View digitally restored Antietam monument photo from 1894

AFTER DIGITALLY RESTORED: An image of 16th Connecticut veterans at the dedication of their
monument at the 40-acre Cornfield at Antietam on Oct. 11, 1894.
 (SEE HOVER EFFECT AT BOTTOM OF POST.)

BEFORE RESTORATION: The original albumen is tattered and separated into two large pieces.

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On Oct. 11, 1894, 16th Connecticut veterans gathered in a rolling field at the south end of the Antietam battlefield for the dedication of a monument where the regiment had shed so much blood. A prominent inscription on the multi-colored granite obelisk told of the regiment's sacrifice in the notorious 40-Acre Cornfield on Sept. 17, 1862 -- the Nutmeggers' first battle of the war:

"Number engaged --779
Casualties
Killed 43
Wounded 161
Total 204"

Post-war image of  Frank Cheney,
 the former 16th Connecticut 
lieutenant colonel.

The afternoon was marked by speeches, of course, as well as by the invocation by former 16th Connecticut chaplain Charles Dixon, who recalled "noble men whose hearts glowed and burned with patriotic fire." But the most poignant event that day may have been the reading of a poem by 60-year-old Nathan Mayer -- the regiment's former surgeon -- which brought many of his comrades to tears.

At least two photographers were there to document the solemn event. Before the monument dedication -- one of four that early-fall day at Antietam for Connecticut regiments -- an unknown photographer shot an image of the monument blanketed by a massive American flag. Afterward, Gettysburg-based photographer William Tipton took several images, including the previously unpublished photo seen at the top of this post. The tattered and torn original -- digitally restored with the magic of Photoshop -- was found in a box with other family items by Willa Biewald, who has generously allowed me to dig into its secrets. (Hat tip: Matt Reardon, executive director of New England Civil War Museum.)

Unfortunately, there are no identifications on the front or reverse for the 28 people shown in the 13- x 16-inch albumen. The white-bearded gentleman to the immediate right of the monument almost certainly is former 16th Connecticut Lt. Colonel Frank Cheney, who suffered a severe wound to his left arm at Antietam and was discharged from the army on Christmas Eve 1862. A 62-year-old wealthy businessman and a beloved figure in the regiment, he contributed a large sum to pay for the land where the 16th Connecticut monument was located.

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Further research surely will yield the names of some of the other veterans, several of whom hold canes, as well as the women who appear to the right of the monument. Those ladies, probably wives of veterans, may have traveled from the village of Sharpsburg, Md., to the dedication site in the carriage seen in the left background. Thanks to a complete list of the "excursionists" published in October 1894, we have a starting point for our investigation into the names of all subjects who appear in the photograph.

We do know with 100 percent certainty the photograph was taken by Tipton, whose name appears near the bottom left of the image. A meticulous record-keeper, Tipton compiled a catalogue of images he shot at Gettysburg and elsewhere in 1894. But the 16th Connecticut monument dedication photograph surprisingly does not appear in his 40-page booklet.

Perhaps by sharing this post with readers we'll soon know much more about this old image taken in the 40-acre Cornfield.

In the left background, a carriage used by some of the "excursionists" to get to the remote field. 
Photographer William Tipton included his name near the bottom of the image.

Among those who attended the dedication were four women, probably wives of 16th Connecticut veterans.

A photograph number and date the image was taken appear near the bottom right of the albumen.

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HOVER ON IMAGE TO VIEW COMPARISON *

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Antietam Then & Now: 16th Connecticut monument dedication

HOVER ON IMAGE FOR "NOW" PHOTO

THEN: Unknown photographer, Oct. 11, 1894 | Courtesy Gil Barrett via Stephen Recker,
Rare Images of Antietam And the Photographers Who Took Them.
NOW: John Banks, July 2, 2017. (Sorry, hover effect does not work on phones, tablets.)

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In its first battle of the war, the 16th Connecticut was routed in a field of head-high corn at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862,. Here's an excerpt from the moving dedication speech for the regiment's monument at Antietam by former 16th Connecticut Lt. Colonel Frank Cheney, who was severely wounded during the battle. He was discharged for disability on Christmas Eve 1862. In the "Then" image above, Cheney may be the second man to the right of the monument.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE: "The general history of the Battle of Antietam has been written many times, and rewritten in all of its details. Just and unjust praise has been bestowed for what was done, and vain regrets wasted over what was left undone. The part of its true history which comes home to us to-day is that in which this small remnant of our regiment and our dead comrades were a part. The story of each man’s own life is the only atom of history he has knowledge of at first hand — what he knows about himself and his companions in arms; how they came to be soldiers; how they lived and looked in camp and on the march, in winter and summer, in storm and sunshine, at rest and in the thick of the fight alive; — full of courage and high hopes; then, dead on the field, or sadder yet, in the hospital; the hurried burial, or the slow funeral march; the last volley over the grave, and the march back to quick time. These war scenes come rolling over you with those of that bloody day at Antietam thirty-two years ago."

