Back in 1890, before the Spanish American War, Capt. Edwin WM Bailey and 45 members of the Bartlett Rifles (a company of the Volunteer Massachusetts Militia) were photographed by WC Thompson, who had studios in both Amesbury and Newburyport.

Forty-seven of these “cabinet cards,” so-called because they were large enough to be displayed on a cabinet, were mounted together in one large frame at the Biddeford (Maine) Historical Society, which donated the framed collection to the Amesbury Carriage Museum.

You may not recognize the faces but just glancing at the names on the backs of these cards is like walking through Amesbury’s history. Not only will you see Bartlett and Bailey but also Currier, Tuxbury, Conner, Briggs, Perry, Osgood, Merrill, Hume, and Quimby.

“Some of these men (boys) look very young,” said ACM volunteer Joyann Reynolds, chair of the ACM Collections Committee. “Perhaps they were drummers or flag bearers. They were all members of Company B, 8th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.

“They trained with the Biddeford regiment and visited each other celebrating with parades and banquets.”

Now it’s time to celebrate these men and boys. The photographs of Capt. Edwin WM Bailey and the Bartlett Rifles were all scanned and are now on the Collections page of our website for all to see. Perhaps you will spot an ancestor or the person whose name is now part of your street address.