The originals of the pictures in these Mystery Galleries were obtained from two on-line collections provided by the PrintsandPhotographsDivision of the Library of Congress: the "Civil War Photographs" collection and the "Brady-Handy" collection. There are almost 12,000 pictures in these collections, dating from between 1855 and 1910. These are marvelous resources, but there's a serious problem with the identification of the subjects of the pictures. The Prints and Photographs Division warns that the "staff generally work[s] from the original caption material that was received with the...photograph or negative. Sometimes this information is incorrect or outdated." Most of the identifying data was taken from the paper sleeves holding the negatives, occasionally supplemented by notes scratched on the negatives themselves.
In combing through these collections, I found that there were indeed a number of errors. For example, Admiral B. F. Sands was misidentified as "Admiral B. T. Sanders." The pictures shown in the Mystery Galleries are ones for which I haven't yet been able to find reliable identifying data. Some of the names are incomplete; some may be completely wrong. Ranks of many are obviously not their Civil War ranks. And some of these gentlemen may not have seen service in the war at all. I'm going to keep on trying to find reliable identifying data for these people. I hope some of the visitors to this site will recognize some of them and lend a hand. It would be greatly appreciated.
The pictures are presented in no logical order whatever. The identifying data is what accompanied the originals on the Prints and Photographs Division site.
Surg. S.J. Jones U.S.N.
Capt. Sylvester Nichols USN
Commander A.N. Smith USA
Capt. Bennett, U.S.N.
Commander J.P. Barrett
Surgeon C.W. Wheelwright
Acting Asst. Surg. Campbell, U.S.N.
Act. Lt. Comm. Edward Conroy, USN
Acting Master Freeman, U.S.N.
* IDENTIFIED * George M. Blodgett, Lieutenant Commander, USN * IDENTIFIED *
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