Civil War soldier cdv, Andersonville POW

Civil War soldier carte de visite (cdv).

The image depicts a Civil War soldier in a standard issue nine button frock coat. The soldier view is typical of the period and not that exciting, but the back contains a signature...

It is always nice to find one with a period ink ID on the card. So much information is online and often leads to an interesting story.

The ink signature on the back is "C.R. Belenskie". I couldn't find the name that was on the cdv, so I began to check variations. It is very common to find spelling variations in names when researching. Online research yielded only one possible ID. His history contained some interesting service (HDS):

Charles R. Belanskie

Residence Mason City IA; 20 years old.

Enlisted on 8/21/1862 as a Private.

On 9/11/1862 he mustered into "B" Co. IA 32nd Infantry
He was Mustered Out on 5/31/1865 at New Orleans, LA

He was listed as:
* POW 4/9/1864 Pleasant Hill, LA
* Wounded 4/9/1864 Pleasant Hill, LA

The 32nd Iowa was a Western theater unit that served for some time in New Orleans (where Belanskie had this cdv made by the New Orleans Photographic Co.).

During the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Belanskie was wounded and along with much of his unit captured (103 POW/ 46 KIA, 113 WIA).

My initial research showed that some members of the 32nd Iowa were sent to Camp Ford in Tyler Texas. I never thought to check other prisons until a later search for his name showed that he and eight others from his company were sent to the infamous Andersonville.

Despite his wound (I don't know the exact nature of the wound) and the deplorable conditions of Andersonville, Belanskie was one of the lucky survivors.

I don't know the specifics on his release, but Belanskie was mustered out of the Army in May of 1865.