relichound
Corporal
- Joined
- May 17, 2007
There were 97 CDVs in the old album when I purchased it a few years ago. They were all related to a surgeon who worked for the Union in 1864. I wanted to know more about each soldier, most of whom were officers, but
I didn't want to spend tons of money and I didn't want to take 10 years doing it. The following is what
I did and it might help some of you. The big plus was that they all were IDed and almost all were in ink and
those not were in old pencil and I didn't believe that many, if any, had ever been monkeyed with. And it
is so much easier to look up officers than enlisted men, there is more data and it is usually easier to find.
I went online and did searches on each name, usually with the rank, and as much of the name of the unit as
I knew. I wasn't sure that I would find anything, but once in awhile I would hit paydirt and there would be
a tidbit of new information...like an online photo of the soldier's sword, or a copy of his report that he wrote
for his regiment at a huge battle, or another photo that could confirm his ID, or information as to his
heroism or not in some violent skirmish. Many of the men would start to come alive to me as I would see them
as more than just pasty faced men from a long forgotten generation.
One soldier removed his frock coat and pretended to be a hospital worker to escape POW prison. It is
not for me to judge what he did. All is fair in war, right? He may have saved his life with what he did, and
later he fought in many more battles and suffered a wound and a terrible amputation. He lived
to be a hero and I say he deserved it. That is life, first you are up and then down and then maybe up again.
If you get an opportunity like this, there are online data bases on the soldiers, and they are good, but
don't forget to do the individual searches also to fill in the missing information!
I didn't want to spend tons of money and I didn't want to take 10 years doing it. The following is what
I did and it might help some of you. The big plus was that they all were IDed and almost all were in ink and
those not were in old pencil and I didn't believe that many, if any, had ever been monkeyed with. And it
is so much easier to look up officers than enlisted men, there is more data and it is usually easier to find.
I went online and did searches on each name, usually with the rank, and as much of the name of the unit as
I knew. I wasn't sure that I would find anything, but once in awhile I would hit paydirt and there would be
a tidbit of new information...like an online photo of the soldier's sword, or a copy of his report that he wrote
for his regiment at a huge battle, or another photo that could confirm his ID, or information as to his
heroism or not in some violent skirmish. Many of the men would start to come alive to me as I would see them
as more than just pasty faced men from a long forgotten generation.
One soldier removed his frock coat and pretended to be a hospital worker to escape POW prison. It is
not for me to judge what he did. All is fair in war, right? He may have saved his life with what he did, and
later he fought in many more battles and suffered a wound and a terrible amputation. He lived
to be a hero and I say he deserved it. That is life, first you are up and then down and then maybe up again.
If you get an opportunity like this, there are online data bases on the soldiers, and they are good, but
don't forget to do the individual searches also to fill in the missing information!
Bringing the