Photos of the 20th Ohio Regiment - Folder Two

This page has the images in Folder Two of the Civil War photos primarily of the 20th Ohio Regiment - obtained from the Houghton Library at Harvard University. The companion first page is the introduction, overall index, and the first folder of photos. This page contains the second folder of photos - and the index for just these photos. A third page contains Folder Three.

At left is a photo of soldiers by what is likely the Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi - MS1862 Item #40 from this Folder - enhanced and colorized. This is one of the few photos of unidentified soldiers. The original is in order below.

This page is under construction and needs to be edited and fact checked

Folder Two - Photos of the 20th Ohio in the Civil War

This is the second of three pages of the 20th Ohio Civil War Photos, the images being obtained from the Houghton Library at Harvard University. The index for all photos in the collection is on Page One. The index for page two is below and incorporated into the overall index on page one. Each item that then follow will contain the Houghton Library item number, the original, the enhanced and colorized version, and the writing on the back that identifies the subject of the photo.

Index to Images in Folder Two

Below is the index of the photos for Folder Two. They are alphabetized by surname, and include whatever other identifying information was with the photo - rank, sometimes the company, in a few instances, the photo studio where the photo was taken.  In some cases, the subject was promoted after the photo was taken and that is noted.  The index will reflect what is written on the photo - and the description with the photo will include the promoted rank, if there was one. 

The photos follow the index in item chronological order and match the index.  If I have found a corrected name or rank, I have updated the list from the names that the Houghton Library took from the photos.  This index is incorporated into the overall index on page one.

Big Black River Bridge - photo of unidentified soldiers - Folder 2 - Items #41-42.

Colby, Reuben M. - 1st Lt Company B - Folder 2 - Items #8-9.

Davis, Henry M. - 1st Lt. Company H - Folder 2 - Items #18-19, shown again as Captain in Company C - Items #32-33.

Downs, William G. - Captain later Major – Company H, 20th Ohio – Folder 2 – Items #6-7, also Folder 2 Items #28-29 (with others). Note discussion there of two different Captain Downs.

Edwards, Anderson J - Captain - Folder 2 - Items #16-17, also Folder 2 Items #24-25.

Fry, John C. - Colonel - Folder 2 - Items #2-3.

Hills, Velorus - Captain, Company D - Folder 2 - Items #34-35.

Hunt, Leroy - Sergeant, Company G - Folder 2 - Items #38-39.

Jacobs, William H. - Captain, Company E - Folder 2 - Items #36-37.

McCracken, William W. - Sergeant Major, Company A - Folder 2 - Items #26-27

Neal, William D. - Captain - Folder 2 - Items #12-13.

Ohl, Hiram - Sergeant, likely Company H - Folder 2 - Items #28-29 (with others).

Owen, Erastus N. - 2nd Lt. - Folder 2 - Items #10-11.

Quackenbush, S. W. - Sergeant, likely Company H - Folder 2 - Items #28-29 (with others).

Rigby, Lucien - 1st Sergeant - Folder 2 - Items #20-21

Ruggles, C. Lorain - author - Folder 2 - Images #30-31.

Rush, William - 2nd Lt. - Folder 2 - Items #14-15.

Stevenson, John - 2nd Lt. - Folder 2 - Items #22-23.

Wonders, James M. - Sergeant Company H - Folder 2 - Items #28-29 (with others).

Woodmancy, Reuben - 1st Lt. Company I - Folder 2 - Items #4-5.

Images from Folder Two

MS am 1862 Item #1 is the folder cover for the images as held by the Houghton Library at Harvard University.

MS1862 Item #4 is 1st Lt. Reuben Woodmancy of Company I of the 20th Ohio.  He was originally a 2nd Lt. and was promoted in 1862.  He was honorably discharged on November 1, 1864. He lived to be 90 years of age and is buried in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. The colorized photo is at right, the original is just below and the descriptive writing on the back of the photo (Item #5) is below right, stating he was 1st Lt. in Company I of the 20th Ohio.

MS1862 Item #8 is Reuben M. Colby, shown as a 1st Lt in Company B, 20th Ohio.  He was promoted from 2nd Lt. Next to his 1st Lt listing, is stated that his promotion was revoked.  The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #9) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #12 is William D. Neal, shown as a 1st Lt in Company F (his tombstone states Company K), 20th Ohio.  He was promoted from 2nd Lt. and was eventually promoted to Captain.  He is shown to have been killed on June 26, 1864. He is buried in Sidney, Ohio. The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #13) is below the enhanced photo.  An additional note on the back is not totally legible but seems to indicate some other service.

