This oval salt print photograph in its original period frame shows Captain Frank Buell and has a period brown ink label on the reverse bearing a transcription of Buell’s monument in his family cemetery. Buell enlisted first in the 18^th Ohio at age 24 in April 1861 and was killed at the Battle of Freeman’s Ford, along the Rappahannock River, while in command of Battery C 1^st West Virginia Light Artillery. The young officer is shown in the full dress uniform of a captain. He is seated next to a table, on top of which sits his officer’s 1851 pattern shako with pompom, infantry horn, and oval embroidered Ohio state seal at the top front. (Ohio used the 1851 pattern shako well into the beginning the Civil War.) He wears an officer’s single-breasted frock coat with sash and with epaulets clearly showing his captain’s bars. He also holds the grip of an 1850 foot officer’s sword hooked to the slings of a sword belt. An old note on the reverse identifies him and transcribes the memorial, which can still be seen today in the Buell cemetery in Lowell, Ohio: “Captain Frank Buell. Born A[pri]l 24^th 1837. [[Fauquier Co. Va.]] Killed at Freeman’s [Ford] Va. Aug. 22^nd 1862. Sig (Sic) Itur Ad Astra. / A true soldier and brave officer He fell in the thick of battle while gallantly defending the [….] of his country. / This monument was erected by the Members of Pierpont Battery and reletives. / This was on the base of the monument.”

The writer made some minor errors. On the memorial “Fauquier Co. Va.” correctly appears below “Freeman’s Farm,” and the Latin phrase is “Sic itur ad astra,” of “thus we go (or “one goes”) to the stars.” The last portion of the inscription, “and reletives (sic)” may be an addition by the writer. It is not evident in photos of the obelisk.

The 18^th Ohio first had service as a three-month unit. Buell enlisted on 4/17/61 and was mustered in at age 24 as Captain of Co. B on 4/27/61. The regiment was posted along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in West Virginia and mustered out in Columbus, Ohio, 8/28/61.

Buell returned to West Virginia very soon after to receive a commission as Captain of Battery C 1^st WV Light Artillery, which organized at Wheeling and took the nickname of the Pierpoint Battery, after Francis Pierpont, named Governor of the “Restored State Virginia” at the Second Wheeling Convention in June 1861. Buell’s date of commission is sometime given at January 25, 1862, but that is the formal establishment of the battery and a history of the unit says his commission dated to Sept. 19, 1861, as captain and recruiting officer, indicating he sought out new service immediately upon discharge from the 18th. Equipped with six Parrot rifles, the Pierpont Battery served with Fremont at Petersburg, Strasburg, Woodstock, Mount Jackson and New Market, and were “hotly engaged” at Cross Keys on June 8, 1862. They then served under Sigel and Pope, and were, “in the battles of Port Republic, Luray, Cedar Mountain and Freeman’s Ford. At this last engagement, August 22, 1862, the battery met with an irreparable loss - the brave Captain Buell was killed. Two batteries had been driven by the Confederate guns from their position when Buell’s battery was ordered to replace those which had been driven from their position. So rapidly and accurately did Buell handle his pieces that one of the enemy’s batteries was silenced and the other disabled. The second last shot fired by the Confederates was a solid shot which struck Captain Buell’s horse in the right shoulder killing the horse instantly, the animal falling upon the captain and crushing him so seriously that he died that evening. The last words spoken by Captain Buell were, “I want those batteries silenced, I want my boys to do it.” Captain Buell’s remains were embalmed in Alexandria, Va., and sent to his old home where they were buried in the family lot on his farm. The members of his battery erected over the remains a handsome marble shaft.”

The photo remains in its 9 ½” x 11 ½” period frame and is untouched, with the old label on the reverse intact. The transcriber of the memorial inscription may well have been a family member. It is a sad irony that Buell’s mother was a native of Fauquier County, Va., where her son met his fate.   [sr]

Click here for our policy on shipping framed items containing glass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS,

CLICK ON ‘CONTACT US’ AT THE TOP OF ANY PAGE ON THE SITE,

THEN ON ‘LAYAWAY POLICY’.

THANK YOU!