Please help me to identify this soldier

JWBuxton

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Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Hello CivilWarTalk forums!

I've been doing research on my great-great-great-grandfather Captain William J. Buxton of the 80th Enrolled Missouri Militia and the 47th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. I came across this glass negative at the Library of Congress database with the title "Buxton" apparently sourced from from unverified information on the negative sleeve. I figure the soldier is pretty unlikely to be my relative, but I'd really appreciate any help identifying him.

Thank you!
 

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The characteristics of the uniform the subject is wearing is a bit odd... it is a double breasted frock coat... common with field grade and staff officers, however is totally void of any visible rank insignias.... The cap he is holding has a insignia device on the front is a bit blurry... but based on the size, and shape of the wreath present... it falls more inline with something related to Naval, or Nautical fields... However they usually have a coat with a rolled collar, not an upright one like the Army used... Can only speculate that the subject may have been a lighthouse keeper or maybe even a chaplain.. which are commonly void of rank devices.... just an observation...
 
Agree with Frederick14Va - we need a better picture of the cap and its insignia. Welcome to the forums!
 
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Thank you, Andy - This makes sense now, since surgeons, like chaplains, didn't actually have ranks per se, but enjoyed the pay and privileges of staff officers. This man is probably a regimental surgeon who was the equivalent of a major (double-breasted tunic), while assistant surgeons were equal to captains (single-breasted frock coats).
 
I think that's something funky with his hair, maybe to hide a receding hairline.
 
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This image is identified on Ancestry as Benjamin F. Buxton, Surgeon of the 5th Maine Infantry, taken prisoner with his hospital stewards at First Manassas in 1861. Mustered out in 1863.

He is shown on Find-a-Grave as having died in 1876, but also appears in the 1890 Census Veterans Schedule. @Bruce Vail may be right about the Boris Karloff thing, he may have been a zombie.
 
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