Help Us Identify This Civil War Photo

We need your help identifying the location of this photo! Taken during the Civil War, it was a 1911 gift from Edmund A. Whitman to the Society. The photograph accompanied the materials of his father, Col. Edmund Burke Whitman, a Harvard graduate and army quartermaster in the Civil War. Col. Whitman played a key role in the creation of the cemetery system for the Civil War dead, which was constructed after the war. During the war his career took him many places in the North and South, so it does not narrow the possibilities of this photograph’s location.

View a larger scan of the image here. It depicts what appear to be four African American soldiers with a cannon, probably a rifled Rodman breech-loading siege gun, a large cannon designed to knock down enemy fortifications. These Rodman guns were used by both the North and South. Since the Rodman gun fired cylindrical shells that looked like enormous modern-day bullets, the round cannon balls depicted were not used for that gun and may indicate that the emplacement had been in use before the arrival of these soldiers.

The fortification in the photograph appears old, and the grass growing over it indicates it was not very well maintained. Churches and other large buildings and a wide, bending river are visible in the background.  It is likely that some of the buildings in this photograph still stand and the modern-day view from the same vantage point is somewhat similar.

The soldiers could have been members of one of several U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery Regiments from the Civil War, designated with the numbers 1 and 3-14. They were raised in 1864, although some existed as state units prior to being called into federal service and re-numbered. Some remained in service, occupying the South after the end of the war. If the soldiers were part of these regiments, it would narrow the possibilities of the photo’s location because they often were assigned to border garrisons away from the fighting or to areas of the South occupied by the Union. However, the soldiers depicted in the photograph would not have needed to be members of a heavy artillery battery in order to man a siege gun, and there were African American artillery men not assigned to heavy artillery regiments.

Please help us solve this longstanding mystery! If you think you recognize the location of this photograph or have other related information, please share it in the comments below.

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, Post 14

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

Thursday, June 19^th, 1862

Of public events the chief worthy of record is the sudden irruption of the rebel force into central Virginia, occasioning the retreat of Gen. Banks, & an instant rally to arms in this state and elsewhere. The first personal acquaintance I have lost in this war (as far as I yet know) was killed in the encounter, at Port Royal, with Jackson’s Force, - Capt. Wm. P. Ainsworth of Nashua, a fine young man of my former parish.

Come back to read Bulfinch's July entry where he reflects on the increasing loss of life in battle and Lincoln's call for 300,000 new volunteers. 

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, Post 13

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

May 11^th 1862

Meantime public news has come in rapid succession. New Orleans surrendered, Fort Mason soon followed, - Yorktown has been abandoned, and the rebels have been defeated at Williamsburg and West Point. God grant a speedy termination of the contest! In Washington, the Act for abolishing slavery in the D.C. having been passed, Congress have turned their attention to the great subject of a confiscation bill. This I am disposed to favor, as a means partly of emancipating many slaves, & thus preparing the way for the freedom of the rest, - partly of punishing treason in a less cruel but more effectual method than by executions. I was much impressed by a speech of Senator Wade of Ohio on this subject.

Be sure to check back in June, when Bulfinch notes Confederate movements in Virginia and the loss of a personal acquaintance and former parishioner. 

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, Post 12

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

April 13^th, 1862

A year today since the surrender of Fort Sumter. The crime then committed has in part received its punishment. Not that I think we at the North are entirely without blame. The John Brown raid was more approved than it should have been, & there has been selfishness, scorn and violence here as there. Still, their conduct has been criminal, - deeply so. The statement of atrocities committed by the rebels on the bodies of Union soldiers disgrace their cause, and our common country. I suppose the President this day signs the bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia.

Look to the Beehive in May for Bulfinch's observations of Union victories and the pending Confiscation Act.