The Chandler Tintype, 1861

Date: 1861 [unknown]
Location: Palo Alto, Chickasaw, Mississippi, United States
Surnames/tags: Chandler us_civil-war

In 1861 in what was then Chickasaw County, Mississippi, two young men sat down next to each other to have a tintype made to commemorate them heading off to fight in the Civil War. The now famous Chandler Tintype is of Andrew Martin Chandler, son of a wealthy plantation owner, and his black slave Silas Chandler sitting side by side, both dressed in Confederate uniforms, and both holding weapons. It is thought the picture was taken before they went to war in 1861, when Andrew was 17 and Silas was 24.

The tintype has been handed down through the white Mississippi Chandler family since the Civil War, and comes with a controversial story: that a young master and his former slave fought together for the Confederate Army. This image and a handful of others depicting African Americans in Confederate uniform have helped fuel a debate concerning black Americans who bore arms for the Confederacy.

Contents 1 Early Reporting 2 Antiques Roadshow 3 History Detectives 3.1 Interview Before the Investigation 3.2 The Investigation 3.3 Conclusions 4 Sources

Early Reporting

The relationship between Silas and Andrew and the truth of Silas' role in the Confederate Army has long been of interest.

The following is from a 1950 typed transcript of handwritten notes from an interview with Andrew Martin Chandler conducted in 1912:

He served in the Confederate Army, and even in 1912, was still true to the cause. He told me much about his service in the army, even though he considered his contribution as rather slight, being that of less importance than any soldier in the ranks.

While there, he told me of another Silas Chandler that served with him in the Army. This Silas was a former slave owned by his parents, who were papered out just before the war. Even though he was granted his freedom, he insisted on going off to war with Andrew, partially because of their friendship, and partially because since Silas was a little older, he felt that he needed to protect Andrew.

Andrew told me that even though Silas was considered a servant by the other men and Blacks in the unit, he was very much an equal, displaying just as much hatred for the Yankees as anyone in the whole unit! Andrew then showed me an old picture of the two of them together, and while they appeared as mere boys, the look of stern determination on their faces tells the whole story of their dedication to each other and their country.

Andrew and Silas returned to Palo Alto, remained fast friends, lived close by each other, and, in 1878, Andrew signed the papers which resulted in Silas receiving a Mississippi Confederate Veteran Pension. Andrew gave Silas land adjoining one of the Chandler plantations on which Silas built a church for the Black population of Palo Alto. ^[1]

A 1949 newspaper article in the West Point, Mississippi Daily Times, perhaps based on the interview quoted above, includes the photo and gives Silas the title of slave, not soldier. However, by the 1990s, a descendant of Silas's named Bobbie Chandler believed that Silas might have been a soldier - possibly having learned this from a write-up in the neo-Confederate publication, the Southern Partisan. ^[2]

In 1994, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed a metal cross beside Silas' tomb in West Point, Mississippi to honor his service as a Confederate soldier. One of the catalysts of the 1994 ceremony was the use of the photo in a Washington Times story in the early 1990s. For that story, a copy of the photo was donated by Bobbie Chandler, who was working for the paper.

Antiques Roadshow

In June 2009, Chandler Battaile, the great-great-grandson of Andrew Martin Chandler was selected for an on-air appraisal on Antiques Roadshow by Wes Cowan, founder and owner of Hindman Auctions in Cincinnati, Ohio. The story in the family was that the men grew up together; they worked the fields together, and continued to live closely throughout the rest of their lives. The family believed that both men fought for the south in the Civil War.

"The issue of African Americans in the Confederate army is a controversial one. At first, when Southerners went off to war, it was not unusual for a Southern officer to take his servant with him, his manservant with him. And that may be what happened here. In March 1865, the Confederate government was considering allowing slaves to register to serve in the Confederate army. The Confederate Congress actually did pass a law that African Americans could serve in the Confederate army, but there was no discussion about what they got, if they would be manumitted or set free if they served in the army. Initially the government was saying, "Well, we ought to... if they're going to do this we ought to set them free." But as the ordinance was finally drafted, it left the decision entirely to their masters. I would tell you that this image, I would insure it for around $30,000 to $40,000." ^[3]

Update by Antiques Roadshow, January 24, 2011: After this segment aired, we received several e-mails challenging information presented about the story of Confederate soldier Andrew Chandler and his slave, Silas Chandler. As ROADSHOW knows first-hand, family histories can be hard to confirm.

The photograph, we subsequently discovered, is more well-known and open to interpretation than we understood when the segment was taped during the summer of 2009. Nevertheless, because the photograph of Silas Chandler and Andrew Chandler remains an important artifact from this period in our nation's history, and a useful catalyst for ongoing discussion about the Civil War, we have decided not to edit the guest's oral history.

However, we do encourage viewers to explore more about the stories behind the image.

History Detectives

Appraiser Wes Cowan pursued the story further himself during an investigation for an episode of PBS's History Detectives that aired in October 2011. Following are excerpts from the transcript of the show, History Detectives, Episode 912, Story 1 – Chandler Tintype . ^[4]

Interview Before the Investigation

Wes: A hundred and fifty years after the start of that fratricidal war, Bobbie Chandler and Chandler Battaile (who was the original guest on Antiques Roadshow), direct descendants of the men in the tintype, want to know if there’s any truth to their family lore. Viewers wrote in droves to question whether the African American in the picture was a slave or a free man and whether so-called black Confederates were a myth. It’s a story and a debate that I also find fascinating.

Chandler: It’s an image of my great-great grandfather Andrew Chandler, and Bobbie’s great grandfather Silas Chandler, both in Confederate uniforms. The photograph was taken, I believe, in 1861 as they were going off to war.

