And Now, the Rest of the Story: Those Three Captured Confederates-- Part 2

I figured this to be a perfect fit with the new Civil War stamps since I have been writing about them this month.

I even went down to my local post office and got one of the only two sheets of them they had left.

On the back side of the Civil War sheet is the photo (which I have seen many times) of Dolinger's relatives taken later the day of July 3, 1863, after Pickett's Charge.  The men are carrying extra bedrolls, but had no weapons.  They had already been shuttled around between various prisoner holding areas and then been on burial detail for the Union soldiers.

"Humiliated and knowing they would be transported to a regular POW camp, they collected extra clothing and blankets from the dead to prepare for internment," Gettysburg officials said.  I must admit I always thought these Confederate soldiers did not fit the usual bedraggled look of Lee's soldiers.

Dolinger ordered five sets of the stamps at his local post office and when the clerk asked why, he said, "Because that's my kin.  They were drafted into the army and they had to go."  The Virginia postal official then contacted Washington, D.C. about him and Dolinger was then invited to speak.  It gives a real human connection to those long-ago events.

In 1949, his grandmother showed him the family photo album and that picture was in it.  He wants the five sheets for his children and grandchildren.

He also took his granddaddy's granddaddy's sword and canteen with him to Gettysburg.

Making It Human.  --Old Secesh

And Now, The Rest of the Story: Those Three Captured Confederates-- Part 1

From the May 23, 2013, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A Postal Service event in Gettysburg features descendant of rebels in stamp photo" by Tom Barnes.

Clete Dolinger of southwest Virginia had known the three Confederate prisoners shown in the famous Matthew Brady photo were his ancestors ever since 1949 when he was ten years old.

"The soldier on the right is Andrew Blevins, and he was my granddaddy's granddaddy.  The one on the left is his son, Ephraim Blevins, and the one in the middle is my grandmother's great uncle, John Baldwin."

Dolinger made the six-hour trip to Gettysburg today where he will speak at the U.S. Postal Service event unveiling the new Gettysburg stamp of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh