Unidentified Civil War Veteran

Every so often, I visit the Library of Congress website to see what new Waterbury material has been digitized. My latest search pulled up a photograph of an African American Civil War veteran whose photograph was taken in Waterbury. His name is not on the photograph, so his identity is currently unknown.

Collection of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The photograph is a carte-de-visite, a print mounted onto a card, with the name of the photographer below the photograph.The medal on the man's chest is the medal of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) veterans organization.

The photographer, Stephen W. Glenney, was also a Civil War veteran. He served in Company G, 7th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Glenney had a photography studio at 11 South Main Street from about 1879 to about 1885.

The man in the photograph could be a Waterbury resident, or he could have come to Waterbury from one of the surrounding towns to have his photograph taken. The only way to be certain about the identity of a person in a photograph is to find an identified image of that person.

However, with that said, there is a strong possibility that this is a photograph of Pernett A. Gregory (1841-1912), who was a member of Waterbury's G.A.R., Wadham's Post, No. 49. He owned and operated a barbershop in Waterbury from the 1870s until about 1908, when he moved to New Haven. Gregory remained a member of the Waterbury post even after moving to New Haven (Official Roster of the Connecticut G.A.R. for the 43rd Annual Encampment, Hartford: Transcript Press, 1910, p. 107).

Born in New Milford, Pernett Gregory enlisted at New York City with Company F, 31st Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry, as a private on March 7, 1864. He was promoted to 1st sergeant in June 1864. Sgt. Gregory was wounded at the Battle of the Crater (also called The Mine) at Petersburg, Virginia on July 30, 1864. The regiment relocated to Texas in May 1865 and spent the ensuing months patrolling the Rio Grande. Gregory mustered out with his regiment at Brownsville, Texas on November 7, 1865.

I used the 1880 Census to find the names of all African American men living in Waterbury who were the right age to have served during the Civil War. Pernett Gregory appears to be the only who was a veteran, but further research is needed to confirm that he is the man in the photograph. As mentioned above, the photograph could be of someone who didn't live in Waterbury, but came here for his photograph. It's also possible a veteran moved to Waterbury after the 1880 census was taken. Hopefully, someday, the identity of the man in the photograph will be confirmed.