AT ONE MOMENT IN TIME HISTORY 23

D A N I E L M . R O P E R

At one moment in time, a Georgia lad posed for a pho-tograph. No hint of a smile touched his lips, but thedawning beard of manhood shadowed his jaw line andchin. No pain clouded his eyes, where light danced merrilyacross shining, brightly-colored irises. No scar marred hishands, though with those hands he gripped the dreadful toolsof war. At one moment in time, a photographer removed thelens cap from his camera and exposed the glass plate, and hiswork was done.

Nearly 150 years after that moment in time, a pickercame across the photograph of the Georgia lad at an antiquestore near Athens, Georgia. He used his cell phone on aSunday afternoon early this year to call David W. Vaughan, anAtlanta collector of Civil War photographs. Then he describedto Vaughan the 1/2-plate ambrotype of the Georgia lad,encouraging him to get there immediately, as another pickerwas in the store calling his own network of collectors. At thatmoment in time, the pickers work was done.

David Vaughan couldnt make the drive to Watkinsvillebefore the store closed that afternoon, so he drove over earlythe next morning. There, after viewing the remarkable photo-graph of the Georgia lad, which had likely remained concealedamong his familys keepsakes for generations, Vaughan quick-ly estimated its worth, made an offer, and consummated thedeal. So the ambrotype of the Georgia ladPrivate WilliamHouston House, 16th Georgia Cavalry Battalionjoined thestunning array of photographs of Civil War soldiers inVaughans collection.

I was very fortunate, Vaughan observed during a recentinterview, as I later heard that a couple of other collectorswere right on my heels.

Serendipity is commonplace in the world of antique pho-tographs, where chance often guides the collector to the rightplace at the right time. Vaughan is quick to note that he hasbeen the beneficiary of serendipity on more than one occasion.

One time, he recounts, a fellow collector and I weredriving back from the D.C. photo show in Alexandria,Virginia. On Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, Ilooked down from the road to a parking lot where there wereabout 30 cars with trunks open. I could see antique rifles anda canteen and a few other items, so I told my friend, and helocked down the brakes and whipped the car off the highwayinto the parking lot, where there was a trunk show going on.

Vaughan soon learned that once a month this group wouldget together to buy, sell, swap or trade antiques right from theircars. So, he continues the story, we went and looked ineverybodys trunk. Surprisingly, I found a 19-plate image of aUnion boy who is unidentified, but hes photographed in a

Federal regulation four-button sack coat, and his initialsR.H.K. and his company are stenciled on his canteen. He wasjust a young boy; couldnt be more than 16 or 17 years old.That was more than 20 years ago, and I still have that in mycollection today. Its a wonderful photograph.

To date, Vaughan hasnt been able to establish the identityof the soldier wearing Union blue despite the benefit of thoseinitials on the canteen. Sometimes, though, a collector suc-ceeds in identifying a soldier in an old photo. Such occasionsusually require more than serendipity. Persistence and goodinstincts play an important role.

You know, Vaughan says, many times when these photo-graphs leave an estate, no one has ever taken the time to writethe name on the back of the case or to identify the veteran.Over the years, though, Ive been able to identify probably adozen photographs using other known photos and research.And to me, it is just a thrill to be able to save a piece of histo-ry and reunite a soldiers name with his photo.

Asked to give an example, Vaughan, a 52-year-old directorof marketing and sales for a large real estate law firm inAtlanta, ponders a moment and then breaks into a smile.

At One Moment in TimeT H E C I V I L W A R P H O T O G R A P H C O L L E C T I O N

O F D A V I D W Y N N V A U G H A N

Unidentified Union soldier wearing a Federal issued four-button sackcoat, kepi, and canteen with his initials, RHK. The letters are reversedbecause the photographic process produces a negative.

24 GEORGIA BACKROADS / WINTER 2011

Actually, just recently, I was able to identify an image of aConfederate surgeon I recently bought at an auction inJefferson, Georgia, he recalls. I had a wonderful conversationwith the consignor. The mans grandmother, Vaughanlearned, had passed away, leaving the man with a trunk full ofmemorabilia. He was very interested in the history of thephotograph, but didnt know anything about it.

Vaughan, who picked up some clues from details in thephoto, told the man, You know, after studying his uniformIm almost positive this guy was a doctor. He has a black col-lar and cuffs on his Confederate jacket, which is the signaturecolor of the Medical Corps, and his collar bears a star, denot-ing the rank of major. Major was the pay grade for a surgeon.

Given this information, Vaughan felt sure the officer was asurgeon. He was an older gentleman, he was at least 40, and

he really just struck me as asurgeon by the way hisjacket looked.

