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CDV OF LIEUTENANT BENJAMIN F. ESHLEMAN, WASHINGTON ARTILLERY OF NEW ORLEANS

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Bust view of Eshleman wearing single-breasted frock with Lieutenant's collar insignia. Image is clear with fair contrast. Mount is in good condition with photographer's imprint at bottom under photo. Photographer's backmark, B & G Moses, New Orleans. Pencil identification on back.

Benjamin Franklin Eshleman enlisted as a Captain on May 26, 1861 in the 4th Company of the Washington Artillery. Wounded at Bull Run. He was promoted to Major (Field & Staff) on May 13, 1863. Promoted to Lt. Colonel on February 27, 1864.

From the New Orleans (LA) Times-Picayune, 10 Jul 1909:

"Colonel Eshleman Dies in His Eightieth Year. Recent Indisposition Induces Him to Visit Narragansett Pier, Where Death Finds Him. Was Heroic Leader in War and a Progressive Factor in the City's Commercial and Social Life.

"It was with profound sorrow that the news was received yesterday in this city of the death at Narragansett Pier, R. I. of Colonel B. F. Eshleman, soldier, patriot, business man, excellent citizen, a man with a heart of gold and one of the foremost factors of years past in the advancement of New Orleans in commerce and general prestige, sturdy, vigorous, hale and hearty in spite of his four-score years, Colonel Eshleman was the embodiment of the best type of manhood, and his moral, mental and intellectual attributes were on a parity with his physical appearance.

"For nearly sixty years he was resident of New Orleans, and from the very day he set foot on this city he did not cease to prove his worth in every respect, beginning at first in commercial life, and then rapidly rising to prominence in most of the activities that are within the scope and the grasp in men such as in a large city. He was intimately associated with business life with social, military, and industrial matters and whenever there was a need for sound judgment, affability and magnetic personality.

"Colonel Eshleman was at the time of his demise the vice president and general manager of the large wholesale hardware firm of Stauffer, Eshleman & Co., Ltd.

"He had been enjoying excellent health up to about three weeks ago, and then he began to show signs of weakness, and by the advice of his physicians he left for Narragansett Pier in company of his daughter, Mrs. John W. Castles and one of his sons, Dr. Charles Eshleman. They reached New York on board the steamship Antilles on the recent...of that vessel, at the time when the heat was intense in that city, he proceeded at once to the supposedly cooler precincts of Narragansett Pier. Telegraphic advises received by the family in New Orleans from time to time stated that Colonel Eshleman was improving in health, but yesterday morning a telegram came bringing the sad and unexpected intelligence that Colonel Eshleman had been seized with a fainting spell at 4.30 a.m. and that he had expired in a few minutes. The sorrowful tidings spread rapidly throughout the city, and from hundreds of hearts there went up most poignant sighs testifying to the great worth of the deceased and to the esteem in which he was held by all classes of society.

"Colonel Eshleman was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1830. He came from a family that was prominent in the early settlement of this country and that immirgrated from Switzerland to America with other excellent people and distinguished persons, like the Stauffers, whose descendants now count among the leading citizens, commercially and socially in New Orleans.

"He remained on his father's estate until he was about 16 years of age and then went to the city of Lancaster where he found employment with the firm of J. F. Steinman & Co., hardware merchants and became quite conversant with the hardware business. In 1850, his uncle, I. H. Stauffer of New Orleans happened to be on a visit to his relatives in Lancaster and took a fancy to the young Eshleman and offered him a position in his hardware store in this city in the then well known firm of Slark, Day & Stauffer & Co. The offer was accepted and Eshleman came to New Orleans and remained with the house until the Civil War broke out in 1861 and he promptly responded to the call, casting his lot with the Southern cause. From his first arrival in this city and throughout his long and useful life, Colonel Eshleman always manifested the greatest joys for this city and State, and so he did not hesitate to join the Confederacy, although he was born in the North. He left for the seat of war as captain of the Fourth Company of that gallant and historic command, the Washington Artillery and won deserved promotion.

"After the close of the war Colonel Eshleman came back to New Orleans and resumed business life with the firm of Slark, Day, Stauffer & Co. with which he had been previously associated and through his ability, tact and excellent services to the firm he became a member of the firm and when the house was changed to be a limited corporation under the new law, he was made vice president and general manager 1905. Subsequently the firm became Stauffer, Eshleman & Co.

"Colonel Eshleman was a leading member of the commercial activities of New Orleans and an important factor in civic, business and social life. He was a charter member of the Pickwick and Boston Clubs, and several of the Carnival organizations; president of the Board of Trade, an officer in the National Hardware Association, prominent factor in the New Orleans Progressive Union and directly interested in many industrial and financial enterprises; president of the Benevolent Association, Army of Northern Virginia, Camp No1 U.C.V.; president of the Louisiana Historical Society that has charge of the records and relics of the Confederacy in Memorial Hall, and member of the Board of Governors of that society. Soon after peace was restored in this country, Colonel Eshleman married Miss Fannie Leverich, of a most distinguished family in this State. He leaves a widow and six children."

From the collection of the late William Turner.   [jet] [ph:L]

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