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Here are two of my own favorites from my files.
I actually have three of this man, Thomas Reese, Co. A 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, but I've posted my favorite. This image was struck around May 1862, in Falmouth, VA. In this image, off to the right, you can see the legs, cuffs, and hands of more men waiting in line for a picture! Reese may be wearing a standard issue .58 caliber cart. box with shoulder belt in conjunction with an 1862 model Sharps cart. box (which was worn on the waistbelt...notice how the belt is being pulled down and it looks like it's feeding into the straps on the back of the cart. box) OR he could just have a standard cart. box mounted on both waist and shoulder belts.
The second image is a full-plate tintype of a guard detail from Co. F 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters in Falmouth, VA. The men are standing in front of the Ford House, a home that belonged to a family of well-to-do Southern sympathisers who left everything behind when the Federals came into town. Company F's Captain Caldwell volunteered his men to stand guard in town for nearly nine consecutive weeks as long as he was allowed to live in the Ford home and be attended by their servants who were all left behind. Caldwell died of typhiod in the house he took such a liking too and not one man from his company shed a tear for the man whose body they bore to the train depot. The Ford House is still standing today right up against a busy 4-lane highway and across the highway and down a hill along the banks of a creek stands the original red brick warehouse that the Falmouth Provost used as a jail; at least one member of Co. F was kept there as punishment for refusing to stand guard duty for a friend who agreed to take his place and then did not. The men in this image are all IDed but I cannot rattle off their names at this hour. This is, by far, the worse copy of this particular image. Inspection of a much better copy revealed that each man is sporting their company and regiment devices on their caps, and the sergeant and musician are both wearing dark green chevrons on their coats and carrying NCO swords. If you look close you'll even that half of the men on guard are wearing camp shoes! The soldier without his coat on at the right is Charles Applin, a private in Co. F, and I think he's posing as if to say, "our officers aren't around right now and look what I'M doing!"
Brian White
I actually have three of this man, Thomas Reese, Co. A 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, but I've posted my favorite. This image was struck around May 1862, in Falmouth, VA. In this image, off to the right, you can see the legs, cuffs, and hands of more men waiting in line for a picture! Reese may be wearing a standard issue .58 caliber cart. box with shoulder belt in conjunction with an 1862 model Sharps cart. box (which was worn on the waistbelt...notice how the belt is being pulled down and it looks like it's feeding into the straps on the back of the cart. box) OR he could just have a standard cart. box mounted on both waist and shoulder belts.
The second image is a full-plate tintype of a guard detail from Co. F 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters in Falmouth, VA. The men are standing in front of the Ford House, a home that belonged to a family of well-to-do Southern sympathisers who left everything behind when the Federals came into town. Company F's Captain Caldwell volunteered his men to stand guard in town for nearly nine consecutive weeks as long as he was allowed to live in the Ford home and be attended by their servants who were all left behind. Caldwell died of typhiod in the house he took such a liking too and not one man from his company shed a tear for the man whose body they bore to the train depot. The Ford House is still standing today right up against a busy 4-lane highway and across the highway and down a hill along the banks of a creek stands the original red brick warehouse that the Falmouth Provost used as a jail; at least one member of Co. F was kept there as punishment for refusing to stand guard duty for a friend who agreed to take his place and then did not. The men in this image are all IDed but I cannot rattle off their names at this hour. This is, by far, the worse copy of this particular image. Inspection of a much better copy revealed that each man is sporting their company and regiment devices on their caps, and the sergeant and musician are both wearing dark green chevrons on their coats and carrying NCO swords. If you look close you'll even that half of the men on guard are wearing camp shoes! The soldier without his coat on at the right is Charles Applin, a private in Co. F, and I think he's posing as if to say, "our officers aren't around right now and look what I'M doing!"
Brian White
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