Harvey Parker, a member of the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment is visiting Dr Brunnell’s establishment. He would later be captured, survive Andersonville prison, and return home to father a family with 5 generations, three of which were embalmers and funeral directors.
This family history was provided by Doug Tagsold, one of his descendants. There was a Lieutenant Parker in the fourth Michigan, but Doug does not think Harvey Parker was an officer. That is why I depicted him wearing an enlisted uniform. The fourth MI was a zouave infantry regiment. They wore dark blue uniforms with either blue fez with red tassel or blue kepi. The photo at the left is a colorized image from the National Archives.
Embalming became popular during the civil war. Wikipedia says,
"Embalming became more common in the United States during the American Civil War, when servicemen often died far from home. The wish of families for their remains to be returned home for local burial and lengthy transport from the battlefield meant it became common in the United States.
The period from about 1861 is sometimes known as the funeral period of embalming and is marked by a separation of the fields of embalming by undertakers and embalming (anatomical wetting) for medical and scientific purposes. Dr Thomas Holmes received a commission from the Army Medical Corps to embalm the corpses of dead Union officers to return to their families. Military authorities also permitted private embalmers to work in military-controlled areas. The passage of Abraham Lincoln's body home for burial was made possible by embalming, and it brought wider public attention to the possibilities and potential of embalming."
I also added a small vignette to the Primmer Farm. This shows Mrs. Primmer milking their family cow while a soldier looks on. The cow and woman were 40mm figures from Triguard Miniatures.
