Beneath His Shirt Sleeves (Part 1)
Explore Tintype Images of Wounded Civil War Union Soldiers from Pension Application Files in the U.S. National Archives
By U.S. National Archives
By Jackie Budell
It is the unspoken hope of researchers
who visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to rediscover a photograph of a Civil War soldier amid the pages of a Federal pension application file – to put a face with the name - hoping to see the youthful face of a proud soldier in his new uniform.
Instead, many are surprised to find an image of an older disfigured veteran. Personal photographic images are most often found in pension application files in which the person who sought government aid attempted to provide evidence of injury, identity, or relationship. The objective was to prove one’s entitlement to a pension. When a veteran applied for a pension based on a war injury, a medical examination photograph taken by a doctor was convincing evidence.
Private John Shields, 6th U.S. Cavalry
Researchers of some pension files today can do more than read about an amputated limb -- one can see it in these rare photographs. These are not formal images showing the veteran in his Sunday-best clothes, but were intended to show what lay beneath his shirt sleeves.
Private John Williams, 8th Illinois Cavalry
These images preserved in pension files inspire researchers to vividly resurrect the stories of these men by bringing their faces to light, not just their wounds. Their testimony - and the look in their eyes - beg us to remember that the war never ended for them.
Landsman Philip Dudley, U.S.S. Lexington, U.S. Navy
Although born in Virginia, Dudley enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Alexandria, Louisiana in March 1864 in the midst of the Red River Campaign. The timberclad gunboat U.S.S. Lexington was among several dozen naval vessels in this campaign commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter.
Amputated To Save His Life
The Red River campaign would be the largest combined army-navy operation of the Civil War. Dudley was in service less than a month when he faced a hailstorm of musket fire from the enemy on shore in April 1864. He was wounded by a gunshot to his upper left arm.
Dudley recovered at Hospital Pinkney in Memphis -
a Tennessee hotel that had been confiscated by General Ulysses S. Grant and converted to a naval medical facility. Dudley was discharged in June 1864. His disability was shown to be “total” and he immediately began collecting a survivor ’s pension of $8 per month.
Photographic Evidence
This tintype image of Dudley was taken by photographer J.W. Bird in Carbondale, Illinois and it was submitted with his application to the Bureau of Pensions the following March 1887 to secure an increase in his monthly pension rate.
LANDSMAN PHILIP DUDLEY served aboard the USS LEXINGTON, US NAVY in the American Civil War (1864/1901) by National Archives and Records AdministrationU.S. National Archives
He received the highest pension rate for loss of an arm --
$45 per month. Dudley was eligible for this increase based on Congressional legislation passed in 1886 that raised the rate for veteran amputees who could not be fitted for an artificial limb. The photograph showed that Dudley’s arm was amputated too near the shoulder joint.
Corporal Leopold Masins, 66th New York Infantry
On August 25, 1864, Masins was tearing up the track of the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad during the Second Battle of Ream’s Station, Virginia, when he came under “furious attack” by Confederate cavalry. The Minie ball that pierced his right forearm broke the bone.
"Dearest Wife ..."
Masins' arm was amputated the next day at a field hospital. He recovered at Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, D.C. where he wrote a letter to his wife by holding a pen in his left hand for the first time. He considered the handwriting to look “pretty well.”
Multiple requests for an increase in pension were denied
Masins' 1885 application included this tintype to show the “shortness and smallness” of his stump. In fact, Dr. C.S. Wood declared that he can “make no use of his (artificial) arm except to carry it in his coat sleeve.”
CORPORAL LEOPOLD MASINS served with the 66th NEW YORK INFANTRY in the American Civil War (1864/1897) by National Archives & Records AdministrationU.S. National Archives
Masins continued in public service
He eventually found work as a letter carrier in New York City after the war. He retired in 1876 due to rheumatism and pain in his amputated arm. He was left with his veterans pension of $30 per month and the support of his family to manage basic needs.
Masins became a member of the "Left Handed Corps"
This informal name referred to Union disabled veterans who participated in a left-handed penmanship contest sponsored by the journal, The Soldier’s Friend. Masin’s entry from December 1865 was written in his native German and provided many details of his 3 years in the war.
