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CDV of a 16th Connecticut Infantry Sergeant named Austin David Thompson. The subject is identified on back in pencil as follows: “Austin Thompson 16th Conn Vol.” The image bears the backmark of “Photographed by William A. Terry, Bristol, Conn.”

The Connecticut Historical Society has a collection featuring many of Thompson’s Civil War letters including one describing the battle of Antietam, another mentioning the charge of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored) at Fort Wagner, and one describing the execution of two substitutes for desertion.

Thompson was living in Bristol, Connecticut, when he enlisted on August 11, 1862, as a Private. On August 24 of that same year, he mustered into “K” Co. CT 16th Infantry. He was promoted to Corporal on April 2, 1863, and promoted to Sergeant on February 24, 1864. He was captured at Plymouth, North Carolina, on April 20, 1864, and made a prisoner of war. He was discharged on June 8, 1865.

The Connecticut 16th Infantry saw action at, amongst others, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Edenton Road, Providence Church Road, and Plymouth. The 16th had 436 men killed or captured at Plymouth.

CDV of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut.

David Glasgow Farragut (July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was the senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral of the Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his famous order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” though some have claimed he did not say the famous quotation.

Early Life and Naval Career

Farragut was born to Jorge and Elizabeth Farragut at Campbell’s Station, near Knoxville, Tennessee, where his father was serving as a cavalry officer in the Tennessee militia. Jorge Farragut Mesquida (1755 – 1817), a Spanish–Catalan merchant captain from Minorca, had previously joined the American Revolutionary cause. David’s birth name was James, but it was changed in 1812, following his adoption by future naval Captain David Porter in 1808 (which made him the foster brother of future Civil War Admiral David Dixon Porter).

David Farragut entered the Navy as a midshipman on December 17, 1810. In the War of 1812, when only 12 years old, he was given command of a prize ship taken by USS Essex and brought her safely to port. He was wounded and captured during the cruise of the Essex by HMS Phoebe in Valparaiso Bay, Chile, on March 28, 1814, but was exchanged in April 1815. Through the years that followed, in one assignment after another, he showed the high ability and devotion to duty that would allow him to make a great contribution to the Union victory in the Civil War and to write a famous page in the history of the United States Navy.

Civil War

In command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flag in USS Hartford, in April 1862 he ran past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the Chalmette, Louisiana, batteries to take the city and port of New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 29 that year, a decisive event in the war. Later that year he passed the batteries defending Vicksburg, Mississippi. Port Hudson fell to him July 9, 1863.

On August 5, 1864, Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Mobile, Alabama, at the time was the Confederacy’s last major port open on the Gulf of Mexico. The bay was heavily mined (tethered naval mines were known as torpedoes at the time). Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay. When the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine and sank the others began to pull back. According to legend, Farragut (who was lashed to the rigging of his flagship the USS Hartford) shouted down the order, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The bulk of the fleet succeeded in entering the bay.

Farragut then triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines to defeat the squadron of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.

His country honored its great sailor after New Orleans by creating for him the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy. (Before this time, the American Navy had resisted the rank of admiral, preferring the term “flag officer”, to separate it from the traditions of the European navies.) He was promoted to vice admiral on December 21, 1864, and to full admiral on July 25, 1866, after the war.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut

2nd New Hampshire Infantry Private named Abner Durgin who ultimately became a 1st Lieutenant.  The CDV bears the backmark of “Photographed by Herman J. Currier, Fisherville, N.H.”

Durgin was born in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1840 and still living there when he enlisted on May 21, 1861, as a Private. On June 3, 1861, he mustered into “E” Co. NH 2nd Infantry. He re-enlisted on January 1, 1864, and was promoted to Quarter Master Sergeant on February 1, 1864, and transferred from company E to Field & Staff. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and Quartermaster on June 24, 1864. He was discharged on December 19, 1865, and thereafter lived in Concord.

During Durgin’s service, the New Hampshire 2nd Infantry saw action at, amongst others: First Bull Run, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Oak Grove (where it saw heavy losses), Glendale, Malvern Hill, Kettle Run, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, Swift Creek, Drewry’s Bluff, and Cold Harbor.

CDV of a Pennsylvania 141st Infantry Captain named Edwin Spalding who was wounded in action at Chancellorsville and also at the Battle of the Wilderness. The CDV bears a pencil identification on back of “Capt. Edwin Spalding 141st Penna Vol.”

Spalding was from Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and enlisted on August 21, 1862, as a 1st Lieutenant and was commissioned into “I” Co., PA 141st Infantry. He was promoted to Captain on December 10, 1862. He was wounded in action on May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville and wounded in action again at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. He was discharged on December 16, 1864. This Historical Data Systems printout will also be provided to the buyer.

The Pennsylvania 141st Infantry was composed of recruits from Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wayne counties. They saw their first serious action at the Battle of Chancellorsville, where the 141st Pennsylvania was heavily engaged, sustaining its chief losses in a desperate charge on the morning of the third day of the battle, where it fought with great courage and lost 235 killed, wounded, and missing out of 419 in action.

