This is a picture of Cryus Jamison, taken after a Confederate soldier shot him in the back on April 1st, 1865. He killed Cyrus — my 3rd-great-grandfather — during the Battle of Five Forks in Virginia. Somebody tied Cyrus to a poll and snapped a picture of the 31-year-old days or even hours after dying in action.
Over 600,000 died in the Civil War. These men were sons, fathers, brothers, and in about 1,000 cases, mothers, daughters, and sisters. Sometimes, when a soldier died, his companions would take his picture to send to his family. I did not know that until I found this one of Cyrus.
Five Forks was the last major battle of the Civil War and took approximately 4,000 lives. It ended with a Union victory. Five Forks was a critical moment in the long-fought, devastating war.
The Union victory set the table for Confederate surrender eight days later. The Confederate Army retreated towards the Appomattox Court House. General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant there on April 9th.
Cyrus Jamison’s family was one of the thousands forever altered by the war. His young wife, Sarah, raised their three daughters — Ada (6), Lizzie (4), and Jessie (1) — on her own. She never remarried, and the three survived to adulthood. They did not have a chance to know their father. I wonder if they held this photograph. What emotions went through their minds whenever they looked at it?
Tip: If your ancestors lived in the Americas during the 1860s, the Civil War affected them. There could be a picture like this of your ancestor, too. I found this one on Ancestry.com, where another user posted it to their public family tree! There are war records on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, and other sites. They could reveal soldiers and details about your family.
Jack Palmer has done genealogy research since he was ten years old and loves writing about it for family, friends, and anybody else who might enjoy research stories and advice. He graduated from Duke University in May 2023, majoring in History and Psychology, and is the author of Helen & Frank: A Biography, a biography about his great-grandparents.