Wes: Silas had been a slave in the Chandler household. But according to their family story, the Chandlers granted Silas his freedom just before the war and that he fought heroically alongside his former master in the 44th Mississippi regiment.

Wes: Okay. And Bobbie, did your family ever talk about this photograph?

Bobbie: Well, one of the stories was that he saved his pennies, and bought his freedom. The other story was that he was granted his freedom by the Chandler family, and they presented him with some land, and he built a church on it.

Chandler: We’ve been told that my great-great grandfather gave 80 acres to the freed slaves after the war, on the condition that they build a church on the land.

Wes: And you said this has caused some controversy even among your family?

Bobbie: That’s right. Some members of the family don’t think he fought as a Confederate soldier. They think that he was a slave, and doing what he had to do.

Bobbie: I want to find out if Silas really was a Confederate soldier, and if he was a freed man when he became a Confederate soldier.

Chandler: I’d be very interested to know if there are any title changes to land around there, after 1865, that record that as a gift.

The Investigation

David Vaughn is a Confederate photo expert from Atlanta, Georgia and a friend. He meets me in New Orleans.

About the weapons: You’ve got a pepperbox in Silas’s coat, and Andrew has two pistols, a pinfire, and revolver. It really tells me that the pistols were a photographer’s prop.

About the uniforms: : Well, they’re completely different. Silas is wearing a short shell jacket and Andrew is wearing a Confederate jacket, with dark collar and cuff. A little bit more workmanship goes into Andrew’s jacket. Both are Confederate uniforms, 100%, no question about that. But David doesn’t think the uniform proves Silas was a soldier. Instead, he suggests that Silas was Andrew’s manservant, a slave brought to the frontlines to perform essential tasks for his master like hunting, foraging, cooking and laundry.

University of Pennsylvania historian Mary Frances Berry is conducting research at one of the largest African American historic archives in the country, the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University.

Mary says, contrary to the family story, it was impossible for Silas to have been freed on the eve of the Civil War. Mississippi did not permit the manumission of slaves at the time that this photograph was taken. Mississippi law made slaves slaves for life, durante vita. For their lives, they were slaves under the laws of Mississippi, and therefore Silas was a slave.

African Americans were not soldiers for the Confederacy. But they in fact did almost everything that was needed. Mary explains how the myth of black Confederates has its roots in the number of slaves who were pressed into labor to support the Confederate Army. They did virtually everything except fight.

Mary points to Silas’ pension application as further proof that he was a slave. The state of Mississippi decided in 1888 to first start offering pensions. They included in this law of 1910, which is the application that Silas used, slaves as soldiers. Mary suggests that servants’ pensions were borne of something called the “lost cause,” an ideology which emerged during reconstruction. The pension application confirms that Andrew Chandler was indeed the owner of Silas during the Civil War.

Whether or not they had a close, personal relationship in some terms of intimacy that we would describe, we can never know. Slavery has its own compulsion and as long as compulsion is there, and force, you can never conclude anything about amiability.

The Chandler family land deeds are kept at the Clay county court house in West Point, Mississippi. Local historian, Jack Elliot, who is also a distant branch in the Chandler family tree, offers to help.

Wes: We locate a warranty deed from 1883. It describes the sale of one acre of land from the three Chandler children, including Andrew, to deacons of the Palo Alto Baptist Church, which did have a congregation of ex-slaves. And what’d they sell it for here? $100. So, they’re selling an acre of land for $100 in 1883. Doesn’t that strike you as a little bit expensive?

Jack: But it implies that there was something on it. I suspect there was most likely a church already in existence, and quite likely the Chandler family had built the church building or at least contributed substantially to it.

Wes: So the Chandler family was involved with a congregation of former slaves establishing a church after the Civil War. But there’s a hitch. Silas Chandler’s name’s not on this deed and Silas had never been a member of that congregation?

Jack points me in the direction of Mount Hermon Baptist Church, in West Point, Mississippi, fifteen miles away from Palo Alto. After the war, this is where Silas Chandler and his family settled. This church, founded in 1868, was established without Chandler family backing. That’s where I find Silas Chandler’s name, engraved on the cornerstone of the church he help build. A lasting testament to his life and achievements.

Conclusions

1. Silas was a slave when that photograph was taken. A slave owner could not, by law, free his slave. It was against the law. It was illegal for slaves to enlist in the army. He couldn’t have done it. Now, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t thousands of slaves supporting the Confederate Army. But they couldn’t fight.
2. There’s a kernel of truth to the Chandler legend. The family did substantially help a congregation of freed slaves acquire a church after the war, the Palo Alto Baptist Church. However, there is no record of Chandler family help with the Mount Hermon Baptist Church, where Silas was a founder.

Sources

1. ↑ "Friends Till The Very End." by Nathan Mote, Dec 2020, The heritage post - preserving America's Heritage, [1]
2. ↑ Serwer, Adam (April 17, 2016). "The Secret History Of The Photo At The Center Of The Black Confederate Myth".
3. ↑ Text of Interview of guest Bobbie Chandler by appraiser, Wes Cowan, "Confederate Master & Slave Tintype, ca. 1861" [2]
4. ↑ Video and transcript as broadcast [3]

• "The Loyalty of Silas Chandler" Civil War Times, 2012 [4]
• "Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth" Kevin N Levin’s study is the first of its kind to blueprint and then debunk the mythology of enslaved African Americans who allegedly served voluntarily in behalf of the Confederacy.”–Journal of Southern History, available on Amazon
• "Descendents of Silas Chandler Respond" Published: March 10, 2010, Kevin N Levin’ [5]
• "The Loyalty of “Heroic Black Confederate” Silas Chandler" By Myra Chandler Sampson and Kevin N Levin 8/4/2017 History Net [6]
• Silas Chandler" From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [7]