The lineup for the next issue of Military Images will include several articles about North Carolina. You’ll also find a number of wonderful images, including this sixth-plate ambrotype of an unidentified soldier from the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at the Library of Congress.
His uniform indicates that he served in Company F of the Third North Carolina Volunteers (Thirteenth North Carolina Infantry). The regiment fought at South Mountain on Sept. 14, 1862, and witnessed the death of Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland Jr. According to this excerpt of the after action report in the Official Records, which also mentions brigade commander Col. Alfred Iverson Jr.:
Early in the morning of the 14th we were ordered by Gen. Garland to go, in company with the Twentieth North Carolina, commanded by Col. Iverson, out by a road leading along the top of the mountain, and then to occupy a position on the left of the old Sharpsburg road, which we did at about sunrise, and remained there about two hours. We were then ordered to move farther to the right to the support of the Fifth North Carolina Regiment, which we proceeded to do, and, being met by Gen. Garland, were directed to take position in an open field upon the brow of a high hill. The enemy, we found, were posted upon a high hill densely wooded, and immediately facing the hill occupied by ourselves. There was also a regiment under cover of a rail fence upon our left. Not being able to see the enemy in our front, our whole fire was directed upon those upon the left, and, as our men were cool and fired with precision and effect, they soon drove that portion of the enemy entirely off the field. All this, while those in our front were firing constantly into us, and it was then that Gen. Garland fell.
This closeup shows the youthful soldier’s face and forage cap as it appeared (left), and reversed (right) to adjust the for photo technology of the time, which had yet to introduce the mirror or prism to compensate for the mirror image.
If you have images of North Carolina soldiers to share, please contact editor Ron Coddington at militaryimages@gmail.com.
