This quarter plate clear glass ambroptye depicts two solders from Kemper County, Mississippi that would enlist in the Kemper Rebels.  In the image, the soldiers wear “battle shirts” with dark piping on the collars, tops of pockets and sleeves.  The three stripes on their sleeves do not indicate rank.  The slightly darker trousers have a stripe down the side.  The shirts have a light pinstripe.  The tinting to the face is most striking and both have piercing eyes.  Thankfully the names of the solders (G.W. Jones and S.J. Gordon) were scratched in the plate so that their identity was not lost.  The image was found in a local estate in Lauderdale County, Mississippi.  

George W. Jones enlisted as a private on July 8, 1861 at Rocky Mount in Kemper County, Mississippi to Captain R. P. McKelvaine’s company (Kemper Rebels).  This company would become Company I of the 24th Mississippi Infantry and they were mustered into service in September 1861 at Marion Station in Lauderdale County.  He was 23 years old at the time.  He was present with the company until May 1862 when he was absent sick.  It is reported that the surgeon sent him to a hospital in Mississippi for an indefinite period of time.  He was wounded in the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862.  Apparently after the injury he was reported a deserter in February 1863.  He joined the unit again from desertion and was arrested.  He was sentenced forfeiture of 2 months wages and was back with the unit in March 1863.  He was killed at the Battle of Resaca May 14 or 15, 1864 while the unit was a part of Walthall’s Brigade. 

Samuel J. Gordon would also enlist as a private on July 8, 1861 at Rocky Mount in Kemper County in the Kemper Rebels.  By the May/June 1862 roll he is listed as present but sick.  He was sent to the hospital in Glasgow, Kentucky by the surgeon in September 1862.  He apparently was transferred to a hospital in Chattanooga where he reportedly died on October 11, 1862.  He is buried at the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery.  

Samuel J. Gordon was the second son born to Elkanah M. Gordon (1797-1888) and Martha Clark.  The family was from South Carolina and all their children were born in that state before they moved to Kemper County, Mississippi after 1847.  Elkanah is buried at Blackwater Baptist Church Cemetery in Kemper County.  Samuel’s brother, Charles F. Gordon (1833-1863), also died in the war while hospitalized at Rome, Georgia in 1863.  George W. Jones was originally from Georgia but was serving as a manager and farmer on the farm of Samuel’s uncle, Elijah Clark in the 1860 census.  This is certainly the connection the two soldiers shared and explains their posing for an image together.  Elijah and Henrietta (Gordon) Clark moved to Mississippi from South Carolina around 1857.  

The 24th Mississippi was stationed at Camp Pillow in Sanderson, Florida in late 1861.  They did not make it to Corinth before the Battle of Shiloh but arrived in time to be part of the Siege of Corinth.  They retreated to Tupelo on May 31, 1862 as part of Samuel B. Maxey’s brigade of Cheatham’s Division.  They were brigaded with the 9th Texas, 41st Georgia and Wright’s Tennessee Battery at the time.  At Perryville the unit was led by Colonel William Frances Dowd in Samuel Powell’s Brigade of Patton Anderson’s Division in Hardee’s Corps.  They would take part in the fight near the city. The unit would also participate in the battles of Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain.