A Provost Cavalry Thread, Blue And Gray


Just for the records there seems to be a little error with the unit on side of the LOC. Company F of the 1st Virginia Cavalry spent about the whole war with two captains, William A. Morgan and Milton J. Billmyer. George W. Hackworth served in the 1st Virginia State Line Regiment instead. There he indeed commanded Company F - which was a cavalry company that was part of a mixed unit (as were all state line regiments).
 
I think keepsakes handed along to LoC frequently had strings attached; collectors and families knew and know quite well these will remain unbroken. It's why Pinterest can drive you a little crazy- so many thousands of these are orphaned. People see a photograph they like and use it without taking along who on earth it might be.

I have no knowledge of this, bet the folks at LoC love being able to identify these so beautifully. You see mistakes there occasionally, how can there not be with around 200 gazillion images? It's infrequent! We're really lucky, all these resources and no charge. Everyone else has jumped on the ' sign in with password and credit card ' bandwagon. :giggle:

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This really is one........
 
I know I've run into descriptions for some of these- we have members here who could identify these in the dark.

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Cavalry Camp
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Cavalry Camp


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Trooper from Lewisburg, PA ( He also belongs in the Pennsylvania thread )


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unknown trooper
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I think this is an advertisement for uniforms-

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Pennsylvania regiment, this may be part of a company of the Lancers?

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Union Trooper
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Union Trooper
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Union Trooper
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Union Trooper

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Confederate Trooper

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Confederate Trooper


The tinted photograph you have as an advertisement for uniforms is a plate from a series where they got this one guy to put on all the different uniforms for photographing. This looks like a collectors carte de viste or something or maybe they printed the whole series for distribution to the army.
 
The tinted photo you have labelled as a possible uniform advertisement is from a series of photos of that guy wearing I think every conceivable uniform as per Federal Regulation issue. I've never seen a tinted carte de viste of this guy before so maybe a collector's series or printed and tinted for distribution to the army off educational purposes. Like flash cards. I have no idea about the cards or their purpose but you will find that poor guy in all kinds of uniforms and bogged down with full gear. Who knows how many photos that guy modeled for. They even use him in the uniform illustrations found in many volumes. Little drawings of sample uniforms of each side and the rank insignias and buttons and branch of service colours.
 
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Just kidding. Had a grgrgrandfather whose company, H' , 6th US Cavalry was assigned provost for a short time, peacekeepers, general MP types serving various duties. These sound boring to me. Pleasanton was heading the cavalry at the time; he'd already swiped the 6th US Cavalry's band perhaps he also had protection in the form of his own troopers. Goodness knows he already had a lot of there officers.

Been saving a lot of cavalry images for an awfully long time. Pinterest is handy- you can find a super collection of Confederate Cavalry images, for instance, sometimes track on back to a source where there are more. These are awfully important because the Southern Cavalry as a whole really were legendary horsemen. Through 1861 and 1862 Confederate Troopers dominated this part of the war. Union leadership was in part responsible ( READ Eric Wittenberg's books, all of them! ) but the fact remains Southern horsemen really were well, horsemen. Man for man, the South knew their war machine. The North was learning.

Still- funny to think a provost cavalry thread riding provost here. Some stern and businesslike looking fellows, cannot imagine anyone arguing. Am posting just photos of cavalry troopers, names when they have been provided. More of a memorial to our troopers than anything. Yes, will make a point of posting both cavalries. If none appear first day it is only because od the way they appear in files.

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Cavalry guarding pontoon bridge, Varina landing


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Co G 1st Mass. Cavalry


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Trooper, 12th Illinois Cavalry

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Some really interesting photos- most of which next to no one has seen.
Interesting points about provost- a subject, like signal corps, you just don’t hear much about.
Thanks for sharing
 
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