Facial Recognition of Civil War Military



You might have a photo of an ancestor who served during the American Civil War taken years after they served in the 1860s. Wouldn’t it be great to locate a photo of that ancestor in his uniform? It does cross-referencing to serve up a slate of possible matches and names.

You need to try ‘Civil War Photo Sleuthwhose purpose is to rediscover the lost names and stories of every photo of American Civil War soldiers and sailors. It is free to use. Just sign and submit your own ancestor’s photo.

From their massive collection of 860s photos, they hope by facial recognition to make your ancestor. However, even if there is no matching photo to date, there could be. This might happen because another descendant submits a photo, different than the one you submit and here comes the match. If your ancestor’s photo is from 1890 and someone else submits a photo of that same ancestor taken in 1870, that is closer to the time the ancestor served in the military. 

Keep in mind it is not just male soldiers or sailors of any rank or branch or side (Union / Confederate) but also the ladies. Many served as nurses, even spies, so there could a match there also. Search a name, place his state, which side he served and any information on his company and regiment. Something could turn up.

Their resources include the National Archives, state archives, military records, and photographers’ collections.

Keep in mind there might not be anything in the collection yet but with images submitted by the general public, a match sometimes is possible. Try even submitting under ‘Search Photos‘ just a surname and see how many in the collect fit. For the surname of ‘Wilson’ some 69 photos and information came up.

Photos: Union Capt. Joseph Groff in 1890; Confederate General Joseph B. Kershaw of the 2nd S.C. Infantry; and LT John Kennedy of the 73th PA Infantry, Co. F.

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

Civil War Diary

Letters Home

Glass Negatives from the Civil War

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