On September 30, 1864, Surgeon Frank Whitman of the 58th Massachusetts Infantry was taken prisoner of war at Poplar Grove Church, Virginia, during the Battle of Peebles’ Farm. The action formed part of the larger fighting southwest of Petersburg, where Union forces sought to extend their siege lines and threaten Confederate supply routes. The Library of Congress identifies Whitman’s photograph and notes his capture at Poplar Grove Church on that date.
Whitman served with the 58th Massachusetts until his capture. According to a regimental genealogical record, Confederate authorities sent him to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. He was subsequently paroled and exchanged, then returned to the 58th Massachusetts to continue his wartime service.
Whitman’s capture reflects the vulnerability of Civil War medical officers, whose work often placed them close to the fighting and exposed them to the same dangers of death, wounding, and imprisonment faced by the soldiers they treated.
Image credit: Surgeon Frank Whitman of the 58th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in uniform, photograph by Wolff’s Gallery of Alexandria, Virginia, between 1864 and 1865. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known restrictions on publication.
