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Lieutenant Mark M. Bassett; 53rd Illinois. Cropped from the photograph taken January 2, 1865 by Theodore M. Schleier in Knoxville, TN. From the book "Captured Freedom".

Mark Bassett; 53rd Illinois

All indications pointed to a man who live in Peoria, Illinois after the war as the source for the copy photographs found at the Library of Congress, Chicago History Museum and Peoria Public Library. His name was Mark M. Bassett and he was a lieutenant in the 53rd Illinois. Promoted to Captain at the end of the war but never mustered. Bassett’s name is found with either the rank of Captain and Lieutenant attached to it in later years. Lieutenant… Read More »Mark Bassett; 53rd Illinois

Mark M. Bassett - Circa 1900-1910; Courtesy of the Peoria Public Library

Peoria Find

It didn’t take long until I found another copy of “the photograph”. A lead suggested that I search for records and photographs at the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post in Peoria, Illinois. The GAR was the fraternal organization made up of Union Army veterans from the Civil War. Mark Bassett had been a member. The post was known as “Col. John Bryner Post, No.67“, with its historic Greenhut GAR Memorial building constructed in 1909, a year before Bassett’s death.… Read More »Peoria Find