A Photograph from the James River Earthworks

 

 

 

Over the past few weeks, I have been posting some stories from the 12^th New Hampshire Infantry. Occasionally, I’ve posted images of its officers. Some of these images are cropped from a larger photograph taken in December 1864 at Chaffin’s Farm, near Fort Harrison, Virginia.

The whole image depicts fifteen officers from the 12^th New Hampshire standing in front of their regimental headquarters.

They are, from left to right:

1^st Lieut. Alonzo W. Jewett

Capt. Ephraim W. Ricker
1^st Lieut. George E. Worthen
1^st Lieut. John P. Lane
Capt. James W. Saunders
Capt. Arthur S. Smith
Capt. Jeremiah L. Sanborn (who enlisted under a fake name)
1^st Lieut. Rufus E. Gale
Lt. Col. Thomas E. Barker
Maj. Nathaniel Shackford
Capt. Hosea Q. Sargent
Capt. Andrew M. Heath
Capt. John H. Prescott
Capt. Daniel W. Bohonon
1^st Lieut. Mayhew C. Batchelder

 

Some of you might recognize Smith, Barker, and Shackford from the previous posts. You might also make note of Captain Sargent (a confusing Civil War name, to be sure). He was one of several officers who, after the war, laid claim to leading the first organized Union troops into Richmond, April 3, 1865.

Anyway, there’s no moral or lesson here. I just wanted to marvel at the faces of these men as they prepared for the last winter of the war.