Description
Exceptionally rare carte view of Major James Doran posed with his son, James E. Dorn II. Initially Doran would be commissioned captain of Company K with the 149th New York Infantry in October, 1862. The regiments first fight would come at Chancellorsville which resulted in nearly 200 casualties for the regiment. Two months later, Doran and the men of the 149th, would take part in the now famous defense of Culp’s Hill on July 3rd. In the heat of battle, while Doran was waving his cap in the air, a bullet struck him in the arm knocking him to the ground. Lieutenant colonel Charles Randall rushed to his aid and was immediately struck by a ball in the shoulder as he knelt over Doran. Both men would survive their wounds, but for James, the severe wound in his forearm would result in a medical discharge in February, 1864. Not one to sit idle, James would immediately re-enlist taking a commission as major of the 24th New York Cavalry. It was shortly afterwards that James would pose with his young son who was both deaf and a mute. On March 31, 1865, the regiment would be engaged in the fight at Dinwiddie Court House. While attempting to repulse an enemy charge, James was struck in the thigh by a bullet. His men began to carry him from the field when he was struck by a ball a second time. Struck on top of the right shoulder, the ball passed through the body and both lungs, exiting just below the left shoulder. He would be carried to a local woman’s home who tended to his wound before being moved to the Cavalry Corps hospital where he succumbed to his wound on April 14th. Years later, in a cruel twist of fate, his son James, who is photographed here, was traveling to see a sick friend in Syracuse in 1905. Being both deaf and mute, he failed to hear an on coming train and was struck and killed. Phenomenal carte view!
