Seeking Possible Identification? : Graphic!

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the famous photo of dead Confederates who were photographed along the Hagerstown Pike at Sharpsburg.

These men were members of Starke's Louisiana Brigade who were made up of the following units.

10th Louisiana Infantry
15th Louisiana Infantry
1st Louisiana (Zouaves) Infantry Battalion
1st Louisiana Volunteer Infantry
2nd Louisiana Infantry
9th Louisiana Infantry

In the photograph there is the body of a Confederate sergeant. So I did some research and narrowed it down to the following men.

Antietam: Sgt A. B. C. Davis

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt Samuel Kearney

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Pvt Philip Georges

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt George F. Richardson

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt John Ryan

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt Charles Henry Clay Trabue

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt William T. Clack

antietam.aotw.org

Antietam: Sgt Alexander Feuga

antietam.aotw.org

Any thoughts on which soldier the unfortunate could be?

 

[WKFurlow]

Here's all of the Sergeants who fell at the fence. If I'm missing someone please let me know. Civil War Data is a pay site again.

View attachment 538695


Cropped and flipped for a better look at his face.


____

Sgt. Joseph Joyce, Co. D, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1829 in England, ~33 years old)

Sgt. Samuel Kearney, Co. A, 2nd LA. Inf. Regt. (Age unknown at this time.)

Sgt. George F. Richardson, Co. G, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1839 in Louisiana, ~23 years old)

Sgt. John Ryan, Co. D, 1st LA. Inf. Regt.
(Born about 1837 in Ireland, ~25 years old)

Sgt. Charles H. C. Trabue, Co. A, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born Sept. 8, 1834, in Tennessee, 28 years old) (Ruled out as having been mortally wounded.)

Sgt. William T. Clack, Co. G, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1843 in Louisiana, ~19 years old)

Sgt. Alexander Feuga, Co. I, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1841 in France, ~21 years old)

Sgt. Alpheus Shumway, Co. I, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1834 in New Orleans, ~28 years old) (Ruled out since he was wounded and left with a nurse.)

Sgt. Louis Aarons, Co. F, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Age unknown at this time.)

 

[WKFurlow]

Here's all of the Sergeants who fell at the fence. If I'm missing someone please let me know. Civil War Data is a pay site again.

View attachment 538695


Cropped and flipped for a better look at his face.


____

Sgt. Joseph Joyce, Co. D, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1829 in England, ~33 years old)

Sgt. Samuel Kearney, Co. A, 2nd LA. Inf. Regt. (Age unknown at this time.)

Sgt. George F. Richardson, Co. G, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1839 in Louisiana, ~23 years old)

Sgt. John Ryan, Co. D, 1st LA. Inf. Regt.
(Born about 1837 in Ireland, ~25 years old)

Sgt. Charles H. C. Trabue, Co. A, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born Sept. 8, 1834, in Tennessee, 28 years old) (Ruled out as having been mortally wounded.)

Sgt. William T. Clack, Co. G, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1843 in Louisiana, ~19 years old)

Sgt. Alexander Feuga, Co. I, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1841 in France, ~21 years old)

Sgt. Alpheus Shumway, Co. I, 1st LA. Inf. Regt. (Born about 1834 in New Orleans, ~28 years old) (Ruled out since he was wounded and left with a nurse.)

Sgt. Louis Aarons, Co. F, 10th LA. Inf. Regt. (Age unknown at this time.)

Sgt Joseph Joyce (1829-1862) - Find a Grave...

Sgt.Joyce of Co.D. Gen. Starke's 10th Louisiana Brigade that fought at the battle of Antietam MD on Sept 17,1862. During that morning while fighting the Federal Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Sgt Joyce was killed in action at the Haggerstown Pike rail fence.

www.findagrave.com

 

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

According to writings left behind by veterans of Starke's Brigade what regiment would've been on the extreme left?

 

[gbeardsley]

According to writings left behind by veterans of Starke's Brigade what regiment would've been on the extreme left?

W.E. Moore of the 1st LA says his regt was on the "extreme left" of the brigade. I'm still trying to contact ANBL about other accounts though.

 

[repman66]

I would imagine a lot of those leg wounds were post death, or simultaneous with a gunshot and were caused by Campbell's battery firing down range bouncing their cannister and case shot off the ground. Especially as most of the leg wounds seem to have come from projectiles fired from the North (Campbell's battery's direction).

 

[repman66]

Furthermore, the dead sergeant in the foreground - I always thought that looks like an entry/exit wound and a handkerchief pressed in as a makeshift bandage.

 

[gbeardsley]

I found this memoir, from a soldier of the 2nd LA. I am horrible at reading cursive so a translator would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WKFurlow]

I found this memoir, from a soldier of the 2nd LA. I am horrible at reading cursive so a translator would be greatly appreciated.

