RARE 1/6 PLATE AMBROTYPE – LT. JOHN WHITEHEAD, 53rd VA, WIA AND CAPTURED DURING PICKETT’S CHARGE – EX-COCO COLLECTION

RARE 1/6 PLATE AMBROTYPE – LT. JOHN WHITEHEAD, 53rd VA, WIA AND CAPTURED DURING PICKETT’S CHARGE – EX-COCO COLLECTION

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$6,500.00

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Item Code: 1300-74

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The 53rd Virginia Infantry Regiment participated in the Battle of Gettysburg as part of General Armistead's Brigade and played a famous role in Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, with some men advancing to the stone wall along the Angle before being repulsed with heavy casualties. The regiment was commanded by Colonel William R. Aylett and suffered high officer casualties, including Colonel Aylett's wounding during the preceding bombardment and subsequent response and the capture of Lieutenant Colonel Rawley W. Martin and Major John C. Timberlake.

James Wyatt Whitehead is featured in this striking ambrotype in a seated pose, wearing a single-breasted frock.  The image is behind a piece of fronting glass for protection, and rests against a painted piece of glass for contrast.  All are mounted in a gilt brass frame with floral and geometric patterning.  Some surface tarnish is noted along the upper and right edges.

The frame rests in a thermoplastic hard case with nesting birds motif on the fronts of both halves.  A tension clasp secures the case and remains intact, and two brass hinges remain secure, functional, and complete. Only a very slight crack in the top left interior corner of the case is noted.  A green velvet pad rests opposite the image in the front half of the case. Dimensions of the case (closed) are 3.25” x 3.75”.

James was born in 1838, enlisted on 4/22/1861 at Pittsylvania County, VA as a Private, and mustered into Company I of the 53rd Virginia Infantry.

James wrote a vivid account of Pickett’s Charge, including his wounding and capture.  In it, he recounts the long wait to go forward under the blistering sun, the blessed cover of the higher ground along the Emmitsburg Road in their front, and the abject horror of the entire ordeal; “About 1 o’clock our artillery opened fire, which was immediately answered by the Federal guns.  For about one and a half hours the Yankees shelled us with all the power they had but the shells passed over us, doing us but little damage… As soon as we got on top of the hill and began to advance toward the valley the enemy’s artillery re-opened fore upon us and oh my! It seemed to me that the whole of Cemetery Ridge was a blaze of fire… General Kemper’s Brigade was in our front and when we were about half through this valley Kemper rode up to Armistead… this took place under the heaviest artillery fire that, in my opinion, the world ever saw.  I do not believe that anything in history, either ancient or modern, ever surpassed it.”

James made it close to the stone wall and explained, “After a desperate fight the Yankees began to give way and as they fell back from the stone wall our men began to climb over. I was shot down just before I reached the fence and the smoke was so dense that I could hardly see or recognize a man ten steps off… I lay on the battlefield two nights and a day before my captors removed me and no one will ever know what I suffered both physically and mentally.  I think one could have walked 50 yards in any direction from where I lay on the field stepping from one dead man to another without putting foot to ground… As I write, the awful groans of the wounded and dying and their pleading for water and help all comes crowding into my mind and I do pray the good Lord I may never witness such a scene again.”

He was listed as:

Cited for valor on 7/1/1862 for actions at Malvern Hill, VA

Wounded on 7/1/1862 at Malvern Hill, VA (In knee)

POW 7/3/1863 Gettysburg, PA

Wounded on 7/3/1863 at Gettysburg, PA (In left leg)

Confined on 7/25/1863 to West Building Hospital, Baltimore, MD

Confined on 8/2/1863 at Johnson's Island, OH

Confined on 3/21/1865 at Point Lookout, MD

Confined on 4/28/1865 at Fort Delaware, DE

Oath of Allegiance sworn on 6/12/1865 at Fort Delaware, DE (Released)

James received the following promotions:

2nd Sergeant 2/10/1862

1st Sergeant 5/5/1862

3rd Lieutenant 3/16/1863

James died in 1919 at the age of 80 and remains buried in Pittsylvania County.  This image comes from the collection of the late historian Greg Coco, who was able to confirm the identity through extensive research, which includes written confirmation from a direct descendant based on familial records.   He was also able to track the approximate whereabouts of James post-capture and prior to being transferred to Baltimore as a POW – the Jacob Schwartz Farm 2nd Corps Hospital.

This is a truly unique connection to the infamous Pickett’s Charge and one of most famous groups of fighting men in the Army of Northern Virginia.  [cm][ph:L]

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