#Albert L. Du Puget | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

1863-project · 7 months

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I just had an extremely surreal archiving moment.

When I was in undergrad, we were assigned soldiers who participated in the Battle of Gettysburg and were court-martialed for alleged cowardice and told to write papers on them for our senior theses. This was for my history major, American Civil War Era Studies minor.

I had a soldier named Albert L. Du Puget. He had issues with his knees ("rheumatism") that made him fall behind his unit - it turns out he wasn't being a coward, he was experiencing disability symptoms. I found photos of him in his pension file at the National Archives where he was discussing his knee issues 30-40 years later, even.

After the war, he ended up living in the city I now work in for some time before eventually dying in the Philadelphia area in the early 1900s. He married a much younger woman after his first wife died to ensure she got his pension, something not uncommon at the time to help protect people and give them financial security.

I'm scanning a book right now in the library's archives. And whose name pops up, but...

It's not a common name. I'm 99% sure it's him again, after so long. I wrote that paper in 2011. He was more or less Just Some Guy - born in the UK, immigrated to New Jersey, served in the American Civil War in his 30s, lived in this city after the war...

I'm half-tempted to reach out to the professor who oversaw my thesis. I'm almost crying seeing this - it's just so goddamned surreal. Albert feels like someone I know personally because of all the research I did on him over a decade ago, so it feels like finding an old friend again.

#archiving #Heaven Hell or Hoboken #American Civil War #Albert L. Du Puget #history

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1863-project · 3 months

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[Subject: DuPuget]

Hello, while scouring the internet for information on Albert L. Du Puget, I found your post on him. For the last few years, I have been working to get a veteran’s headstone placed at his unmarked grave in Brooklyn, NY. All the information I have found on him, as well as an original photograph of him in my collection, are on his FindAGrave page (225984584). If you have any information on him left over from your paper or own research, I would love to see it. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you. -Robert

Hi,

Unfortunately, I think we have different Alberts. Mine was buried just outside of Philadelphia, as he spent his final days there. I'm so sorry I can't be of more help to you, and I wish you the best of luck!

#replies #history

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