Group photograph of four company officers of the 5th U. S. Volunteer Infantry, identified by number. The 5th was composed of former Confederate prisoners of war who enlisted in U.S. regiments to fight Native Americans. Organized at Alton and Camp Douglas (Chicago), Illinois, from March to May 1865, the regiment moved to Fort Leavenworth and was assigned to duty in the District of Upper Arkansas and Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and the Plains. The 5th was mustered out of service in November 1866.

#1 Captain Barnabas D. Palmer, Company K, enlisted on April 18, 1865 and was mustered out on July 3, 1866. He had prior service in Company K, 3rd Kansas Infantry and Company C, 9th Kansas Cavalry. He died on October 18, 1880, in Lawrence, Kansas.

#2 2nd Lieutenant A. Covell Dutcher, Company A, enlisted on April 3, 1865; in February 1866 he suffered a gunshot wound from an unknown person while on detached duty in Denver, Colorado Territory, and died on April 24, 1866, from complications of the wound. He had prior service in Company A, 66th Illinois Infantry.

#3 Captain Thomas Mower McDougall, Company B, enlisted on June 2, 1865, was discharged on August 10, 1866, and enlisted in the Regular Army; during the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876, as part of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer’s 7th Cavalry Regiment, McDougall escorted the regimental pack train and fought under Major Marcus Reno’s command after Custer’s death. McDougall had prior service in Company B, 48th U.S. Colored Infantry. He died in Hubberton, Vermont, on July 3, 1909.

#4 2nd Lieutenant Howard Williams, Company B, enlisted on June 4, 1865 and was mustered out on October 11, 1866. He had prior service in Company E, 42nd Ohio Infantry and the 80th Company, 2nd Battalion, Veteran Reserve Corps.

Carte-de-Visite by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31450