Notes and Queries

NOTES AND QUERIES Edited by Boyd B. Stutler 517 Main Street Charleston 2, West Virginia This department is designed as an open forum for researchers into Civd War themes and for readers of Civil War History in general. It is open for questions on, and discussion of, aU phases of die Great Conflict and its personnel. Also, notes on newly-discovered or littie-known sidelights of die war are welcomed. Address Notes and Queries Editor. QUERIES No. 91—Painting of an Unknown Civil War Colonel: I have in my private collection an oil painting of a Union colonel, a canvas some three feet by four feet in size. No name or artist is to be found on the painting; however, the nature of the subject does give a few clues. The Union colonel is dressed in frock coat widi eagle shoulder straps and red background (artillery?). He wears a belt and sash, and his left hand, ungloved, rests on a sword identified as die type of regulation sword and scabbard for officers of die general staff, Staff Corps, and die field and staff of regiments. An overcoat with red liner rests at his right, and in die upper right background is a tent. The scene in die upper left background suggests die artillery dieme further, as it shows several cannon mounted on carriages in fortifications. A river and mountain scene farther into the background suggests the Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain area. The officer is young and beardless, with hair parted on the left, and wears short sideburns. A clue comes from a medal on his chest and the same design enclosed widiin a wreadi on the kepi, both of which bear the number "37." I have been unable to locate a Federal artillery regiment of this number. Query: Can anyone furnish information diat will or may lead to die identification of diis officer? B. Franklin Cooling 98 No. 92-Colonel(laterGeneral)WilliamH. Irwin: Colonel Wdliam H. Irwin, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry, was nominally in command of the regiment, but apparently for a considerable time commanded a brigade. He is mentioned in Battles and Leaders, II 646, as actively engaged at the Sunken Road in relieving the divisions of French and Green. Colonel Irwin's full report of that action is in the Official Records, Ser. I, XIX, pt. L. 409-412. Further records disclose diat he was brevetted brigadier general on March 13, 1865. There is no record of his commission in fuU grade. Query: Can anyone teU where I can find a biographical sketch of General Irwin? Gerald H. Cover No. 93—General Buckner's Surrender Letter: Recendy I came upon a ledger which was secured from the headquarters tent of Simon Bolivar Buckner upon die event of his surrender to Union forces. Attached to a page of the ledger was the rough copy of what appeared to be a letter. Upon closer examination, the document turned outto embody thewordingof arough draft, thepurposeofwhich was to surrender the Confederate forces in the area to the Union army. I want it understood that I am simply exploring the authenticity of this document and not claiming that it is an original. It may be that it is simply one of many copies or that it is a copy made not by Buckner but by someone eke. I might add that the date is in June of 1865, the place near Shreveport, Louisiana, and the general to whom it is addressed is Herron. Query: Does an original copy of Buckner's surrender letter now exist? If so, where is it located? Glenn D. WUUams ANSWERS No. 69—Life and Career of General Louis Bienker: James Barnett, Cincinnati, Ohio, offers some references to printed materials on the career of General Louis Bienker in answer to the query of Prentice G. Morgan (September, 1960). He mentions the following: Carl Schurz, Reminiscences (New York, 1908); J. G. Rosengarten, The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States (Phdadelphia, 1890); and Adolf E. Zucker (ed.), The Forty-Eighters (New York, 1950). 99 ...