Private Steward Lee Bergstresser (USA)

Per family search death record found his occupation was Photographer.

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Aug 26 2017, 23:54:03 UTC

"Pennsylvania Deaths and Burials, 1720-1999", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HNHV-FXPZ : 13 July 2020), Steward Lee Bergstresser, 1900.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US159536

https://books.google.com/books?id=pMg6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&d... page 208

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bergstresser-73

FIFTH CORPS SUPPLY WAGON No. 16
Dana Shoaf posted the images seen below (however, unflipped and unenhanced) at the Civil War Faces Facebook page yesterday and I thought he would appreciate additional input from any of you to augment his quest to ascertain more information about this wonderful quarter-plate tintype (pictured below). As alluded to earlier, I have horizontally flipped the images in order to render them as positive images.

James Jacobsen noted the following in response to Dana's post: "What a marvelous image and I would love to think that a prideful teamster with his muddied wheels pushed to have this taken. The corps insignia is centered beneath [the word] SUPPLY and the wagon number [No. 16] is on the front edge of the cover. What really thrills me is how the underside of the cover is shown with its tension cord. Note that there are several houses in the woods at the far left. [Note: James referred to the far left of the unflipped tintype, which is the far right of the horizontally flipped first image below. I'm not seeing any houses, however]. Love the brake, love the fifth chain hanging along side - there seems to be some sort of a timber under the break, can't make it out."

In addition to the details noted by James, I find interesting a number of "white streaks" in the background down the road at a bend which might represent tree trunks and/or planks painted with whitewash (see the fourth image detail, below) or even tents. A more expansive analysis of that area suggests that the white streaks could represent several different objects, some or all of which may be emulsion issues or the product of objects moving (see the fifth image detail, below). There even may be a man visible facing the camera on a horse or a small carriage. It is all tough (for me) to make out.

What appears on the back of the tintype -- a hand-canceled tax stamp -- also is of great interest. First, the date. The stamp appears to have been cancelled, in part, with the date "May 21, 1864" (sixth image detail, below). The Fifth Corps took part in the bloodbath known as the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House which was fought from May 8–21, 1864. On May 21, Grant disengaged from his adversaries and initiated yet another maneuver in an effort to turn Lee's right flank. If the tax stamp indicates the date the tintype was made as well as when it was sold, then the photograph has been dated and its creation placed at a location presumably somewhere in the Fifth Corps supply train in the rear of the fighting.

But there is one problem with the dating. Tax stamps did not go into effect until August 1, 1864 and the tax was ended on August 1, 1866. That means the date must be either May 21, 1865 or May 21, 1866.

Assuming that there are some whitewashed trees seen in the background of the tintype, they remind of several whitewashed trees (and beech trees which shed their bark near their bases) seen in a photograph created at the Spotsylvania Court House in Library of Congress DIG-ppmsca-35111 (7th image, below).

Back to the tax stamp. At the top of the cancellation are three initials, which, as was common, represent the name of the photographer (or at least the lead photographer). The Army of the Potomac (AOP) had to approve a civilian photographer and assign him a special pass affording him movement with a specific division of a designated corps while on campaign (unless he had been designated previously as the "official" photographer of the AOP, as Gardner and Brady were at different times). Otherwise, a civilian photographer was not allowed just to "tag along" in Virginia and take photographs of the soldiers for profit. According to the AOP’s registered list, two photographer teams were assigned to the Second Division of the 5th Corps beginning in 1863 -- Stewart L. Bergstresser (and his two assistants) and L.C. Dillon (and his two assistants). By 1865, Bergstresser served as the sole photographer assigned to the 3rd Division of the Fifth Corps (with his brother Joseph and 2 other assistants).

To my eye, the initials appearing on the tax stamp could very well be "S. L. B" as I think the second loop in the "B" was begun but not completed, making it appear to be a "P" at first glance.

A photograph presumably of the Bergstressers posing in front of a cabin outfitted as their photographic studio when they were assigned to the Third Division of the Fifth Corps can be found in the MOLLUS Collection, Army Heritage Center, Carlisle, Pa., at Volume 115, page 5928.

I really love Dana's tintype and look forward to hearing everyone's insights.

By Craig Heberton IV

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018653946/

https://books.google.com/books?id=cWysBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA478&lpg=PA478&d... page 478

https://books.google.com/books?id=JLg6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&d... page 142

Page 1062 https://books.google.com/books?id=TwbgiIqFLB4C&pg=PA1062&lpg=PA1062...

Steward Lee Bergstresser invention

https://patents.google.com/patent/US530079A/en

https://www.newspapers.com/image/44383856/?match=1&terms=Steward%20...