The Earliest U.S. Veterans

Photo by N.A. and R.A. Moore (Nelson Augustus Moore and
his brother Roswell) of Hartford, Connecticut, 1864

I never knew this until robert e pointed it out yesterday: there exist photographs of Revolutionary War veterans. Some of the youngest soldiers lived into the era of photography. Evidently no one thought to photograph them in the 1840s, but the Reverend E.B. Hilliard wrote a book in 1864 called The Last Men of the Revolution that recounted the biographies of some of the last remaining veterans, and the book contained six albumen prints. The Library of Congress has a set, in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Lemuel Cook, pictured above, lived through the entirety of the Civil War and died just after it ended at the age of 106, the fourth-to-last living Revolutionary War veteran. He fought with the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons in the Virginia campaigns and at Brandywine, and was wounded more than once. He was present at the 1781 surrender of Lord Cornwallis to George Washington at Yorktown. His discharge papers in 1786 were signed by General Washington. Cook lived out most of the rest of his life in various counties here in Western New York State.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Mani Sitaraman: "This is simply extraordinary. Seeing the photograph and reading the account gave me the chills. Thank you, Mike.

"And thank goodness for the French photographer Disderi's brilliant idea; he patented the idea of carte de viste photographs in the 1850s, which were trading-card-like photographs of famous people, for people to buy, collect in albums, or trade. That innovation ensured that so many portraits from that early age of photography have survived, as the commercial incentive ensured that numerous copies of each portrait were printed."

Carl Siracusa: "The closing exhibit of the Museum of the American Revolution here in Philadelphia, 'The Revolution's Veterans,' is a whole wall of photos of people who fought in, or simply lived through, that war. When I first saw it I had the same amazed reaction as most people, I assume—there are photos of them?!? Extraordinary, really. Worth visiting this excellent museum for that alone."

robert e: "Hi Mike, Just wanted to point out that even older photographs have turned up since the Hilliard book was published, including from the 1840s and 1850s. Some of them can be seen in this article. And I just learned today that Maureen Taylor, who calls herself 'The Photo Detective,' has published two volumes of photographs (and paintings based on photographs) of people who lived through the American Revolutionary War. The names of the over 100 subjects are on Taylor's own page about the project."

Michel Hardy-Vallée: "Reminds me of that comment by Roland Barthes about the photographs of the last surviving members of Napoléon's Grande Armée: 'these eyes have seen the Emperor.'"

Daniel: "One fact many don't realize is that until the invention of the permanent photographic image we do not know what anyone actually looked like. Many portrait painters through history did a good job but had to please the one who commissioned the painting. How accurate were these portraits? Maybe as accurate as many Photoshopped portraits being done now? Vanity interferes with historical truth."

Mike replies: Some of the Gnostic gospels refer to Jesus as being physically ugly, which might have been one of the reasons why those accounts were nixed at the Conference of Nicea and in St. Jerome's Vulgate.

Comments

[gary bliss]

Mike --

These images are remarkable indeed. As it happens -- and for reasons having more to do with chance than intent -- I volunteer as a George Washington re-enactor for small Connecticut 18th century tavern. Thus I found the biographical stories in Hilliard's book truly touching. Of Lemuel Cook -- who enlisted at 16 and was selected for the elite dragoons -- the author says:

" . . . in his prime he must have possessed prodigious strength. He has evidently been a man of most resolute spirit; the old determination still manifesting itself in his look and words."

And so he must have been. We owe them so much.

One can access the entire full page images of the book at the link below. The engraved prints of each man's home are also worthy of study.

-- gary ray

https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012930976/page/n35/mode/2up?view=theater

[Frank Gorga]

Interesting...

Samuel Downing, one of the men mentioned in the book you cite lived much of his life in the small (pop. about 2600 currently) town of Antrim, New Hampshire where I reside.

We have a state historical marker on our main street dedicated to Samuel (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Hampshire_historical_markers_(176%E2%80%93200)#178)

[Andrew Chalsma]

Thanks for sharing all that you do. This was a great treat to learn about. Also made me realize how old photography is. It didn't seem like old tech when I started in the 70s, but it sure seems it now.

[Barry Margolius]

This thread brings to mind an interesting offshoot question. What is the picture of the earliest born person ever taken. (Phew! That was a difficult question to phrase.) I suspect that the picture you posted is in the running. After all, he was 105 in 1864. Not many lived that long, and of course, fewer were photographed.

A similar question is who is a well-known person of earliest birth who has been photographed.

I love these historical/photographic discussions.