Help identifying photo...

[ddridgeusa]

This photo has been in the family for years.. my dad got it from his mom who got it from her mom etc.. I am from Michigan but this photo - I am told is of my "great great great uncle" .. I was told his name is Alan Carter (from Kentucky) and he was killed on lookout mountain in Tennessee during the Civil War. I don't know if any of that is true. Can anyone help me identify anything from this photo that would help me with this? I will appreciate any help that anyone can offer.

Thanks!

 

[bdtex]

Welcome to the Forum. I searched "Alan Carter" in the fold3 and NPS databases and no records of a soldier by that name from Kentucky.

 

[bdtex]

I also searched FindAGrave for an "Alan Carter" that died in 1863 and found no records.

 

[UCVRelics]

Welcome From THE Heart Of Dixie. dbtex is spot as I did a quick search also but then drilled down to just A Carter in Kentucky and there are 687 records for A Carter so they will have to be gone thru to find him.

 

[JAGwinn]

Look for a man with red hair.

 

[James B White]

Hopefully some of the uniform experts will be back after Christmas. All I know is that's not infantry, so he would be artillery or cavalry in that jacket. Either could potentially have a saber, photographer's prop or not. The pistols are probably props, but they make me lean toward cavalry, 'cause you known, cavalry are tough with all their pistols. Artillery have a gun that will blow all the pistols out of the water.

So if we limit him to cavalry, here are the casualties for all regiments at Lookout Mountain combined with some other skirmishes, no names, just numbers, but there are very few: http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;idno=waro0055;node=waro0055:5;view=image;seq=82;size=100;page=root

If you could figure out which of those are cavalry, it would narrow down the possible regiment. Those all look infantry to me. I don't know how to tell, if it doesn't say cavalry. We desperately need some military experts here, because I am not one!

In the 1860 Kentucky census, there's no Alan but there are a few A initial Carters the right age.

 

[lelliott19]

@ddridgeusa it would help in identifying this image if you could tell us your gg grandfather's name. Or the name of your 3x great grandfather? Or either/both of their wives - your 2x and 3x great grandmothers? Apparently, the image is of your 3x great grandfather's brother - which would be your ggg uncle. Perhaps Allen was his middle name. Or his name could have been Alan? Or Alex?

 

[chubachus]

I love the great coloring in the photo and lock of hair with it.