A Tale of Two Peytons

 

Wow!  I’m still getting responses to the Peyton Manning posts; and good, productive responses at that.  Over the weekend I was contacted by an individual who had just attended a program at the Chicago Civil War Round Table in which the presenter showed a photo of James Longstreet staffer Peyton Manning.  That led me to the Bull Run Civil War Round Table and Dan Paterson.  It turns out Dan is a direct descendant of General Longstreet, and was giving a presentation based on ‘Ol Pete’s photo album (if you’re interested in booking Dan for your RT let me know and I’ll drop him a line).  Dan directed me to the photo in Volume 5 of William C. Davis’s The Image of War – The South Beseiged.  And another comment was sent by a member of the Longstreet Society which implies that the testimony of Francis Dawson quoted in A 100 Pound Quarterback may be tainted.  She also mentioned that the Society has attempted to contact the Manning family to clarify any relationship but has never received a response.  Please see the comments section of that post for these messages.

Up top you see comparative images of the two Peytons.  I don’t know if I see the resemblance because I want to see it, or because it really exists.  You decide. Click on the b-w photo for a larger image.

Peyton Manning is not the first NFL quarterback with a (possible? potential?) connection to a historical figure.  Steve Young and his great-something-grandfather Brigham look uncannily alike to me.  See below (the color photos are from Google images and attributable to several different sites).