Confederate 1/6th Plate Ambrotypes of Alabama Brothers housed together in Double Union Case. The sitter on the left had the foresight to scratch his name - M. Shuttleworth - into the field of his portrait. Professional research reveals him to be Morgan Shuttleworth, Co. “H”, 36th Alabama Infantry.

The fellow in the second image, although not identified, is certainly Shuttleworth’s brother given their shared features. In fact, it is plausible that the second image is that of an identical twin!

1850 Census records show Morgan Shuttleworth to have been one of eight children in the Bibb County, Alabama household of John and Molly Shuttleworth. Further investigation should reveal the identity of his look-alike brother-in-arms.

The 36th Alabama, formed in Mt. Vernon, Alabama in May, 1862, spent nearly a year in the vicinity of Mobile before heading north to join the Army of Tennessee outside of Atlanta.

Shuttleworth’s Service Record indicates that, as a recently exchanged POW, he was hospitalized in May, 1864 for what was likely an unhealed gunshot wound to the chest and shoulder. The circumstances and timing of Shuttleworth’s ailment should suggest he was shot during the Battle of Resaca in Georgia. He died the following month.

The brothers are wearing matching militia shell jackets tailored in dark cloth with tinted red piping and three rows of buttons. The buttons on Morgan Shuttleworth’s jacket are not painted and have visible eagles on the face. It is highly likely that these are AVC (Alabama Volunteer Corps) buttons as opposed to common Federal types.

Both men have light military trousers with one pair sporting a tinted red stripe. Good old Southern slouch hats top off these defenders of Dixie. Morgan’s as-yet unidentified brother is double-armed with a menacing D-guard bowie knife and a pocket revolver.