| Don1962 | 13 May 2012 2:06 p.m. PST |
I thought I had seen every Civil War photo until I recently ran across this one.
link It is a nice high-resolution scan of Confederate prisoners at the Chattanooga, Tenn. rail depot. Great details of uniforms, equipment, etc. |
| TKindred | 13 May 2012 2:35 p.m. PST |
Umm…. not to burst anyone's bubbles, but those are Federal troops waiting for transport. I'm not certain who made the initial claim that these were CS POW's, but that isn't true. IIRC, these are men returning to their units from either hospital or convalescent camps, some from furloughs, etc. The men in the foreground with their weapons are the "escorts" men assigned to see that these returning men actually make it to their proper destinations. V/R |
| d effinger | 13 May 2012 3:43 p.m. PST |
Tim, Yeah I was going to say the EXACT same thing! They are too 'Northern' looking to be Rebs for sure. Don actionfront.blogspot.com "Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?" |
| Bottom Dollar | 13 May 2012 3:57 p.m. PST |
I've seen it before with the caption "Confederate POW's", but they do look Northern, and appear to be wearing Northern uniforms. |
Frederick  | 13 May 2012 4:54 p.m. PST |
Agreed – I have seen this photo before and thought there were too many forage caps, complete uniforms and overcoats for them to be Rebs |
| Joep123 | 13 May 2012 6:03 p.m. PST |
A neat photo!
Thanks for sharing;
Joep |
| Scott Mingus | 14 May 2012 3:31 a.m. PST |
The laundry hanging on a clothes line on the USMRR boxcar is a nice touch! |
| 377CSG | 14 May 2012 5:08 a.m. PST |
Very interesting and like the Hospital Car and camp in background. |
| Oddball | 14 May 2012 5:47 a.m. PST |
Very interesting photo with the USMRR cars in the back and the camp up on the hill side. My first thought from the title was that there seemed to be alot of Federal troops talking with the ones who could be Confederate prisoners. Then I noticed that there seemed to be too much Federal uniforms in good shape. Although not Confederate prisoners, the photo gives a great perspective on how western Federal troops looked. Great mix of headgear and variety of uniform parts worn. |
| TKindred | 14 May 2012 10:33 a.m. PST |
Agree on the mix of uniforms. Having said that, in the original discussion of this image a couple years back, over to the "Authentic Campaigner" forum, the consensus was that these are a group of men from several regiments returning to their units. By 1864, what with the conscription laws in place, men were often treated as virtual POW's and traveled under "escort" of armed men from their point of embarkation to the next area where they would then be again broken into groups by corps, division, brigade and then regiment and "escorted" to where they would be signed for by an officer of their parent unit. Wilbur Fisk, of the 3rd Vermont talks about this in his memoir "Hard Marching Every Day" as does Rice Bull of the 123rd NY in his "Soldiering". Both complained bitterly about their shabby treatment while returning to their units, etc. Anyway, keep in mind that although it's possible that some units saw a mix of dress coats, sack coats and uniform jackets, it's more likely that the varied dress indicates men from various units, and the smaller groups in the pic represent men from common commands, such as all from one particular brigade, etc. Lots of details though, and the collection from which this comes has a number of such images that are well worth your time to examine. |
| TKindred | 14 May 2012 10:51 a.m. PST |
This is one of my favorite images: link The amount of detail in this is amazing. You can see Federal artillerists as they were, wearing either the mounted services jacket, or a sack coat. A couple have hats. Some have caps, and a couple of the caps have either glazed or rubberized rain covers, or are made of waterproof material (both were available and wildly popular privately-purchased items). The men are also wearing their canteens and haversacks, and look at the paulins and covers on the limber chest too! Also of note is the amount of detritus left behind by the retreating Confederates. Ammunition bundles and single cartridges tossed about, cooking pans and equipments, the manner in which the winter quarters were built, etc. A great image and, again, worth the time to examine at leisure. |
| 11th ACR | 14 May 2012 4:17 p.m. PST |
As for ACR, RR's link
It's a great site with some good info. |
| HammerHead | 14 May 2012 10:09 p.m. PST |
if they are prisoners why don`t the `guards ` have rifles |
| bgbboogie | 15 May 2012 8:06 a.m. PST |
I see 2 guards with rifles, bottom left of picture, it they are not prisoners where are their rifles???? |
| TKindred | 15 May 2012 10:10 a.m. PST |
The rifles, like the accoutrements, are company property and are signed for by the Company Commander. When the men are sent to hospital, on furlough, etc, their arms and accoutrements are turned in until the men come back or are mustered out. Thus, no weapons for the men in the image, except for their "escorts" who are their to assure that the men arrive safely at their destination. |
| ChicChocMtdRifles | 15 May 2012 10:48 a.m. PST |
I'm not much of a picture taker, but photos like this make me wish to go revisit these places with color film and record their voices as well. |
| Don1962 | 15 May 2012 3:56 p.m. PST |
The Shorpy site has a few high resolution scans of Confederate dead at Petersburg. Pretty powerful depiction of the grim realities of warfare. Also some interesting close-ups of details of Confederate uniforms at this point in the war. The shell jacket seems to have been ubiquitous in the rebel army, even when shortages were at their peak. link
link |
