LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 June Civil War Grand Format Auction #663  / 

74277

Ambrotype of Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
Ambrotype of Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell
<B>Ambrotype of Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell, 5th Tennessee Infantry - Killed at Atlanta.</B></I> Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell was son of Colonel Robert D. Caldwell who sent four sons off to the Civil War from Paris, Tennessee. Anthony Wayne, known as "A. W." Caldwell was commissioned Captain of the 5th Tennessee Infantry, Company "B" that was raised at Paris, Henry County, Tennessee. A. W. Caldwell fought at Island Number 10 with his brother, Confederate Surgeon Major Samuel Houston Caldwell, who was taken prisoner. Major Caldwell was later paroled and served with the great cavalry leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. Captain A. W. Caldwell continued his service with the 5th Tennessee, later to be consolidated with the 4th Tennessee fighting at Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. <BR><BR>The Tennessee Historical Commission holds a letter from the battlefield that Captain Caldwell wrote to his father back in Tennessee. Dated July 14, 1863 he writes of the hardships of war, about his brothers, one a colonel with General Polignac's Brigade of Texans, another just offered a lieutenancy with the 9th Mississippi while the other, Surgeon Major Caldwell served with Forrest's cavalry. He writes that he has heard of General John Hunt Morgan's raids through Kentucky and of the recent events at Gettysburg with General Lee. <BR><BR>Almost one year to the day later, Captain Caldwell would be at the Battle of Atlanta, and it would be his last. As Lieutenant Edwin Rennolds of Company K of the 5th Tennessee would write in his <I>History of the Henry County Commands</B></I> after the war: <BR><BR>"Captain A. W. Caldwell was acting as Major of the Fourth and Fifth, and, as he saw the ranks of the Fifth opening towards the left and away from the colors, gave his last command, 'Right oblique', with his peculiar accent on the last syllable. Just then he was struck in the hand by a ball and given a wound not considered dangerous, but, complicated with fever, in a few days ended the career of the “boy captain”, one of our best officers." <BR><BR>Indeed, of the four sons Colonel Caldwell saw leave Paris, Tennessee during the Civil War, only one, Confederate Surgeon Major Samuel Houston Caldwell would live through the war. While Captain A. W. Caldwell would die of his wounds suffered at the Battle of Atlanta, his brothers Lieutenant Robert D. Caldwell, Jr. and Colonel James F. Caldwell would both die of disease contracted during the war. <BR><BR>This ambrotype of the gallant Captain is a rare memento from the fighting Caldwell brothers of Paris, Tennessee. He was the only brother killed in action although only one survived the war, all a grim reminder of the price paid by Southern families during the Civil War.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Miscellaneous Collectibles, Smal (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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