Rare US Marine/Confederate Marine Daguerreotype

[nchistory]

 

 

VERY RARE DAG of United States Marine 1856. Maybe 3 to 4 in private hands, and 2 in institutions. Very seldom seen on market. You can see US Marine buttons..

 

 

George Pendelton Turner, Caroline Co., VA, (US Marine & CS Marine). 6th plate daguerreotype Ca. 1856. No, I dont know how to photograph a dag, doesnt do it justice. Rare image, you can see his eagle/anchor buttons. Semper Fi.

 

A brief biography of George P. Turners service is found on pages 255-256 of Ralph Donellys Confederate States Marine Corps. George Turners remarkable story is marke...d by reversal and ultimate triumph

where the true metal of the man is revealed. Briefly, Turner, a son of an old, but decaying Tidewater family accepted a USMC

commission in 1856 and served aboard the USS Vincennes and USS Cyane prior to the outbreak of war. He resigned his

commission on June 25, 1861 after making his way back from the Pacific via a New York bound packet boat. He then offered

his services to his native Virginia and was commissioned in her Marine Corps and later the Confederate States Marine Corps.

as a 1st Lt. on July 31, 1861. With more senior officers than active billets Turner was assigned recruiting duties in

Wilmington,Mobile and Richmond before being promoted to Captain on December 5, 1861. The monotony of recruiting duty

was broken by brief service in the field during the Seven Days battles when Turner served as a volunteer aide to his uncle, Major

General Prince John Magruder. Afterwards, inactivity served as the backdrop for an incident of drunkenness in Richmond

that cost Turner his commission. He was dismissed from the Corps on December 11, 1862. As if to prove himself Turner made

his way to Chattanooga and three weeks later enlisted as a private in Company B., 1st Kentucky Cavalry on January 1, 1863.

In March 1863 his sisters Hennrietta Turners correspondence with the Secretary of War together with two personal petitions

directly to President Davis resulted in a reprieve and Turner was commissioned a Captain and AAG to rank from May 2, 1863.

Turner recaptured lost opportunities and impressed his superiors for by November 1863 he had been assigned to the staff of

General J.H. Kelly (later killed) commanding a division in Joe Wheelers Calvary Corps. On June14, 1864 both Brigadier

General Kelly and Major General Wheeler endorsed Captain Turners request to be reinstated in the Marine Corps or, alternatively,

commissioned into the Regular Confederate Army. Records show that Turner was wounded July 5, 1862, May 4, 1864, Varnell Station, GA, and May 27, 1864 New Hope Church, GA, and General

Wheelers endorsement specifically requests that he be reinstated as a reward for gallantry and valuable service. During the

tumult of the Atlanta fighting Turner found time to marry Miss Anna Keller at Courtland, Alabama on July 14, 1864, then behind

fluid Union lines. At the close of the war Turner surrendered and was paroled as a Lt. Colonel serving on Wheelers staff and

it is entirely likely that his Regular Army commission (in the artillery) had been confirmed when the records in Richmond were

burned during the evacuation in April 1865. After the war Turner settled in Huntsville, Alabama with his wife and became a

successful farmer and citizen of some prominence. In 1893 he became a founding member and First Commander of the Egbert J.

Jones Post of the United Confederate Veterans in Huntsville. Appropriately, the United Daughters of the Confederacy awarded

him the Southern Cross of Honor on October 3, 1903, among the first of the awards bestowed. George Pendleton Turner died

at age 68 on June 29, 1905 and rests in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville Alabama. Anna Keller Turner, a cousin of the famous

Helen Keller, outlived her husband and passed away in 1914. Our correspondence with the Huntsville Public Library, an

independent researcher, and complete national Archive records are included with the three photographs. Provenance sold original auction catalog #181 from the December 14, 1996 sale by Hays & Associates, Louisville, Kentucky from the estate of Mrs. George d. Caldwell (the former Jane Keller), a descendent of Ann Keller Turner.

[Leatherneck72]

These dags were the best thing he sold last week. Although he isn't in his CSMC uniform, the history is awesome. I remember when these went through Cowan's a few years back. If my memory serves me correct, there were other family photos that were with this when they first came to the market.

[nchistory]

Yes I saw a 9th plate civilian attire of him, and a 6th plate of his wife. Yes they sold at Cowens around 2004.

[Leatherneck72]

I think I might have the catalog laying around, I'll take a look for you.

 

B

[nchistory]

That would be cool, thanks

[nchistory]