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Antietam: Emotional dedication of 16th Connecticut monument

The 16th Connecticut monument at Antietam before it was dedicated on Oct. 11, 1894. 
The photographer of these rare images is unknown.
(Image from Gil Barrett collection via Stephen Recker, Rare Images Of Antietam)

Former 16th Connecticut officer Frank Cheney, who gave a dedication speech
 at Antietam on Oct. 11, 1894,  may be second from the right of the monument. 
 (Image from Gil Barrett collection via Stephen Recker/Rare Images Of Antietam.)

Adapted from my latest book, Hidden History of Connecticut Union Soldiers. E-mail me at jbankstx@comcast.net  for information on how to purchase an autographed copy.

On Sept. 17, 1891, Frank Cheney, clutching the deed of ownership, drew a huge reaction when he told more than 100 16th Connecticut comrades of the purchase of 10 acres of land at Antietam on which the regiment shed so much blood. Cheney, a lieutenant colonel in the 16th who was severely wounded in the left arm at the battle, contributed a large sum to buy the property, with the intention of placing a monument there in the regiment’s honor.

"The effect was magnetic. The men arose and cheered for the colonel again, and again, and again,” the Hartford Daily Times reported about the speech. “And many were touched almost to tears by this generous manifestation of his interest, and by the consciousness that the regiment held the sacred ground which drank the blood of their brothers, in ownership for all time to come.” Cheney, who had resigned from the army on Christmas Eve 1862 because of his wound, was among the more beloved men in the regiment.

Post-war image of  Frank Cheney

A little more than three years later, on Oct. 11, 1894, monuments to the 16th, 14th, 11th and 8th Connecticut regiments that fought at Antietam were dedicated. The lead-up to the event and dedication day were covered extensively in the Hartford Courant and Hartford Daily Times. On Oct. 12, 1894, the Courant featured a lengthy, six-column article with an illustration of each monument and partial transcripts of speeches veterans of each regiment gave at the dedications. (The monuments had been paid for by the state.)

"Antietam battlefield memories were refreshed on that memorable field yesterday by many Connecticut Union Veterans who lived again the days of the initiation into the realm of shot and shell and the carnage of battle," the Courant reported.

During his monument dedication speech in the field where the 16th Connecticut was routed on Sept. 17, 1862, Cheney spoke of "vain regrets wasted over what was left undone" on the battlefield and dead comrades. "Our work is nearly done," the 62-year-old veteran said. "Our children must carry it on. Let us bring them up so that they will hold on to the faith in all the Old Flag represents, and will believe that brave men fought and died for it, down here in Maryland." (Click here to see present-day photo of the monument.)

 Dedication day ribbon
that may have belonged
to Frank Cheney.
(CHS collection)

Perhaps the most poignant moment that Thursday afternoon came during a reading of an original poem by Nathan Mayer of Hartford. An assistant regimental surgeon in the 11th Connecticut at Antietam who was known to dole out morphine by having soldiers lick his hand, Mayer later served as chief surgeon for the 16th Connecticut.

After Cheney spoke, Mayer, a brilliant man, recited a long poem that eloquently summed up the veterans’ experience at Antietam. In part, it read:

This brought us here — a thousand men
With hearts on fire — but bare in ken
Of warlike methods and of arms.
Such as they came from shops and farms,
From busy mart, from college halls.
From life 'tween close-set office walls,
They stood in line, undrilled, untrained.
Though shrapnel burst and bullets rained
Beyond the broad brook's verdant banks,
Among the green corn's waving ranks,
They fill the gap ! -- Forward ! -- Advance ! -
They send their lead down in the dance
Of Death, who sweeps with crimson hand
O'er the blue hills of Maryland.
And forward still I Stern duty placed
Their brave and untried ranks. -- Square faced
Against the picked men of the South,
Against their batteries' belching mouth.
Against the fire-lined gray stone wall --
A living line to stand or fall --
They met their fate, this martyr band.
For Union and their Native Land !

As Mayer read his poem, many in attendance wept.

                                                                          X X X

During a visit to Hartford last weekend, I had the file pulled on Cheney in the research room of the Connecticut Historical Society, which has the former 16th Connecticut officer's army frock coat, trousers, shirt and kepi in its museum. The file included a dedication day ribbon and a program from the 1894 dedication of the 16th Connecticut monument at Antietam. Perhaps Cheney was clutching the program during his address there more than 121 years ago.

(My thanks to Stephen Recker, author of Rare Images Of Antietam: And The Photographers Who Took Them, for permission to post the 1894 images of the 16th Connecticut monument dedication. Click here for my Q&A with Recker. Both of the rare images appear in his book.)

16th Connecticut monument dedication program from Frank Cheney file at
Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford. Cheney  was severely wounded at Antietam.