Entry #31

A few weeks ago I mentioned having found a photo in my mother-in-law’s possession that was pretty exciting. It was a Civil War vintage photo of a young soldier in uniform, and, of course, as my luck always goes, it was unidentified. My mother-in-law could not tell me anything about it.  She did not know who it was or even if it was a member of her family.

Unidentified Soldier Recently Found

The photo is in a small case (3-3/4″ by 4-3/4″) and under glass. The case is similar to many cases that held daguerreotypes of the era, but it is not a daguerreotype. It does not have the reflective quality of one. I presume it is either a tintype or an ambrotype.   I have not tried to remove it from the glass. The bright gold buttons on the uniform are probably hand-tinted. I wish the photo were sharper, but it seems to have a film under the glass.

I began a quest to identify our unknown soldier. The provenance of the photo indicated that he would be a member of either the Hartley or the Sigmund family. I checked for possible matches on the Hartley side, but found no one of the right age who served in the military. Frederick Hartley was too old to be the soldier in the photo and his sons were all too young. Likewise, Moses McGaughey, Jr. could be ruled out for the same reason.

My inclination was that this might be William Robert Sigmund, the subject of my Week #29 entry. William fought for the 2nd Delaware and was wounded at Gettysburg. I have the photocopy of a photo of William Sigmund that I included in my post, but it is not very sharp, since the reproduction was made in the 1990s. I had in mind that I must share the photo with Nancy Schanes who provided me with her original Sigmund research. Ironically, before I could contact her, she was in touch with me. I sent her a copy of the photo and she sent me a different one in return.

The photo Nancy Schanes sent me and the one I have are the same soldier! The bad news is that Nancy said she is not sure of the man’s identity, either. Nancy also provided me with a clearer photo of William Robert Sigmund. She suggested that the unknown soldier could be William Wilson, William Sigmund’s brother-in-law. It makes sense.  He had no children living when he died in 1898, so his possessions may have been divided among his close relatives.

Close-up of Unidentified Soldier Recently Found

Unidentified Soldier from Collection of Nancy Schanes

William Robert Sigmund

So, here are the three portraits. I vacillate; could they all be the same person? I wonder if the photograph that is positively William Robert Sigmund could have been taken later, possibly even after the war. It was not unusual for veterans to wear their uniforms for patriotic holidays or to meetings of military fraternal orders, like the GAR. I see many similarities, but I detect minor differences, too. I hope the time will come when we can make a positive identification.