That link doesn't provide me an image. Send me the image and I will run it through a transcriber for you. @gbeardsley

 

[gbeardsley]

That link doesn't provide me an image. Send me the image and I will run it through a transcriber for you. @gbeardsley

I put the wrong link sorry here's the corrected one: https://arena.usahec.org/results?p_...&p_r_p_arena_urn:arena_search_item_id=2092111 You have to click the pdf link on the page. I can't upload it because the file is so big

 

[WKFurlow]

I put the wrong link sorry here's the corrected one: https://arena.usahec.org/results?p_p_id=crDetailWicket_WAR_arenaportlet&p_r_p_arena_urn:arena_search_item_id=2092111 You have to click the pdf link on the page. I can't upload it because the file is so big

File is well over 100mb, will have to break it into chunks

 

[WKFurlow]

File is well over 100mb, will have to break it into chunks

I broke out all the images, first three pages of 57 @gbeardsley

 

[WKFurlow]

I put the wrong link sorry here's the corrected one: https://arena.usahec.org/results?p_p_id=crDetailWicket_WAR_arenaportlet&p_r_p_arena_urn:arena_search_item_id=2092111 You have to click the pdf link on the page. I can't upload it because the file is so big

@gbeardsley Who was the person writing this. Very Poetic Writer this fellow. I had to create a Multimodal Agent to do this. Was good fun.... The more it works on this stuff the better it will get....

 

[WKFurlow]

File is well over 100mb, will have to break it into chunks

Lots of info and detail is missing from these transcriptions. Will have to set up another Agent that won't hallucinate

 

[WKFurlow]

File is well over 100mb, will have to break it into chunks

The "Lecompte Guard," mentioned in the handwritten text, was a Confederate company from Louisiana. It was part of the 2nd Louisiana Infantry Regiment, which was formed during the American Civil War. Specifically, the Lecompte Guard was recruited in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, as noted in historical records of the regiment's companies

3​

6​

.


This connection aligns with the reference to Natchitoches in the text. The Lecompte Guard consisted of young men from the area and was one of several companies raised in Louisiana to serve in the Confederate States Army during the war.

 

[gbeardsley]

@gbeardsley Who was the person writing this. Very Poetic Writer this fellow. I had to create a Multimodal Agent to do this. Was good fun.... The more it works on this stuff the better it will get....

Wolf Lichtenstein, 2nd LA. Badass name!

 

[gbeardsley]

I think the best course of option is to go to Antietam National Battlefield Libary to look for memoirs, recollections, etc. of members of Starke's Brigade. If we cant find any there it is still possible they exist in a family or private collection somewhere but it seems unlikely we will ever be able to identify who is in this photo.

 

[WKFurlow]

I think the best course of option is to go to Antietam National Battlefield Libary to look for memoirs, recollections, etc. of members of Starke's Brigade. If we cant find any there it is still possible they exist in a family or private collection somewhere but it seems unlikely we will ever be able to identify who is in this photo.

Much is lost over time and this was an incredibly chaotic time. But with modern tools and the extensive efforts that has been put forth to archive this information. We may be able to achieve this goal.

 

[Bruce Vail]

A lot of these old photos were taken some time after the battle. The 'cleanup' was not done for days afterwards. Note that there are no rifles or swords anywhere and there is a distinct lack of equipment or ammunition - removed by those taking over the position. They would have been stacked locally and then removed. (Many of the rifles seen in some photos are, yes, props brought in by the photographer) and, whether you like the idea or not, seaching for gold or hidden items - souvenirs even. Medics would also have been checking for signs of life too.

If there is no blood/darkening on clothing ripped or cut, it was probably done after death. The bodies will have been searched at some point as equipment has been removed too. Trouser flies are undone and pockets often seen turned inside out.

Rigor mortis is setting in - or leaving - so it is at least 12 hours after death and possibly as much as 36 hours after. Just to make the point, it is unlikely the photographer was right behind the front line - or even near the battlefield.

** I looked up the other photos of this scene and all are similar - no weapons anywhere and signs of rigor mortis.

Unpleasant fact of life was that battlefield dead were routinely robbed; sometimes by the enemy, sometimes by their own comrades in arms. Therefore the placement of bodies photographed several days after the fighting is not a reliable indicator of anything that may have happened at the time of death.

 

[WKFurlow]

@gbeardsley It is possible that "Wolf Lichtenstein" could have been a nom de plume or pseudonym, particularly if the name does not appear in historical records of the 2nd Louisiana Infantry Regiment.

 

[Story]

@JohnnyReb421745

Excellent albeit gruesome photo forensics.