CDV of 2nd Lt. Ezra D. Carpenter 18th Connecticut Infantry POW at Winchester

CDV of 2nd Lieutenant Ezra D. Carpenter, Company B, 18th Connecticut Infantry – POW at Winchester & Camp Sorghum
 
Ezra D. Carpenter, a resident of Putnam, Connecticut, enlisted on July 14, 1862, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into Company B, 18th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, on August 18, 1862. He served with the regiment until mustering out on June 27, 1865, at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
 
The 18th Connecticut Infantry, often associated with operations in the Shenandoah Valley and the Middle Department, played an important indirect role in the Gettysburg Campaign. In June 1863, while serving under General Robert H. Milroy at Winchester, Virginia, the regiment helped delay Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell’s advancing Second Corps as it moved northward toward Pennsylvania. Though the regiment suffered heavy losses and most of its men (including Lieutenant Carpenter) were captured at the Second Battle of Winchester on June 15, 1863, their stubborn defense slowed Ewell’s march and contributed to the overall timeline of the Gettysburg Campaign.
 
Lieutenant Carpenter was taken prisoner at Winchester and confined at Macon, Georgia. He remained a prisoner of war until paroled on December 10, 1864. While held at the notorious Camp Sorghum near Macon, he was one of the Union officers who signed a petition protesting the severe conditions faced by the prisoners.
This carte-de-visite (CDV) features great view of Lieutenant Ezra D. Carpenter with Claflin's Worcester, Mass backmark.