Whitfield's Texas Legion

[camelgreen44]

In very new here,but I had to show this CDV that came out of an antique shop in Ft.Worth last week. After some help with identification, I found this CSA officer to be Major John T. Whitfield, of Whitfields Texas Legion,brother to Major John W. Whitfield. There is an image that appears on this forum of the two brothers ,seated and standing, in the same photography studio in Houston.

 

[camelgreen44]

View attachment 105817 In very new here,but I had to show this CDV that came out of an antique shop in Ft.Worth last week. After some help with identification, I found this CSA officer to be Major John T. Whitfield, of Whitfields Texas Legion,brother to Major John W. Whitfield. There is an image that appears on this forum of the two brothers ,seated and standing, in the same photography studio in Houston.View attachment 105818 View attachment 105816

T

 

[Nathanb1]

Cool! Proof that not all Texans were shaggy and dressed in jaguar chaps!

 

[AUG]

Finally identified! Thanks for sharing. We were previously trying to identify these officers in this thread:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/battle-flag-of-the-27th-texas-cavalry.114734/

Whitfield's Legion/1st Texas Legion, also known as the 27th Texas Cavalry.

 

[Yankeedave]

Private Bugess company b. 27th texas cav.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Private Bugess company b. 27th texas cav.
View attachment 105830

Wrong.

Everybody knows that this is none other than (Snyder, TX native) Powers Boothe!!!

 

[Yankeedave]

Curly Bill you old dog.

 

[kirkdlyons]

The Major is Cyrus K. Holman of the 27th - only Maj unaccounted for photograph-wise

 

[streetwiseprof]

Kind of doubt that John W. Whitfield and John T. Whitfield were brothers. Reminiscent of "I'm Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl."

 

[UCVRelics]

Absolutely fantastic image. Thanks for posting.

 

[AndyHall]

Rick Eiserman published a piece in the Civil War Times in mid-2011 that identified the famous images of the Texas Brigade at Dumfries, Virginia in the winter of 1861-62 as being the work of Tom Blessing. The three Blessing brothers operated studios after the war in Houston, Galveston, and New Orleans.

 

[AUG]

Kind of doubt that John W. Whitfield and John T. Whitfield were brothers. Reminiscent of "I'm Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl."

John Thomas Whitfield is actually John W. Whitfield's son and also served alongside his father in the 27th Texas Cavalry/1st Texas Legion. Its probably not him in the photo in question though.

More on John T. Whitfield here: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwh98

Here's a photo of him.

 

[AUG]

Finally identified! Thanks for sharing. We were previously trying to identify these officers in this thread:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/battle-flag-of-the-27th-texas-cavalry.114734/

Whitfield's Legion/1st Texas Legion, also known as the 27th Texas Cavalry.

At first I assumed the OP had the identity of these officers, but upon further inspection it looks like he might've misread my thread on the photo and assumed that they were John W. and John T. Whitfield. Coming back to this I'm leaning towards that they are not.

 

[TomP]

I am much more interested in the flag in the OP. The "Corinth" above their heads had to be the Siege of Corinth, MS in May, 1862. During the October campaign, which resulted in the Battle of Corinth, they were left behind to guard the wagon train in Tennessee and ended up fighting at Davis Bridge on the Hatchie River, 17 miles from Corinth. A fascinating image.

Tom

 

[Flag Guy]

The flag is the still missing today Mobile Depot (with 12 stars) battle flag of the regiment. Attached is another image of the flag. The 27th Texas/Whitfield's Legion flag was issued in October 1863 when the regiments of William "Hicks' Jackson's Cavalry Division got them - the first recipients of this new pattern. The Mobile Depot flags were made first by Jackson Belknap and then his wife Sarah under contract with the depot with the last issues coming to Forrest's Cavalry Corps in July 1864. They never had more than 12 stars. Besides the attached image see the San Antonio Express of September 7, 1913for another image of this flag. Battle honors are (from all that I can see) - Elk Horn (Pea Ridge), Corinth, Iuka (in the center of the cross) and along the bottom Thompson's Station.

 

[AUG]

The 3rd Texas Cavalry - a member of Ross's Texas Cavalry Brigade which included the 27th Texas - was also issued a Mobile Depot flag. It was later captured at Lovejoy's Station in the Atlanta Campaign. The battle honors and unit designation are probably similar to what was on the 27th's flag, minus Oak Hill.