MISCELLANY
ONE OF PRICKITT’S MEN
Gemtypes were about 1 inch wide and 1 1/4 inches tall. They were frequently mounted in card frames and placed in albums, as is the one above of Sergeant Hiram White. 8
PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE (2)
W
hen artist and genealogist Shayne Davidson was working on the family tree of a friend and stumbled upon a miniature photo album with gem-sized portraits of Black soldiers, she unearthed a fascinating story. It was one she felt needed to be shared and, because she’s an artist, also illustrated. The album had belonged to William Prickitt, the White captain of Company G of the 25th United States Colored Troops, and the great-grandfather of Davidson’s friend. According to family history, Prickitt felt a special kinship for the men of his company after they nursed him through a debilitating illness that nearly took his life in 1864. Prickitt’s album contains locket-sized photos of 17 of the men of his command, each one carefully labeled with the soldier’s name. “I kept wondering....would it be possible, through research, to discover more about their lives? Because I am an artist, I chose to make a life-sized portrait of each man in the album, based on his tiny photograph and physical descriptions from his military records,” Davidson says. “Since I’m also a genealogist, I decided to research each man’s life and try to build a family tree for him. Once the tree was completed I wrote a short biography of each man, including details about his life before and after the war.” Her efforts culminated in the exhibit “Seventeen Men: Portraits of African American Civil War Soldiers.” The 17 portraits and biographies were first displayed at the convention center in Grand Rapids, Mich., during ArtPrize 2013. It’s been touring ever since and its next destination is the historic Craik-Patton House in Charleston, W.Va. The exhibit will be on display from March 1 through April 30 during regular visiting hours, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (craikpattonhouse.org).
CIVIL WAR TIMES APRIL 2022
CWTP-220400-MISCELLANY.indd 8
1/20/22 8:41 AM
BOB BROWN/RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH/AP PHOTO; EVA RUSSO/RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH/AP PHOTO; DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION
Gems Discovered
