Confederate Entrenchments near Centreville, continued

Library of Congress

One of the most widely published of the Barnard images, a soldier from Company F, Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry stands guard while others lounge upon the works in the background. This soldier is fully attired in the Gosline zouave uniform with the company letter and regimental numeral pined to the top of his 1858 forage cap. He carries his blanket with the rubber blanket wrapped around the outside by a leather sling with some extra rope used to secure the bundle. Of interest if the large pan attached to his haversack, not the typical cup or boiler carried in such a manner. This tin pail could be a private purchase mess pan or fry pan, but it’s difficult to tell anything further about it even with a high resolution copy of the photo. Just behind this man is a fellow soldier reclining on the log of the false cannon. The soldiers in the background are most likely members of the same company, four of them wearing overcoats. The man seated on the works to the far left is obviously from another regiment.

Library of Congress

This detail of a reclining soldier on his rubber blanket is from the Barnard image above. Like the enlisted man standing guard, our snoozing soldier is attired in the full Gosline uniform including the chasseur cap. Of note is the dark blue(?) shirt with bright buttons and what appears to be a line of red cord stitched around the placket of the shirt. There were shirts provided by Schuylkill Arsenal with the first delivery of uniforms and evidently similar shirts were also part of the contract with Rockhill and Wilson, the latter made of a dark blue flannel. A placket from one of these shirts survives today in the War Library and Museum in Philadelphia and has the row of five flat silver buttons down the front. Unfortunately no complete original shirts documented to this regiment are known to have survived.

Soldiers from Company D, 95th Pennsylvania Infantry

(Collection of Ronn Palm)

The excellent photograph at left was most likely taken in the summer or fall 1862 after the Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania had been sent to the Army of the Potomac and assigned to the newly formed Sixth Corps under General William Franklin. It is unknown who took the photograph or its location but the men are obviously members of Company D, formed in a skirmish line with their new Springfield rifles at the ready. The regiment had received these new weapons in June 1862, which replaced the Austrian Lorenz Rifles originally issued to the regiment in 1861. The enlisted man in the foreground wears the chasseur cap, jacket and trousers (sans leggings), with what maybe one of the early shirts provided with the uniform to the regiment. This shirt matches one worn by John Cook, who also served in this company. The other men appear to be wearing vests or the dark colored shirt under their jackets, which can also be seen in several of the Barnard images. None appear to be wearing their accoutrements. The bearded soldier standing with bayonet fixed wears his cap backwards while the others have the prominent “D” displayed on the front of the cap.

The young soldier kneeling behind the line wears sergeant stripes on his jacket, obviously the non-commissioned officer in charge of this detachment. The detail (reversed here) shows how the large D was pinned to the cap front. This sergeant bears a striking appearance to David Gordon of Co. D, promoted to sergeant in 1861 and to lieutenant in 1864. Gordon was breveted major of the Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania in April 1865.