Tad photo?

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Steve for sending these images. Steve writes, "I looked up the military record of Amos Crounse and he was in Washington DC following the loss of his left hand during battle on May 31, 1864."





https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28239987

"Following his discharge in January 1865, he returned to his parents' home in Roseboom, Ostego County, New York. I don't know if he was in Washington DC for all of the rest of service before discharge or moved to a different hospital. He was still in Roseboom, NY on 19 June 1865 when he was recorded as living/being at his parents home in the 1865 NY state census. Crounse doesn't appear in Washington DC directories until 1866 So contrary to the auctioner's speculation, he hadn't gotten a government job in DC before Mary Lincoln had left the city. But he had been recovering as a wounded soldier in DC before his discharge.

I find it surprising that there's no written record by Crounse claiming that it was Tad in the photograph or even a written account by a family member who knew Crounse who said they remembered Crounse claiming the boy in the photograph is Tad. Without that all we have is that the boys resemble each other and that Crounse was in Washington DC late in the war.

Looking at the photograph I did notice that the boy is wearing a ring on his left index finger (remember, tintypes are reversed images). In several NARA photos of Tad with his hands visible he's wearing a ring on his left middle finger. I don't know if this has any significance or not."