While this informationinterested the consignor, hestill wasnt convinced hehad a physician in his fam-ily tree. He told Vaughan,Well, David, we donthave any doctors or sur-geons in our family, and Idont know how this pho-tograph ended up in mygrandmothers trunk.

When Vaughan lookedinto the familys records, hetoo didnt find any refer-ence to a physician. He wasnearly ready to throw inthe towel when he had anidea. I went back to theconsignor one more timeand said, This is it. I haveone more shot here. I said,Do this for me, go backand look through the fam-ily papers, but dont look atit trying to identify thisperson. Go back and see ifyou can find any mentionof a doctor or a surgeon inany of the paperwork.

He called me back inabout three days and said,David, I found this oddpiece of paper. It looks likeit may have been attachedto the image at one time.

It was basically a biographical sketch that had been Xeroxedout of Memories of Georgia, The Southern Historical Association,1895, and it stated that the mans name was Doctor ElijahFletcher Starr from Nacoochee, White County, Georgia. Thesketch detailed that Starr was the regimental surgeon of the24th Georgia Infantry as well as a pro-Union signer of theGeorgia Ordinance of Succession. He was originally part ofCompany C in the 24th Georgia Infantry, the White CountyMarksmen, organized in northeast Georgias White County.

Vaughan later discovered and obtained copies of 20 lettersfrom the Special Collections and Archives at AuburnUniversity that Starr had written to his wife, Hannah. duringthe war. Referring to these and other family documents in thegrouping, he confirmed the family connection between thesurgeon and the estate in which his photograph was found. So

Dr. Elijah Fletcher Starr, Regimental Surgeon of the 24th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army ofTennessee, CSA. Tinted 1/6 plate ambrotype by unknown photographer.

AT ONE MOMENT IN TIME HISTORY 25

I had a positive I.D. at that point, he notes with satisfaction.The process probably took about three or four months, butIm 100% sure now that photo is of Starr. And, to my knowl-edge, there are not any other known photographs of him.

Vaughan, who has been collecting Civil War photographsfor 25 years, says that the industry has changed quite a bit overthe years. At first, there were relatively few images available asthe children and grandchildren of Confederate veterans hadclose ties to the photographs and were therefore unwilling topart with them. Then things began to change. As that gener-ation passed away, he notes, it seemed like a lot of photo-graphs were coming out of estates.

Today, awareness of the value of antique photos is increas-ing. Things have changed a bit now, he says. The averageperson on the streetthe average consumer, if you willismuch more educated, in part due to television programs relat-ed to antiques. You have Antiques Roadshow, Pawn Stars,American Pickers, and several others that are really gearedtoward estates and historic memorabilia. So people understandwhen they have something of value.

Reflecting on the changes in collecting over the years,Vaughan tells an unusual story about one of the first photos he

Private Ezekiel Taylor Bray, Co. A, The Madison County Grey, 16th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of No. Virginia, CSA. Bray is clad in adark blue or black four-button frock coat with one brass military and two bone buttons. He was severely wounded in a skirmish near Seven Pines,VA and never regained full use of his leg. He was wounded again at the Battle of Sharpsburg while serving as a regimental nurse.

Private A. W. Vaughan, Co.H, Goshen Blues, 38th Regiment GeorgiaVolunteer Infantry, Army of No. Virginia, CSA. Vaughan was pho-tographed wearing an eight button frock coat. He was wounded atthe Battle of Fredericksburg, wounded a second time and captured atthe Battle of Gettysburg. Later released, he rejoined the regiment andserved the duration of the war.

26 GEORGIA BACKROADS / WINTER 2011

obtained. In 1992, I ran an ad in the back of Southern Livingmagazine, and I got a call from a woman in South Carolina.She said, Let me describe this uniform to you. It looks like itsa dark blue jacket and it has Confederate Cases embossed onthe felt padding on the inside of the case.

Her uniform description sounded to Vaughan like a Unionjacket. I was just very, very hesitant to make her an offer overthe telephone, he says. So, I said, Listen, this ones a hardone because youve really described something Im a littleuneasy about. Youre really describing a Union uniform.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. She justabout hung up the phone, Vaughan laughs. She said,Honey, there are no Yankees in my family! She was veryindignant about that. So I backed up and said, Well, I can tellthat there werent any Yankees in your family, but they sure

have a way of popping up in the most unlikelyplaces. She got tickled at my comment, and wehung up the phone.

