It seems like these last few weeks have been filled with nothing but news of illness and loss; and again this morning I woke up to learn of the passing of another friend.
I was first introduced to Nicholas Lusher back in 2018, as I began my journey into the early history of photography in Bermuda. To say he was an expert – and I do not toss that word around lightly – was an understatement, having an academic, professional, and personal/family background that did in fact make him what his obituary referred to as an “internationally esteemed art and antiques dealer dedicated to preserving the island’s cultural heritage.” But he was so much more than the acclaimed Caribbean and New York art dealer on the surface.
Upon learning of my interests, Nicky welcomed me into his world immediately, excited to provide research material, make referrals, and open doors that I otherwise would never have had as an outsider to Bermuda. We collaborated for several years thereafter as collectors, historians, and ultimately as friends. Once I published my story on photographer Samuel W. Gault (which I naively thought would be the end of my research), we remained in contact to share new historical findings and “talk shop.” And despite the fact he was in the business to find and sell art, he would frequently tip me off when Gault images would pop up in the marketplace, giving me the first chance on them.
I will forever be grateful for Nicky’s mentorship and the legacy he leaves in the art world, but most of all I send my deepest condolences to his family, of which I know he so loved and cherished even more. Requiescat in pace, my friend.
In recent memory, although some minor scholarship has been devoted to the subject of North Carolina and its Confederate hospitals, without question, Sokolosky’s book brings together a complete history on this oft overlooked topic. Starting with background on the organization of the Confederate medical department, Sokolosky leads the reader through the various officers and politicians involved with the creation of the state’s medical system. Further chapters present full coverage of the day to day operations of the hospitals in North Carolina (and some outside of the state that NC contributed toward) during the period 1861-63, to include perspectives from numerous individuals from Doctors to Nurses, Matrons, and a variety of other key personnel.
Clearly, NC’s Confederate Hospitals checks many boxes for professional historians, students, and the average lover of North Carolina Civil War history alike. As a reference work, the book is a go to for when and where hospitals operated, their capacities, and who ran them – whether it be the Confederate government, the state of North Carolina, or private efforts from local aid societies. The book is similarly a resource to the historian or genealogist studying a particular soldier or civilian involved within the system, whether it be in a medical role or as a patient. And for the casual reader, the book gives a unique look behind the curtain of the care for sick and wounded Confederate soldiers in the midst of War.
In sum, I highly recommend NC’s Confederate Hospitals, and am eager to see Colonel Sokolosky complete his efforts on this unique story with the publication of Volume II.
It has been a while since I have made a history-related post, and I was reminded that today is the anniversary of the battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland. 159 years ago.
While many look at the battle of Gettysburg as the deadliest of the Civil War – and it was – it also lasted over a course of several days. Sharpsburg, on the other hand, was a one day battle and due to that, is recognized as the single deadliest day in American military history.
I have always been intrigued by this battle. And not just because I have walked the fields of conflict. My own family participated in the battle, and witnessed the carnage that day. In a 1905 letter to his daughter, one of my kinsmen – Sergeant Major Newsom Edward Jenkins of the 14th North Carolina – wrote of the battle. At the time, he was serving as an Orderly Sergeant and the acting Commissary. His old Company – A, the Roanoke Minute Men – on the eve of battle had no commissioned officers in the field. He recalled:
Newsom E. Jenkins
“The men had a premonition of an engagement, something you feel, but cannot explain, and my old company… wanted to know who would take them in if we had a fight. I promised I would stay and go with them – we were soon ordered to change our position. We were moved to a position in a lane known (now) as “Bloody Lane,” fronting up the creek. Our position was on the left center of the Brigade [Anderson’s Brigade, comprising the 2nd, 4th, 14th & 30th NC]… Soon after we had taken this position, we saw the columns of enemy moving towards us. Col. R.T. Bennett commanding the regiment… told me to take the Company out and deploy them as skirmishers, and go out to meet the enemy… we fired on them when they got in range. They then fired a volley into us. I ordered a retreat, we fell back to our position… but we had one of our best men killed [Bob Shearin] before we got back and several wounded. The lines of the enemy came up and charged our position a half dozen times or more, but we drove them back, and held our position for three hours under a terrific fire from the infantry line while shells were plowing the fields around us and clearing every thing in its sweep.”
Ultimately, the lines of Anderson’s Brigade were overwhelmed, flanked, and captured. What was left of the 14th Regiment in the Lane surrendered about 80 men. Of the twenty-eight from Company A who began the battle, nine were killed, and eighteen wounded and/or captured.
Amazingly, when Jenkins wrote this account some forty plus years later, he particularly recalled his capture by the command of Charles Augustus Fuller of the 61st New York Infantry, and asked his daughter to try to locate him. Fuller was also a Sergeant at the time of the battle, and ultimately rose to the rank of Lieutenant before his discharge due to wounds. His account, “Personal Recollections of the War of 1861,” is an excellent biography of his service and the history of his regiment.
Charles Augustus Fuller
To take the story a step further, I went on a tour of Sharpsburg in the late 1990s. As we walked the Bloody Lane, our tour guide began to recite the story of his own great-grandfather who had been on the field that day. Who was that man? Sgt. Charles A. Fuller. And there we all were, some one hundred and thirty years later the descendants of those same men, meeting under much different circumstances.
