Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

[Cumpston1862]

Gents-

Ran across this dandy image on a relic dealer's website. Just thought I would share it. Follow the link and than work your way down the page and look for "Fantastic outdoor image of seven members of Company E, 12th Indiana Infantry all identified.

http://www.horsesoldier.com/products/whats-new

Enjoy!

[bAcK88]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Too bad that the 12th Indiana was in Kentucky in 1862....

[Hank Trent]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Too bad that the 12th Indiana was in Kentucky in 1862....

???

Here's the ORs listing them in Warrenton Junction, VA a month before the photo:

http://books.google.com/books?id=0Mg9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA441&output=html

What am I missing?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[kaelin]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

You are both correct, only 5 companies of the 12th were in Warrenton Junction, VA in 62, guess where the others were...KY!!

[faabala]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

I wish the label on the tin can in the lower left corner was a bit more clear. Great image of mess gear.

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Prompted me to think of this image of the 12th Indiana...

http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/dc008&CISOPTR=190&CISOBOX=1&REC=15

[ScottCross]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Clearly a traveling photographer was in their camp. I wonder how many more of these images are out there?

[Bob McDonald]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Scott:

Here's one. Eerily similar, but lacks ID info.


Cheers,

Bob McDonald

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Gents-

Not sure if anyone has noticed or not but if you pan down on THIS thread under "similar threads" there is another camp scene picture of the 12th Indiana posted by another pard in May of 2011. A different but very similar image.

Perhaps your assesment is spot on Scott about a travelling photographer taking pictures of the 12th Indiana and he took several while there. Maybe this other image from the May 2011 post is ANOTHER one from the same guy. Lugging all that equipment around would certainly make a photographer want to take more than one image. Just a thought anyway.

[PieBoy96]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

For posterity:

Image is a quarter-plate tintype of seven Union soldiers taken at Warrenton Junction, Virginia in early 1862. The image is first rate with great content. The men are posed around a campfire with their mess gear and rations. All the subjects are members of Company E, 12th Indiana Infantry. A pencil inscription behind the image reads “BIVOUAC OF MESS NO.13 CO.E 12TH IND. VOLS. WARRENTON JUNCT. VA. –H. WEAVER, M. B. MCCONNELL, C. M. DAVIS, LEM. HAZZARD, GEO. DEARDORFF, J. S. BAKER AND JAMES H. WILLIAMS. MAY 17, 1862”. Six of the seven men are posed kneeling on the ground while one stands at rear. Behind the group are two stacks of three muskets each. Meandering through the left background is a small stream. Under magnification the stream can be seen to flow into the middle background before disappearing. In the right background there are two wagons and what may be a small knoll or the outer wall of some earthworks. The center background has some trees and a lone figure of an unidentified soldier.

Of course the main focus is the seven men kneeling around their campfire. The first man on the left is James H. Weaver. He wears a forage cap with a very visible “E” on the top. He wears his leather accoutrements and has what looks to be a pipe clenched in his teeth. He holds a plate with food and a fork in one hand while with the other he is reaching into a tall pot holding his small tin cup and a spoon. Next is Nathan B. McConnell. He is also wearing his leather accouterments and with one hand he munches on a piece of hardtack while in the other hand he holds his cup. Next is the lone standing figure in the group, Sergeant Charles M. Davis. Unlike the other men who wear sack coats Davis is wearing a frock coat. He also wears his waist belt and cap box. Davis holds an army issue cup in one hand and a small bottle in the other. He has them arranged so that he appears to be pouring the contents of the bottle into his cup.