Three days later, Vaughan received a packagefrom the lady. The photo arrived in the mailwithout any padding, without any type of sup-port, and it was a glass-plate photographanambrotype. It was not broken and I wasamazed. She said she wanted me to have it andthe range of price that I was mentioning to herwas acceptable, so I ended up paying her a littlemore, because once I got it, I realized that it wasa Confederate soldier in a very early-war uni-form that was either black or dark blue.

Over the years, Vaughan has acquired morethan 400 Civil War ambrotypes, tintypes, cartede visites, albumen, and salt prints. Of thatnumber, he estimates that more than 100 areconfirmed Georgia soldiers. Ive really tried tobe very disciplined over the last few years, headds. Ive actually passed on some very niceConfederate photographs, trying to pacemyself and to be able to keep up with theimages that are offered from Georgia.

So, which Georgia photograph is hisfavorite?

Its just about impossible for me to pick justone, he says. But one of my favorites is a little19-plate imagea tintype of a little drummerboy from Social Circle, Walton County,Georgia, named Tommie Wood. He wasorphaned about a year before he was mustered

BELOW: Drummer Thomas Tommie Gaston Wood, Co. H, WaltonInfantry, 11th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of No.Virginia, CSA. Little Tommie was the pet and idol of the regimentand it was reported that there was not a dry eye at his funeral. RIGHT:The Fincher Brothers, Jr. Lt. Jessie C. Fincher (right) and unidentified broth-er, Co. I,Zollicoffer Rifles, 43rd Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry,Army of Tennessee, CSA. Photographed during the Siege of Chattanooga,September 23 November 25, 1863, by Charles Henry Lanneau.

AT ONE MOMENT IN TIME HISTORY 27

into Confederate service. He went toRichmond, but before his companywas actually deployed, he contractedpneumonia and died. He was 16 yearsold. A reverend from Atlanta wrote hisobituary, which appeared in theAugusta Chronicle, and reading it willbring tears to your eyes.

Given the size and quality of his col-lection and the reputation he has builtover 25 years, it comes as no surprisethat Vaughan is noticing an increasinginterest in his photographs. It seemslike I have a meeting every other weekwith a museum or institution or Imasked to speak to a group, he says. Iverecently been on Georgia PublicTelevisions, Treasures in Your Attic. TheHistory Detective just filmed a segmentin New Orleans that will air this fall. Icurrently have 70 images in an exhibitat the Columbus Museum of Art inColumbus, Georgia, which runs until

October 31. And the curator of photography from theMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York wants to includesome of my significant Confederate photographs in a displaycommemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. To me,thats a real honor.

What does Vaughan believe the future holds for collectingCivil War photographs?

I think there are many more images that have never beenseen still in the possession of families, he theorizes. And, for a

ABOVE: The Pattillo Brothers from Henry County, Co. K, HenryVolunteers, 22nd Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of No.Virginia, CSA. L to R: Benjamin H. Pattillo, was killed at the Battle ofSecond Manassas, George M.T. Pattillo, James M. Pattillo, wounded atDeep Bottom, VA and John R.J. Pattillo, wounded at the Battle of SevenPines. RIGHT: Unidentified Captain of the Georgia Military Institute,Marietta, GA. BELOW: Captain Charles Alexander Hawkins and 2ndSergeant John Milner Hawkins, Co E, Tom Cobb Infantry, 38thRegiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of No. Virginia, CSA.Charles was killed leading a charge at the Second Battle of Winchesterand John was wounded at the Battle Gains Mill and survived the war.

collector, thats an exciting thing to knowthat there are imagesout there that may be better or possibly more spectacular thananything weve seen before.

As you would expect, this thought drives Vaughan in hisquest to find, identify, and acquire photographs of Confederatesoldiers from Georgia. I saw my first Civil War photographwhen I was a young man, and immediately was captivated withit. I knew at that moment that that was what I was going to col-lect. Ive spent a lot of timea tremendous amount of timeresearching and networking. It has just been a fabulous 25years, but I cant wait to see what the future holds.

At this moment in time, it seems, the work of the collectoris not done.

ABOVE LEFT: Unidentified Confederate Captain and his manservant,carte de visite by A.J. Riddle, Macon, GA. This is one of only eight knownphotographs showing a slave wearing a Confederate uniform. ABOVE:Group of enlisted men of the Clinch Rifles, Co. A, 5th RegimentGeorgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee, CSA. Taken May 18, 1861at Camp Oglethorpe, near Macon, GA days after they were musteredinto Confederate service. LEFT: Lt. Judson Council Sapp, Co. D, BurkeSharpshooters, 2nd Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of No.Virginia, CSA. Wounded at Gettysburg and too weak to travel, he wascaptured and died in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on August 1, 1863.