Moses Brown Jenkins
Collection of Ronald S. Coddington
The rank and file of the 1st Rhode Island Detached Militia numbered among the first volunteers to arrive in Washington, D.C., in April 1861. The regiment included Moses Brown Jenkins, a 26-year-old Quaker who happened to be one of the wealthiest young men in America, thanks to a vast inheritance provided by his late father, who had made it big in textiles. When news of the attack on Fort Sumter rocked Rhode Island, young Jenkins tore up the tickets to Europe he had just purchased for a family trip and promptly enlisted. He is pictured here in standard uniform and with a non-standard haversack upon which his name is prominently stenciled. Jenkins survived the First Battle of Manassas and the rest of his three-month tour of duty. He did not return to the army after the end of his enlistment and settled in Providence, where he lived a quiet bachelor’s life until his death at age 60 in 1895. His remains were interred in a local Quaker cemetery.
Ronald S. Coddington is publisher of Military Images, a magazine dedicated to showcasing and preserving photos of Civil War soldiers and sailors.
