Willis Downs

150 Faces of Alabama Confederates on the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War Willis Downs

Publisher Marketing: These are the faces of a variety of Confederate soldiers ranking from private to general. 150 photos were chosen of the thousand with ties to Alabama who served in the Confederate Army or Navy. We strived to only show those in Confederate uniform. Photography was in its infant stages, and it was a novel prize to send home, an expensive but affordable photo of yourself in uniform so the family could see what you looked like while away at war. Some of the soldiers inside were farmers, some were governors. All were fighting for a lost cause. Most served in the Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry. Others were in local militia guards, partisan rangers, chaplain and other types of service. Not everyone who served were men. Confederate female nurses played a key role. They posed proudly in uniform, some brandishing a gun, a sword, or both. John Forsythe Vardaman even held a bible in one hand and a sword in the other. Another, John Wallace Comer, posed with is slave servant who accompanied him to war. Most pulled their dress uniforms out for their portraits, which were carefully kept most of the time safely in a trunk. Others, such as Thomas Marion Murphree of the 6th Alabama wore his uniform which was almost in tatters. There are several who did not survive the war. The Langston twin survived the war, but two other brothers were among those who did not. Their deaths perpetuated their portraits to be kept reverently by their grieving mothers and widows and handed down through the generations to today. Gen. John Kelly of Pitkin was the youngest Confederate to be killed in the war. His portrait resembled a young man, not a hardened soldier.