The story of the Civil War Soldier
in the Workman family photo archive
June 2007
The photo of the Civil War soldier is copied from the original tintype, which is part of the Workman family archive.
The soldier is a great-uncle of the late Ralph Workman Sr. of Loudonville, Ohio.
From study of family photos, David Workman - a grandson of Ralph Sr. - believes the soldier to be Jefferson Stacher - brother of Ralph Sr.'s grandfather, David Stacher of Loudonville, Ohio.
According to a Stacher family biographical sketch in David Workman's possession, Jefferson (known as Jeff) Stacher died in the Civil War.
Jefferson’s older brother, Samuel Stacher, was captured by the Confederates. Samuel was a member of Company B, 102nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
According to the Stacher family profile in David's possession, Samuel was incarcerated at Cahaba Prison in Alabama. However, Ralph Workman Sr. believed Samuel's incarceration took place at Libby Prison in Richmond, Va. Both Confederate prisons were notorious for overcrowding and starvation of Union prisoners of war.
From biographies of other veterans of the 102nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, it is likely that Samuel’s imprisonment was at Cahaba.
This is Samuel Stacher's story, as retold in a 1984 oral history of Ralph Workman, Sr., granted to grandson David:
"He (Samuel) was taken prisoner and served in (Libby or Cahaba) Prison down south. Food was so short they were half starved all the time. One of his (Samuel's) sons told me that he told him that they even boiled their shoes to make soup out of their shoes in order to get some nourishment.
"A lot of them starved in there."
"There was thousands of prisoners in there. They couldn't take care of them."
"He was in there quite a while. The only way he got out -- he was a Mason . . . and through the Mason organization, they got him out."
"They got him released from (Libby or Cahaba) Prison."
The Stacher family biographical sketch in David Workman's possession reports:
Samuel was released from the Confederate prison and assigned to the steamship Sultana for his trip home, but he became ill and could not go on shipboard. In the night, the Sultana blew up. Many were lost.
Cemetery record of Samuel Stacher
In the Jeromesville (Ohio) Cemetery is buried Samuel Stacher, 1842-1914, who served in Company B, 102 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War. Isabell Stacher (Samuel's wife) also is buried in the Cemetery. Her birth and death years are given as 1842 to 1913.
For more information on the 102 Ohio Infantry, see the accounts compiled by Larry Stevens, 1995.
http://www.ohiocivilwar.com
As of June 2007, David Workman has not documented a gravesite for Jefferson Stacher, believed to be the soldier in the photo.
Contributed by David Workman
davidlworkman@comcast.net
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