MS1862 Item #16 is Captain Anderson J. Edwards, shown in Company C, 20th Ohio.  He is shown as having resigned on April 14, 1863. His pension index card, showing he filed for a pension in 1882, lists his Company as both Company B and Company C.  The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #17) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #20 is 1st Sergeant Lucien Rigby, shown in Company A, 20th Ohio.  The 1881 Knox County history lists a Lucien Rigby in Company A, and Lucien is shown as born in 1831 and died in 1903 and buried in Forest Cemetery in Fredericktown, Ohio - the same cemetery as my Company A ancestor Harry Kinney. The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #21) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #24 is Captain Anderson J. Edwards A. C. formerly 1st Lt and 1st sergeant, Company B, 20th Ohio.  This appears to be the same person in Item #16 - that was a head shot this image is of Captain Edwards standing.  Item #16 has further service information.  The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #25) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #28 is an image of four different soldiers.  In the image, there is a number in the margin that keys to the back of the photo in identifying each of the four men.  Number One is Captain William G. Downs (see below).  Number Two is Sergeant James M. Wonders, who is shown in Find-A-Grave as James McClelland Wonders of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, having served in Company H of the 20th Ohio.  Number Three is Sergeant Hiram Ohl, who lived before and after the war in Trumbell County, Ohio.  Number Four is Sergeant S. W. Quackenbush.  I can find no further record for him.  Company H, 20th Ohio is listed below the four, implying that all four are in this company.  The photo was taken at the Clay Picture Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee. The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #29) is below the enhanced photo.

There has been images of two different Captain Downs in Folders One and Two - and no indication of which was which.  This photo finally identifies Captain W. G. Downs, giving a photo to go with the name.  Yet the other two Captain Downs are each photographed with beards.  In reviewing the photos closely, this is likely the Captain Downs in this Folder Two, Item #6.  That would make the Captain Downs in Folder One, and Item #14 as Edwin C. Downs.  I will index these images accordingly, but there’s always a chance I do not have it right.

MS1862 Item #32 is 1st Lt. Henry M. Davis, a 1st Lt, Company H, 20th Ohio and then a Captain in Company C, mustered out on October 18, 1864. The colorized photo is below right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #33) is below the original photo.  He is shown in Items #18-19 as standing, and here in a head shot.

MS1862 Item #36 is Captain William H. Jacobs of Company E, 20th Ohio.  He was mustered out of service on November 5, 1865.  There’s a William H. Jacobs from Knox County who is buried in the Amity Cemetery.  He is of the right age, but there’s no reference to his military service.  William applied for a pension in 1874 - which listed the 20th Ohio, Company E. The colorized photo is below right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #37) is below the original photo. 

MS1862 Item #40 is the group of soldiers by Black Bridge, Mississippi - the name written on the back of the photo - the photo which is the header of this page.  In searching for the location of “Big Bridge” in Mississippi, the one thing that comes up is “Big Black River Bridge”, which it appears was the name of a battle in the Vicksburg Campaign.  In General Force’s comments to the 20th Ohio reunion in 1876, he mentions that the 20th Ohio made a dash for the Big Black river to keep confederates from destroying a temporary bridge at the river by Hankinson’s Ferry. The back writing also states that first brigade third division seventeenth A. C. (artillery?).  The colorized photo is below right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #41) is below the original photo. 

MS1862 Item #44 is George Rogers, Lt. Col., formerly Captain of Company E, 20th Ohio. He is shown as having resigned as Captain in February 1863, and any Lt. Colonel appointment was not with the 20th Ohio. The colorized photo is below left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #45) is below the original photo.  The back shows that the photo was taken at the Bendann Bros. Studio at 207 Baltimore Street in an unnamed city.  An online search places this studio in Baltimore and states that the brothers photographed much during the civil war, first in Richmond and then in Baltimore.

This completes the Folder 2 page.

The page with Folder 1 photos is here.

The page with Folder 3 photos is here.

The page about the 20th Ohio is here.

The Harry and Hattie Kinney page is here.

MS1862 Item #2 is multiple images of Colonel John C. Fry of the 20th Ohio. He was the subject of three different images included in Folder One - and they are the last ones at the end of that page.  These photos do not match any of those, as one was in uniform with his hand tucked in his chest, one was with another soldier without this uniform, and the third was in street clothes.  His different ranks were described with those other photos. One of the others was taken in Sidney, Ohio - where Colonel Fry was from.  The enhanced colorized photo is above, the original at left, and there was no writing on the back of the photo (Item #3), so it is not posted.

MS1862 Item #6 states Captain Downs of Company H. In Folder One Item #14 states that the photo there is of Captain Downs of Company H.  There was an Edwin C. Downs, first a Captain, then promoted to Major in February 1864.  He resigned in April 1864.  However, there is a second Captain Downs, later Major shown here as Item #6 in Folder Two and it is a different person. There is a Wm. G Downs who was a Captain. 