The left-handed penmanship contest was inspired by journal editor William Oland Bourne’s service as a chaplain at the Central Park (NYC) Hospital where he witnessed many right-handed men trying to adapt to left-handed penmanship while signing his autograph book. The cash prizes for winners were desirable, but the underlying purpose was to encourage self-reliance and retraining to “fit themselves for positions of honor and usefulness.”
Veterans submitted an essay in their left-handed penmanship
Masins recounted how until Ream’s Station he had “luckily escaped all the bullets in so many hard-fought battles with the exception of a few scratches from stray bullets which (he) did not mind.” Writing of his amputation, he praised the skillful surgical work of Dr. Wishart.
Sergeant Luke Kelly, 2nd Rhode Island Infantry
Kelly was among the first at his Providence, Rhode Island school to enlist in June 1861. He served in nearly every engagement with the Army of the Potomac for the next three years until the Battle of the Wilderness when his sacrifice became life-changing.
In the frenzied combat that took place in the woods of Virginia, Kelly was hit with a musket ball on May 5, 1864 resulting in the amputation of his right arm within an inch and a half of the shoulder joint. His “stump” was too short to allow use of an artificial limb. He was sent home to shape a new life as a disabled civilian. He and wife Annie raised 8 sons while Luke built a long and varied career that included service as a clerk in the War Department in Washington, D.C. He died in 1907.
SERGEANT LUKE KELLY served with the 2nd RHODE ISLAND INFANTRY in the American Civil War (1864/1907) by National Archives & Records AdministrationU.S. National Archives
A Tradition of Service
Kelly inspired a tradition of military service among his sons, living long enough to see his eldest enter the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Three of his sons chose regular Army careers despite observing a disabled veteran’s daily challenges in their own household.
Brigadier General Paul Boyle Kelly
Sergeant Luke Kelly's youngest son, Brigadier General Paul Boyle Kelly, was a highly decorated officer who served in World War II and the Korean War. Luke and his sons Edward, Peter and Paul all rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sergeant Hezekiah Weesner, 20th Indiana Infantry
Weesner was posted on the firing line during the second day of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. The enemy charged and he arose on his right knee to fire when a bullet pierced his right shoulder, shattering the joint.
Medical care at the time required the shoulder joint be intact to attach an artificial limb; so it was decided that his arm would not be amputated. Weesner called this his “great misfortune.” The farmer turned soldier was discharged for disability in July 1864 having served three years. He began collecting a survivor’s pension of $6 per month. This pension rate was considered “3rd grade” for a gunshot wound resulting in a disability equivalent to the loss of a hand, not an arm.
He appealed to the Commissioner of Pensions in 1883
“My shoulder is all shrunken away as you can see from the enclosed photograph and the arm almost to the elbow is small and no longer has any strength. From the day I was wounded there has never been a moment that I have not suffered pain, and at times very great ....”
This photograph of Weesner was taken circa 1890 in Indiana.
Weesner submitted multiple views of his wound to the Pension Bureau along with medical reports and witness accounts to bolster his repeated requests for an increase in his pension check. He insisted he was totally incapacitated for manual labor as if he had lost an arm.
His pension was increased in subsequent years to $30 a month
under progressive legislation, but never to the amount given those who lost a limb.
He wrote again in 1890:
“I cannot get my right hand to my head. From the elbow up, the arm adheres to my person, fixed and immobile like like the arm of a statue of bronze.” But still he lost his case. “Great as the disability of the arm is, the Department cannot deny that it is less than total ….”
Explore more personal tintypes of Civil War veterans in Part 2 here: Beneath His Shirt Sleeves (Part 2)
Follow these links to read about the post-war lives of these featured veterans, researched and written by Jackie Budell:
BENEATH HIS SHIRT SLEEVES: Evidence of Injury – The Text Message
BENEATH HIS SHIRT SLEEVES: Evidence of Injury, Part II – The Text Message
To learn more about personal Civil War-era tintypes in pension files at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., check out this blog post:
Civil War-Era Personal Tintypes Exposed: Your Questions Answered – The Text Message
Visit the National Archives catalog to explore more Civil War-era personal tintypes here:
Tintypes in the National Archives Catalog
