Jason,
I don't know much about Garrett aside from what Bonnie Knott posted in my latest inquiry about him. I've seen a carte of him signed on the back "Very Truly, Fred E. Garrett, 1st Regt. U.S. Sharpshooters, Roll Room Albany Barracks, May 7 '64." Backmark is Radley & Vanderzee No. 51 State Street Albany, NY. In the portrait Garrett is wearing sky blue trousers, a vest, and a three-button private purchase fatigue blouse.
The "Roll Room, Albany Barracks" notation gave me pause and led me to wonder if he was drafted, put into "circulation" and recruited by Company D. I believe it was a story by or about Captain John Hetherington that brought up the idea of sending recruiting parties to "depots" where draftees were housed waiting to be sent to regiments in the field. It seems likely that this may have been practiced as a quick way to attain new recruits when company numbers were down...I just wish I knew if Garrett was a draftee, a dyed-in-the-wool recruit who enlisted directly, or wounded/recovering at home then stayed at the barracks before being sent back to the front.
Here is a quote regarding the Albany barracks from "A History of the Forty-Fourth New York Infantry In the Civil War." It continues for some time about the mess hall, eating habits of new soldiers, and military structure and orders.
"The barracks consisted of a large three-story brick building, erected by the city of Albany for an industrial school. This building was unoccupied at the beginning of the war, and was temporarily turned over to the State as a rendezvous for troops, before leaving for the seat of war. It was used for officers' quarters, as a place to store quartermaster's stores, for a guard house, and the basement was used for a mess hall. Near the brick building, numerous temporary wooden buildings had been erected for use as quarters for the soldiers...."
_________________ Brian WhiteWambaugh, White, & Companyhttp://www.wwandcompany.com---------------------------------- Randolph Mess, U.S. Sharpshooters
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