An early war Neff’s melainotype of Charles P. Shepard, Company E (NH) 1st U.S. Sharpshooters. Shepard was a student at Boscawen Academy when he enlisted in August 1861. At the battle of Malvern Hill, VA in July 1862 he was grievously wounded in the lower abdomen, the bullet passing straight through his body “letting the daylight shine through me” as he later stated. Two comrades helped Shepard off of the front line to a stone wall near a field hospital. Robert Knox Sneden of the 44th New York Infantry, then detailed as a topographical engineer, met Shepard behind the wall while leaving the battlefield. Sneden noted the sharpshooter had been shot in the groin and was waiting with his loaded Sharps rifle for the rebels to come.
The rebels did not come. Shepard was eventually removed to a field hospital and deemed mortally wounded by the operating surgeon. After passing a harrowing night among unattended dying and dead, Shepard noted that the next morning “rained hot water” which reinvigorated him to such a degree that he was able to hobble away from the hospital using an abandoned rifle as a crutch. Three miles later he encountered a friend from back home who was driving a wagon team; the man took on Shepard and dropped him at a hospital boat about to depart from Harrison’s Landing. Shepard was taken to Washington with other wounded men but had been left on the boat before he crawled off and sought help. Two hospital clerks then removed him to a proper hospital where Shepard received professional aide. Four months later he had recovered and was discharged for disability.
After returning home Shepard married in 1871, fathered two children, and became a restaurateur for many years before purchasing land and tried his hand as a farmer. He was once gored in the leg by a bull so badly that it took him another year and a half to recover. Following the 1876 death of his first wife Shepard remarried in 1882. A later biography of the former sharpshooter described Shepard as having no regrets about his wartime hardships and, throughout his life, being able to laugh even during the darkest of circumstances. Shepard passed away in 1922 at the age of 80 and is interred at Plains Cemetery, Boscawen, New Hampshire.
Shepard wears the first issue dark green uniform of Berdan’s Sharpshooters in this image. A close up of his frock reveals brass eagle buttons under the gilt paint (which were present on the first issue frocks by Martin & Bro. of NYC). The unmistakable profile of hard rubber eagle buttons can be seen on his cap. A comparison to a 1910’s portrait is included below.
Brian T. White Collection
They Expect Wonders of Us 