The complete issue
Vol. XX, No. 6
(48 pages)
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Inside
Cover image
A sixth-plate ambrotype, circa 1856, from the Michael F. Bremer Collection shows a droll-looking soldier or student reading a copy of Devereaux – probably a biography of Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, or the opera of the same name by Gaetano Donizetti – here published as a volume of “The Railway Library.”
Editor’s Desk (p. 3)
The editor opines on photography as an ephemeral medium, notes classes on 19th century photographic techniques at the George Eastman House Museum of Photography and announces an upcoming feature about Union army rank insignia.
Mail Call (pp. 4-5)
Letters include an apology from author Chris Nelson for omitting a credit, cheers for MI on its 20th years, corrections for the “Dandy 7th,” praise for “Six from Sickles” and more.
Passing in Review (p. 7)
One publication is mentioned, Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons (University of South Carolina Press) by J. Boone Bartholomees Jr.
In the Fort Delaware Death Pen: A Mississippi Trooper’s Descent Into Hell by Martin L. Callahan (pp. 9-12)
David McElwain of the 2nd Mississippi Cavalry was captured in Ripley, Tenn., on May 22, 1863, and sent to Fort Delaware—a prison dreaded by Confederate prisoners of war. McElwain was one of the lucky souls to survive. This is his story and a larger narrative of life inside the prison. The text is illustrated with wartime and postwar portraits of McElwain, an image of another prisoner, Quartermaster Sgt. William J. Darden of the 5th Texas Infantry, and illustrations of the prison.
Revenue Stamps & Civil War Photos: An Exploration of Those Little Stamps on CDVs by David A. Norris (pp. 13-15)
The author explains the purpose of the stamps affixed to the backs of cartes de visite, and illustrates the narrative with three representative images.
A Life in Uniform: The Craig Harburton Album by Jeff Thompson (pp. 16-17)
A series of images traces the life of Harburton from a boy dressed in military costume in June 1861 to a circa 1876 militiaman in Philadelphia’s elite cavalry unit, the 1st City Troop.
Light & Shadow: Technical Aspects of Photography and Collecting (p. 18)
A listing of format types and their definitions answers the question, “What’s in a name?”
A Life in Uniform, II: Photos from the Album of James Reagles, M.D., Military Surgeon by Paul R. Johnson, M.D., F.A.C.S. (pp. 19-23)
A series of images traces the life and military service of the doctor from his Civil War service as a volunteer in the 62nd New York Infantry to his retirement in 1908 as a captain in the Medical Corps of the regular army.
Union Dead…Confederate Dead: Locating Alexander Gardner’s Antietam Views #550 and #555 by Robert Kalasky (pp. 24-29)
The author’s photo sleuthing in the William Frassanito tradition examines two views of battlefield dead.
Your Affectionate Son: The Civil War letters of Pvt. Harley J. Hilborn, 145th Pennsylvania Volunteers edited by Eileen Conklin (pp. 30-36)
Personal letters, among the most touching we’ve ever read, was specially selected for reprint in this final issue of Volume XX. The letters were originally printed in Volume II, March/April 1981.
One Private’s War: The memoirs and photographs of Thomas Jefferson Moses, 93rd Illinois Infantry, 1862-1865 edited by Scott Cross (pp. 37-39)
Early and late-war portraits of Moses illustrate his narrative, which includes references to Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Northern Mississippi Campaign, the Yazoo Pass Expedition and Vicksburg. Images of comrades J. Phillip Garman, Luther Hess and Ellias Kastenbader are also included.
Luck Run Out: Edwin Bartlett & Edwin Whitney, 10th Massachusetts Infantry by Richard K. Tibbals (pp. 40-42)
Friends and fellow lieutenants, the two officers survived the biggest battles in the East with nothing more than the most minor of wounds. But their luck changed on May 18, 1864, in the vicinity of Spotsylvania, Va.
Captain Bob’s Caveat Emptorium (p. 43)
Armed Confederate cavalryman or Garibaldino from the War for Italian Unification? Buyer beware!
The Auction Block (p. 43)
Uniforms & History by Michael J. McAfee (pp. 44-45)
In “20th New York Volunteer Infantry, The United Turner Rifles” McAfee examines the uniforms of the unit. Two cartes de visite of enlisted men, August Werthoff and Henry Buehler, illustrate the text.
Sutler’s Row (pp. 46-47)
Stragglers (p. 48)
Solo photos from the collections of our readers includes one image of two Union soldiers posed with Prussian Model 1809 muskets.
Back cover
A carte de visite from the Guy Smith Collection is a view of Union-occupied New Bern, N.C.
