (1). Shortly after Smith set up his colony, John Brown, who would later help to spark the Civil War through his raid on Harper's Ferry, moved to the area in order to teach the colonists how to farm, as many had never farmed before. Perhaps due to their lack of experience or Smith's poor planning (or both), few of the colonists stayed in North Elba for very long.

Carasaw was given forty acres in the southwest quarter, Subdivision 1, of Lot 23, Township 12, in Smith's colony, an area that historian Mary MacKenzie describes as "deep wilderness land" that is "still wilderness today" (1). She believes that due to the inaccessibility of this area, it's "highly unlikely that Carasaw made any attempt to clear his lot and settle on it." Instead, he lived elsewhere in North Elba, where he owned a log cabin, and produced potatoes, butter, and maple sugar.

Civil War Photos: Chester F. Dewey

In the course of my research on the 59th New York State Infantry Regiment - in which Charles W. Cronk, the son of Alfred and Sally Ann Carpenter Cronk, served - I came across this photograph of Chester F. Dewey, who was a private and later a sergeant in that regiment (here is the full information about the photograph, which is a carte-de-visite held at the New York State Military Museum). I found something incredibly engaging about his face and his expression. He looked like someone I would have gone to college with. I became even more interested in Dewey after reading the description of his service that is posted on the website of the New York State Military Museum:

Chester F. Dewey: Age, 21 years. Enlisted July 4th, 1861 at Lowville. Mustered into Company B as a private August 9th, 1861 for a three-year tour of duty. Promoted to corporal October 1st, 1862 and wounded in action December 13th, 1862 at Fredericksburg, VA. Promoted to sergeant December 31st, 1862 and transferred to Company C June 25th, 1863. Returned to the ranks in November or December 1863 and discharged July 11th, 1864 at Government Hospital for the Insane, Washington, D.C. 

I knew I had to find out more about this young man with the engaging face who had suffered so much as a result of the Civil War. What happened to him? Did he recover from his illness? Was he able to return to his life back home?