This photo postcard is a group shot of six men and six women including an African-American veteran and his wife. The group is arranged in two rows with the front row seated. Looks as though the view was taken near or in an orchard. None of the veterans are Identified.

Reverse is inscribed with pencil “NORTH LOUPE - OLD SOLDIERS GATHERING AT H. D. KASSON APRIL 15, 1915. THE WIND WAS BLOWING DREADFUL WHEN WE HAD THESE TAKEN. YOU CAN SEE THERE IS A DARKEY AND HIS WIFE.” The card is addressed to “ZADY.”

It is not known which of the veterans is Henry Dennis Kasson but it is known that Kasson served as a corporal in Company B, 52^nd Pennsylvania Infantry. Kasson was born in Lovelton, Pennsylvania on April 15, 1841 and enlisted on October 11, 1861. He was promoted to sergeant on November 6, 1864 and mustered out at Harrisburg on July 12, 1865.

Kasson died in Nebraska on June 11, 1928 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Scotia. His obituary says that his first battle was at Williamsburg and that he was in 12 battles with Sherman’s Army.

He married in 1867 and had 3 children. He married again in 1881 and had 10 children with his second wife.

Around 1868 Kasson relocated his family to Nebraska where he lived in a sod house and barely escaped being killed in a prairie fire. In 1881 he moved to Valley County, Nebraska and lived in a dugout and then a sod house before building a nice frame house.

The 52nd Pennsylvania was organized on October 7, 1861. After spending a few months in the Army of the Potomac the regiment was moved to the Charleston area where it spent most of its service. They saw action on the Peninsula with Keys 4th Corps with their heaviest action being at Fair Oaks. After moving south, they served at Battery Gregg, Charleston, Fort Johnson, where they lost heavily in captured, James Island, Johns Island, Fort Putnam and Fort Wagner.     [ad][ph:L]

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