I was killing time on Facebook one day, just clicking on links to 22 weirdest things kids ever said, etc., when I came across a post on old black and white photos that had been colorized.  As I looked through them, I came across this one.

The staff of Andrew Porter with George A. Custer reclining next to a dog, 1862.

The man lying down on the far left of the photo looks remarkably like my great great great grandfather, John Alexander Springer.

John Alexander Springer, photo courtesy of Susan Huber, Findagrave.com

Side by side comparison.

John (1836-1919) was certainly an adult when the colorized photo had been taken, though the man in that photo looks a little older than John would’ve been.  But, it wouldn’t have been outside of the realm of possibility, or it could have been his brother or father.  I had to know who these men were.  The photo wasn’t labeled and was credited simply as Reddit.

After some digging, I found it on Reddit and it was labeled “The staff of Andrew Porter with George A. Custer reclining next to a dog, 1862.”  I also found that the black and white original of the colorized version had been taken from the Library of Congress.  The Library of Congress photo was labeled “The Peninsula, Va. The staff of Gen. Fitz-John Porter; Lts. William G. Jones and George A. Custer reclining.”  So, the man in the photo is Lt. William G. Jones, who is no relation that I know of.  But this was fun, and at least I know.

Side note:  This is why it’s important to always credit your source.