When I posted this photo the other day I actually forgot I have the identifications of these men. I am also posting a journal entry from Lt McKinley on the death of Scott, which is the Black man in the photo. The journal entry is from the GA College and State University archives. Y’all enjoy!

From the Journal of Archibald C. McKinley, On the death of his former slave, Scott, April 17, 1870.

“During the afternoon I received news of the very sudden death of my former faithful slave, Scott. He died about 1:00 today, apparently in perfect health. After eating very largely during the morning, he smoked his pipe, and laid down on his bed to take a nap. In a few minutes he had a spasm and died in a few minutes more, without speaking. Poor fellow… He followed me into the Army as a camp servant in October, 1861 and remained with me, true as steel, until May, 1865 and the end of the war. He followed me through Bragg’s Kentucky Campaign, and was with me at the Battle of Baker’s Creek (Champion Hill), during the siege and surrender of Vicksburg, crying when he heard it reported that I had been killed at the above mentioned battle, but finding I was only wounded, nursed me with the greatest care and tenderness until I recovered. When Vicksburg fell he followed me back into Confederate lines, in spite of Yankee threats and promises of freedom and good situations, being true and faithful to me and the cause I fought for, until the day of his death. I am proud to record the fact that he was liked and befriended by all his true southern white acquaintances, and his death lamented by all of them. After the war, in consideration of his good conduct, and his attachment to me, my father gave him a house and twenty acres of land for the rest of his life, and he was cultivating the land industrially.”

Three officers of the Company H “Independent Volunteers,” 57th Georgia Infantry. Left to right: First Lieutenant Archibald C. McKinley, Captain John Richard Bonner, Scott (McKinley’s slave), and Second Lieutenant William S. Stetson. From the James Bonner Collection, (Source : GC&SU Library Archives.)
Georgia College & State University archives.

Three officers of the Company H “Independent Volunteers,” 57th Georgia Infantry (see above photo). Left to right: First Lieutenant Archibald C. McKinley, Captain John Richard Bonner, Scott (McKinley’s slave), and Second Lieutenant William S. Stetson. From the James Bonner Collection, (Source : GC&SU Library Archives.)

Web Source: Black Confederates And Other Minorities In The War Of Northern Aggression
Post by Lani Burnette Rinkel, 3/5/2019