Jesse Bryant
Musician in Company H

80th Indiana Volunteer Infantry
An American Civil War Regiment

The photo above was taken well after the American Civil War.  The object on the table is a fancy oil lamp.  The identity of woman in the portrait on the wall is unknown.  An electronic copy of the original image, and written permission to post it on the 80th Indiana website, are courtesy of Jesse's distant relative William J. Marshall, and Cecil E. Goode, author of the book Pike County Kin that contains this image.

According to his military service records, Jesse was a resident of Winslow in Pike County, Indiana when he enlisted on August 19, 1862 into what became Company H of the 80th Indiana.  Jesse was mustered into the Union Army at the rank of Musician for a 3 year term of service on September 5, 1862 at Camp Gibson near Princeton, Indiana. He was recorded as having deserted on February 23, 1863 from an Army hospital at Elizabeth, Kentucky.  However, in 1889 the War Department removed the charge of desertion and honorably discharged him from the Army retroactive to February 23, 1863.  

For more information about this soldier (including the story behind his 'desertion'), view his Profile by clicking HERE.

Source: Regimental Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Volumes III, IV, and VIII, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis, Indiana, 1866).