I found a unit history that was ahead of its time, as far as I'm concerned, and only wish my own ancestors in the 3rd MA Heavy Artillery had thought to do this. Head to Internet Archive and after making the donation the pop-up asks for, click on "texts" and then enter "7th Michigan Cavalry." Look for Personal and Historical Sketches and Facial History of and by Members of the Seventh Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, 1862-1865. Download the Library of Congress version, not Evil Google's version (theirs are rarely searchable.) The phrase "Facial History" refers to the 7th Michigan Cavalry Association's idea of having each man contribute a vignette about some wartime memory along with a photo of himself then (wartime) and "now," meaning 1902. Those who were no longer living were acknowledged and any image someone had of the departed was used in its place. The overall effect is the reverse of what I'm trying to to here (working backwards to figure out which soldier in a group shot is who, based on comparison with a later photo at a more mature age.) The group's goal may even have been meant to help the men recognize each other at any reunions or to just celebrate the fact that they were still alive. The 7th Michigan fought at Gettysburg, among other places, so these men had seen a lot of death.
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AuthorThe author is a historian with a Ph.D. in US history and a love for genealogy and old photos. Archives
August 2018
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