The regiment also saw action at Gettysburg on July 2 in position at the angle of Sickles’ line, on the right of the Peach Orchard, the most exposed part of the whole field. The 141st sustained fearful losses there. It went into action with 198 men, and 136 were killed, wounded, or missing, some 70 per cent of its numbers. In the ensuing Virginia campaigns, the 141st was engaged at Kelly’s Ford and Locust Grove.

They fought again the following year at the Battle of the Wilderness, where the 141st captured 50 prisoners and the colors of the 13th N. C. It was also fiercely engaged at the Po River and a few days later at the “bloody angle.” The 141st was first to plant its colors on the enemy’s works in a gallant charge at the North Anna River.

More severe fighting followed at Cold Harbor. By July 1 of 1864, the regiment had only seven of its 39 original officers. During the balance of the year, it was engaged at Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains, and on the Weldon Railroad in both October and again in December.

Mathew Brady Civil War CDV of famous Admiral David Dixon Porter.

David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813 – February 13, 1891) was a United States admiral who became one of the most noted naval heroes of the Civil War.

Porter was one of the first U.S. Navy officers to bear the rank of admiral; prior to the Civil War, no officer had held a rank higher than commodore, as admiral was considered to have royalist connotations.

In 1861, Porter joined the Navy’s Gulf Squadron in command of the USS Powhatan. He was promoted to commander on April 22, 1861, and to captain on February 7, 1863. He took part in the 1862 expedition up the Mississippi River against New Orleans, in command of 21 mortar boats and several steamers. Aboard his flagship, USS Black Hawk, he commanded the Mississippi River Squadron during the Vicksburg Campaigns in 1862–63 and during the Red River Campaign in 1864. Porter was conspicuous in the siege of Vicksburg, was wounded in his head during the amphibious operations at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, on April 20, 1863, and received promotion to rear admiral on July 4, 1863, the day of the Confederate surrender of Vicksburg. He received the Thanks of Congress in April 1864, “for all the eminent skill, endurance, and gallantry exhibited by him and his squadron, in cooperation with the Army, in the opening of the Mississippi River.”

During 1864 Porter commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took part in the capture of Fort Fisher in January 1865. He once again received the thanks of Congress:

… to rear Admiral David D. Porter, and to the officers, petty officers, seamen, and Marines under his command, for the unsurpassed gallantry and skill exhibited by them in the attacks on Fort Fisher, and the brilliant and decisive victory by which that important work was captured from the rebel forces and placed in the possession of the United States; and for their long and faithful services and unwavering devotion to the cause of the country in the midst of great difficulties and dangers.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dixon_Porter

Cox was living in Darlington, Indiana, when he enlisted on January 30, 1864, as a 1st Sergeant and was mustered into “B” Co. IN 120th Infantry. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on May 1, 1864, and to 1st Lieutenant on September 30, 1864. His discharge information is lacking.

The 120th was organized over the winter of 1863-64 and left the state on March 20, 1864. It first saw action at Rocky Face Ridge, joining in the charge which routed the Confederates. It then participated in the assault of Kennesaw Mountain and in the battle before Atlanta in July. It was in the siege of Atlanta and engaged at Jonesboro and Lovejoy’s Station. It moved in pursuit of Hood in October as far as Summerville. It was then detached from Sherman’s army, ordered to Nashville, and became involved in skirmishes at Columbia and in the battle at Franklin, where the 120th lost 48 men who were killed or wounded. When it reached Nashville, it took part in the battle of December 15 and 16, joining in pursuit of Hood’s retreating forces. The following year, the 120th proceeded to New Berne, North Carolina. It was in a sharp fight at Wise’s Forks when a furious assault was repulsed with heavy loss on the Confederate side. Joining the forces under Gen. Cox at Kinston, it moved to Goldsboro, meeting Sherman’s army which had arrived from Fayetteville.

Cox was living in Darlington, Indiana, when he enlisted on January 30, 1864, as a 1st Sergeant and was mustered into “B” Co. IN 120th Infantry. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on May 1, 1864, and to 1st Lieutenant on September 30, 1864. His discharge information is lacking.

The 120th was organized over the winter of 1863-64 and left the state on March 20, 1864. It first saw action at Rocky Face Ridge, joining in the charge which routed the Confederates. It then participated in the assault of Kennesaw Mountain and in the battle before Atlanta in July. It was in the siege of Atlanta and engaged at Jonesboro and Lovejoy’s Station. It moved in pursuit of Hood in October as far as Summerville. It was then detached from Sherman’s army, ordered to Nashville, and became involved in skirmishes at Columbia and in the battle at Franklin, where the 120th lost 48 men who were killed or wounded. When it reached Nashville, it took part in the battle of December 15 and 16, joining in pursuit of Hood’s retreating forces. The following year, the 120th proceeded to New Berne, North Carolina. It was in a sharp fight at Wise’s Forks when a furious assault was repulsed with heavy loss on the Confederate side. Joining the forces under Gen. Cox at Kinston, it moved to Goldsboro, meeting Sherman’s army which had arrived from Fayetteville.