It doesn’t get much more close to history than that. “The past is never dead. It is not even the past.” – William Faulkner
Images: (1) Post war cabinet card of Newsom Edward Jenkins, donated by my family to Duke University; (2) the carnage of the Bloody Lane, photograph likely taken by Alexander Gardner, Library of Congress; (3) Charles Augustus Fuller of the 61st New York, image from Antietam on the Web (https://antietam.aotw.org/index.php)
A sneak peak of my article in the Summer 2019 issue of Civil War Navy—The Magazine (civilwarnavy.com) profiles Thomas Mann Thompson, Jr., one of the Confederacy’s most successful blockade runner pilots, making over 30 runs through the blockade while escaping capture. Famed Confederate Captain Michael P. Usina called Thompson “an officer who knew no fear.”
(Thompson carte de visite courtesy of the Fred D. Taylor Collection. Image photographed by S.W. Gault, Hamilton, Bermuda, circa 1864.)
My latest project has recently been published in Military Imagesmagazine, on the life of Captain William Rice Jones of Brunswick Mineral Springs. Captain Jones was a Virginia native, West Point Cadet, Confederate artillery Captain, and ultimately, a Texas Rancher!
This all came together after years of research efforts, and the stars aligning to bring his story to life, through the help of the Jones family. I can’t express enough my gratitude to his family members who provided the images, Ron Coddington at Military Images, and the ever-faithful assistance of William J. Stier and my wife, who have always been willing to read drafts of my stories and provide much-needed critique!
Find out more about the article and Military Images magazine here.
Many of you who know me are aware of my passion for history, and my interest and collection of Civil War-related items. For several years, that has included a focus on identified items in which I can bring the stories of the men and women from that period “to life.” Particularly, period images. Nothing brings history to life more than a photograph, where one can see a face and look into the eyes of an individual…. and the period just prior to and during the Civil War was truly the awakening of photography, such that these images tell a story as significant as battle reports, letters, or books.
I explain all of this to proudly debut my first (of many, I hope) article to appear in Military Images magazine. MI is one of the foremost historical publications in existence today, and the only one whose exclusive focus is the study of photographs of Civil War soldiers. I began my journey here when I discovered (rediscovered?) an albumen print of Lieutenant Otway Berryman of the United States Navy. Prior to obtaining this image, I had never heard his name mentioned. But he was a Virginian, and that interested me, and I quickly learned he died at the outbreak of hostilities. That also piqued my curiosity. Armed with this information, I began a quest some eight months ago researching this “unknown” naval officer. What I learned from that research moved me so much that I knew his story needed to be told. So this article is the culmination of that research, and from my perspective, a tribute to Lt. Berryman and his service. For those of you who already subscribe to Military Images, I hope you enjoy the article. If you do not, but are interested in such history, please check out their website, and consider a subscription. The current issue can be purchased, as well as subscriptions from the following link.
I cannot conclude without also thanking my family and my dear wife who tolerated my many hours locked away in research, and ultimately for her critique of this article. I also knew that if I was going to write for a scholarly publication, I needed to run this article by historians and image collectors who not only had previously contributed to MI, but whose advice (and criticism) I knew would make this a better read. Those gentlemen include my dear friends Rusty Hicks, William Stier, and Doug York. Finally, I cannot say enough about the courtesy and professionalism extended to me by MI Editor and Publisher Ron Coddington who truly helped bring this story to life with his recommendations as we drafted our way through to the final version.
I certainly did not go into this endeavor believing it would happen overnight, but I also planned that I would quickly be able to dive into the meat of the book, the writing, editing, and so on.
Unfortunately, that was not to happen. Work, family, and life have kept me occupied these last two years, and away from settling in to fully write this book.
On the flip side, I have still been blessed to have opportunities to travel, read, and continue my research efforts. For that, I have been entirely rewarded with previously unpublished material, letters, and other items of significance to the 14th North Carolina. Additionally, I have been fortunate to meet and correspond with others historians, as well as descendants of members of the 14th from across the nation, who have graciously supplied me with family data and anecdotes.
So where do we stand two and a half years later?
From a small file folder with three period letters and a diary, I now have compiled over fifty (yes, 50!) letters from members of the 14th; additionally, I have located “new” images, period and post-War accounts of service, and much more.
As we approach 2018, my hope and goal is to turn this raw data into the story that I originally set out to tell in 2015.
For more information about the Roanoke Minute Men / 14th North Carolina project, or to make submissions to this effort, please contact Fred D. Taylor at roanokeminutemen@gmail.com, telephone at 757-705-0950, or by mail to: 160 West Washington Street, Suffolk, Virginia 23434. All submissions will be properly credited to the owner.
On Sunday, June 4, 2017 at 2:30 in the afternoon, the General Matt W. Ransom Camp #861, Sons of Confederate Veterans, will host a Confederate memorial service at the grave of Brigadier General Junius Daniel. This grave site is located within the bounds of the state historic site in Halifax, North Carolina at the Colonial Cemetery. Attorney and historian Fred D. Taylor of Suffolk, Virginia, will speak on the life and service of the General, who fell in battle at the “Bloody Angle” during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in May of 1864.
Fred~on~History 