Next is Lemuel Hazzard who wears his forage cap at a rakish angle. The top of the cap looks to have a Company letter inside a wreath. He supports his plate and food on top of his knee. Next to him is George Deardorff the only one of the group wearing an overcoat. He holds a small tin cup in his hands. The next man in the group is Joseph S. Baker. Like most of the others Baker wears his cartridge box with the sling plate prominently displayed on his chest and his waist belt with cap box. He looks to have just pulled his frying pan off the fire and is using a knife or fork to stir or flip the contents. The last man in the group is James H. Williams. Barely visible on the top of his forage cap is a Company letter “E.” He wears his waist belt with empty bayonet scabbard. In one hand he holds a hardtack cracker while in the other he holds his Army issue cup. Visible in the foreground are various pieces of mess equipment such as plates, pots and one or two ration cans. The pot on the “fire” and the one Weaver is reaching into with his cup, look to be two of the three different sized pots the Army issued to each Company. The kettle in front of Williams is probably something the mess picked up in their travels.

The condition of the image is good. The glass covering the photograph is long gone and the result is that there are numerous small scratches on the surface but they really do not hurt the image. Despite the little imperfections everything can be clearly seen. There is a small area of cloudiness below the wood fire in the foreground. This was caused by the chemicals used to make the image and has probably always been there.

The 12th Indiana had two periods of service, the first for 1 year and the second for 3 years. During its first term of service from May 11, 1861 to May 19, 1862 the regiment was assigned to Bank’s Army of the Shenandoah where they were involved in a number of small skirmishes and picket duty. It was near the end of this first enlistment that the photo here was taken. The regiment was immediately reorganized to serve 3 years being mustered in on August 17, 1862. This second enlistment was more active. The regiment saw service at the battle of Richmond in Kentucky, Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, The March to the Sea, Columbia and Bentonville. During its 3 year service the regiment lost 293 men killed, died of wounds and disease.

Of the seven men in the photograph only two stayed with the 12th for their 3 year term. James H. Weaver served as a Private during his first term. In the second he was a Sergeant in Company I and rose to be a 2nd Lieutenant before being wounded at Atlanta on July 22, 1864. He died two days later on the 24th and is buried in Marietta National Cemetery. The other man who reenlisted was Lemuel Hazzard. After serving as a Private in his first term he, like Weaver, also began his second term as a Sergeant in Company I. He rose to the rank of Captain and was discharged on June 8, 1865. He moved to Missouri after the war and died there in 1904. Sergeant Charles M. Davis died within days of this photo being taken and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Warsaw, Indiana. McConnell and Baker stayed in Indiana and both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery with Sergeant Davis. McConnell died in 1920 and Baker in 1923. Not much is known about Deardorff and Williams other than they served their country for one year and were immortalized in this photograph with 5 of their friends.

[PieBoy96]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Here's the other 12th Indiana photo pieced together.

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Gents-

I was looking at the picture I posted earlier courtesy of Paul since it is no longer posted on the relic dealer's website and the one posted by Bob McDonald again this morning. My wife was looking over my shoulder and thought it was the same picture. I explained it was very similar but two different groups of soldiers. After going back and forth she agreed they were two different groups of soldiers BUT she pointed out that it appears to be two different views of two different groups of soldiers in the SAME camp.

I of course didn't buy that at first but there are a couple points that she noticed and that I noticed that than got me to wondering.

In the view I originally posted. If you look between the soldier standing and the stacked rifles there is a tree with two distinct limbs growing out to the right. This looks very similar to the tree directly on top of the the soldier in the far left of Bob McDonald's picture. If you look at the tree line and the backgrounds they are also very similar including the wagons faintly visible in both views. The placement of the two wagons look to be about right for both but from slightly different views.

The third view posted by Boozie in May 2011 may be a third picture from the same time same photographer but further beyond the first two pictures.


Some here is what I think may have happened. The photographer took the pictures of these men in camp and just moved a short distance between exposures as was often the method of the time because of the weight and awkwardness of the photography equipment.


wagons tents

x -Tree line
x
x
x boozie pic?
x
x -tree with distinct limb
x 1st pic
x Bob pic

Just a theory....be nice ;)

[ScottCross]

Re: Close Up Camp Picture of 12th Indiana Infantry Soldiers

Good work gentlemen.