In Item #28 below, there is a W. G. Downs in an image with four soldiers.  Yet he does not have a beard and both of the previous Captain Downs entries show the subject with a beard.  I have concluded that this Folder Two image is William G. Downs, and the one in Folder one is Edwin C. Downs. 

The colorized photo is at left, the original is just below and the descriptive writing on the back of the photo (Item #7) is below that, stating he was in Company H.  Who thought there would be two Captain Downs in this unit.

MS1862 Item #10 is Erastus N. Owen, shown as a 1st Lt in Company B, 20th Ohio.  He was promoted from 2nd Lt. Next to his 1st Lt listing, is stated that his promotion was revoked.  He is also shown as a Lt. Col. in the Heavy Artillery.  A check of his pension index card lists service in Companies B & H of the 20th Ohio - and then Lt. Col of the Heavy Artillery.  Col. Whittlesey, in his address to the 1876 reunion of the 20th Ohio, refers to Lieutenant “Owens” as being of his choice in the original unit, and refers to him again at Fort Donelson. The colorized photo is at right, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #11) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #14 is 2nd Lt. William Rush, shown in Company I, 20th Ohio.  The photo was listed as taken in February 1864. He was promoted to 1st. Lt. He was mustered out in April 1864. The colorized photo is at left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #15) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #18 is 1st Lt. Henry M. Davis, shown in Company H, 20th Ohio.  He is listed as “now Captain A. C.”  He made his way up the ranks from 1st Lt. to 2nd Lt. and then Captain in April 1863 and was mustered out on October 18, 1864. The colorized photo is at left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #19) is below the enhanced photo.  He is shown again in Items #32-33 in a head shot.

MS1862 Item #22 is 2nd Lt. John Stevenson (to the Houghton Library staff the surname below was illegible and they surmised Shinter or Clinton), shown in Company E, 20th Ohio.  In General Force’s comments to the 20th Ohio reunion in 1876, he recounts that in the Battle of Raymond, Lieutenant Stevenson, commanding Company E, was severely wounded in the battle. The casualty list indicates he was wounded in the neck severely. John Graham Stevenson is shown buried in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, dying in 1905. His Find-A-Grave entry has a photograph of him in uniform that is not the same as this, but similar.  The colorized photo is at left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #23) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #26 is Sergeant Major William W. McCracken, later a 2nd Lt, Company A, 20th Ohio (not to be confused with C. W. McCracken who was a 1st Lt. mustered out with the regiment). He was shown as severely wounded in the face in June 1863. The colorized photo is at left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #27) is below the enhanced photo.

MS1862 Item #30 is C.L. Ruggles, shown in street clothes and not in uniform. At the start of the war he was in the 20th Ohio.  In Find-A-Grave, there is a listing for C. Lorain Ruggles, who wrote a book after the civil war titled “Great American Scout and Spy: General Bunker”.  It refers to Captain Edwin C. Downs, who recruited him for the service in 1861, and who’s photo is in Folder One of these images.  Partway into the war, he was recruited to be a spy in the South, where he had lived prior to the war.  It was that spy service about which he wrote. The colorized photo is at left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #31) is not shown because there was no writing on it - the writing was on the face of the image.

MS1862 Item #34 is Captain Velorus Hills of Company D, 20th Ohio, and was listed as wounded in the foot slightly in June 1863. He was honorably discharged on March 28, 1864 and is shown as buried in Delaware County, Ohio, having died in 1911.  His military grave record lists Company D of the 20th Ohio. The colorized photo is below left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #35) is below the original photo. 

MS1862 Item #38 is Sergeant Leroy R. Hunt of Company G, 20th Ohio. The listing of rank and file soldiers in Company B lists a Leroy, David, and Richard Hunt - so I have made the assumption that this is Leroy. The colorized photo is below left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #39) is below the original photo.  The back of the photo has the markings of the Star Gallery in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio.  The proprietor was listed as L. E. Oldroyd, the same surname as a member of the 20th Ohio whose photo is shown earlier in Folder One.

MS1862 Item #42 is of two soldiers - one is 1st Lt. then Captain Harrison Wilson of Company F, promoted to Major, then in January 1865 was promoted to Lt. Colonel.  Then he was promoted to Colonel and mustered out with the regiment. The other is of William D. Neal 1st Lt. then Captain of the Ohio 20th Company F. Captain Neal was killed in action on June 26, 1864. The colorized photo is below left, the original is below and the back of the photo (Item #43) is below the original photo.