How did the book come about? A neighbor of mine about two miles over the mountain from our log cabin on Stanley Creek shared an old photograph of 12 men in early 2021. Evidently, one of the men in the 156-year-old photograph was an ancestor of his, his great-uncle whose name was David Ledford who had helped a group of Union POWs escape through the mountains. Or so he thought. What he told me was an American Civil War POW escape story.
Rich Mountain near Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Researching the Civil War era photograph of POWs
As soon as I saw it, I thought the picture was amazing and asked if I could research it a little. Despite the photograph being more than 150 yeas old, I began digging. A remarkable American Civil War POW escape story quickly emerged. Stories of the POWs that had never been told. Surprisingly, they misidentified the photograph from almost the moment they made the picture.
Finally, in writing this new book, I wanted to know who took the photograph. The most compelling evidence pointed to the morning of Tuesday, January 2, 1865. After pinning down the likely photographer (Theodore M. Schleier) I was intrigued by something Captain Mark Bassett, one of the men in the photograph wrote in 1910 about the image which he cherished.
“I have a photograph of twelve ragged men with determination strong in their faces…”
The POWs had escaped over Union lines by tramping some 350 miles.
Finally, they escaped through brutal winter weather wearing nothing more than rags and shoes they had to tie onto their feet. Then, on that first day they were no longer prisoners, they climbed the stairs to Schleier’s third floor photography studio on a cold winter morning and posed for the picture. Schleier in exposing the negative and capturing their likeness had done something special. He had Captured Freedom. This is an American Civil War POW escape story
Gay Street, Knoxville, TN – circa 1867-1869. The sign for Schleier’s studio
“T.M. Schleier’s Picture Gallery” is in the center of the picture, slightly on the right.
This photo was taken by T.M. Schleier. (Click on image to enlarge)
#nonfictionbooks #CapturedFreedom #CivilWar #book #history #SteveProcko
