Photos of Confederate soldiers found by Union soldier, identities sought decades later

chubachus

First Sergeant
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Location
Virginia
unidentified confederates.jpg


From Confederate Veteran magazine.
 
Awfully fancy coats for NCOs. That, plus the striped pants leads me to say definitely early-war.
Not necessarily, their uniforms are typical of what the garrisons surrounding Charleston and Savannah would have been issued. Decent amount of photographic documentation of these troops from the coastal garrisons wearing similar uniforms.
 
You can just make out the photographers marker stand, just visible behind each of the brothers right foot.' Stand there and don't move'.
 
There a book on photograph history of South Carolina in the Civil War... That should give someone a lead to what studio the the pictures of three were taken at.

https://books.google.com/books?id=fLo5Agwf8G4C&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=south+carolina+photography+studio+in+the+civil+war&source=bl&ots=LIMcJRqQ6c&sig=9DbCSm3tO5-fgBegZFTMDLztUjk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBivC6w8zKAhXBfyYKHbv8BhwQ6AEISjAG#v=onepage&q=south carolina photography studio in the civil war&f=false

Look at the picture on page 8... first hot lead photographer George S. Cook.. to followup on...

Ah, thank you, it must be him who took it then. LoC has a total lack of portraits identified as being taken in Cook's studio or else I definitely would have recognized the characteristics of his backdrop. The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography has a good amount of additional information about him if you are interested.
 
These men were part of the Edisto Rifles from Orangeburg, SC and the unit was assigned to Hagood's 1st SCV which was stationed in and around Charleston for most of the war. It was a prewar SC Militia company that activated and this was their fatigue uniform adopted in January of 1861. William V. Izlar mentions in his history of the company that the new uniforms were grey with black trim and there is a picture of him in the same uniform in his book titled A Sketch of the Edisto Rifles, 1861-1865 reprinted in 1990. Their militia uniforms were originally grey with green trim. Broad foot Publishing may have a copy as part of their Regimental Series.
 
What a coincidence. I have a 1/4 plate dag by George Cook that I will be restoring next week (rinse and re-seal). Can't wait to see how it turns out. Not being able to afford a photograph of a Confederate soldier, I figured the next best thing would be a poor-quality daguerreotype by the 'Photographer of the Confederacy':

Screen Shot 2016-03-11 at 4.32.45 PM.png
 
What a coincidence. I have a 1/4 plate dag by George Cook that I will be restoring next week (rinse and re-seal). Can't wait to see how it turns out. Not being able to afford a photograph of a Confederate soldier, I figured the next best thing would be a poor-quality daguerreotype by the 'Photographer of the Confederacy':

View attachment 94468

Very cool, I have never seen a Cook case before. Be sure to post a pic of it after it is cleaned.
 
Very cool, I have never seen a Cook case before. Be sure to post a pic of it after it is cleaned.

I will - I had thought about doing it today. Unfortunately I miscalculated and used the last of my re-sealing tape this evening on a photo that I received today that had been sealed with Scotch tape and the glass was actually glued to the daguerreotype plate. I was so freaked that I immediately began repair work. The Cook photo will have to wait until the tape shows up.

It's really amazing how many photos I receive off of ebay that are totally abused by previous owners. Who glues silver-coated polished plates to glass?
 
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From Confederate Veteran magazine.

Well, I did some digging a little further for you. First off the 3 are not brothers, although could be cousins or brothers in law, as the corporal in the middle is Theodore Kohn who was 21 when this was taken and there are not any other Kohn's that were on the muster roll listed for the Edisto Guards per the book by William V. Izlar. Attached are some pictures of other members including Kohn that are in the book. They apparently pencil sketched the original photos so they would show up for his original publication.
Edisto Rifles-Ben Izlar.jpg
Edisto Rifles-Hook.jpg
Edisto Rifles-Izlar.jpg
Edisto Rifles-Kohn.jpg
 
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