A few days ago, a photo was offered for sale on ebay and it was of the famous picture of Angus McAskill with friend. Or at least, of who we thought was Angus McAskill and friend as the picture has been published on the front of books and also on the McAskill.com website as being Big Angus.
However, on the back of the card, written in pencil, it states: "General Sullivan A. Meredith, tallest General in the Civil War 6'7"...."
Here are the 2 pictures of the photo (front and back):
This photo has always been considered a bit mysterious as the gentleman in question is definitely not 7'9" in height. Far from it. 7' is probably already stretching it (pun intended).
So the 6'7", as written on the back, could be correct. So could this indeed be General Meredith and *not* Angus McAskill?
What do you think?
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Personally, I think it is General Meredith, and not Angus McAskill.
That brings up another interesting subject. Many website have reduced Angus's height because of that picture to 7'4" or even 7'2". Does this mean that his height of 7'9", as often mentioned in the many stories about him, should be reinstated? I think it should. Is there any reason to think he is only 7'2" now? This picture was the only reason there was as far as I know.
p.s. I wonder if the person who has the image up for auction realised the stir he/she caused by having it up for auction.
There have been interesting developments on this subject on another forum (CelebHeights). It started when the picture of what we thought was Angus McAskill was posted with the caption that it was General Sullivan A. Meredith, the tallest General in the Civil war. As mentioned, this picture always raised some eyebrows, even when we thought it was Big Angus because what was Angus doing in a Civil war uniform? I don't know of any mention that Angus was in the army?
Anyway, a few days later a picture of a certain General Sullivan A. Meredith was posted:
The person in this picture looks nothing like the first picture that was posted; it was a different person. Also, in the caption next to the picture nothing was mentioned about this gentleman's unusual height.
So the question was raised again: Who was the person in the original picture? Angus McAskill or General Sullivan A. Meredith?
The plot thickens...
Then, on the same day, another picture was posted. This time apparantly of the same gentleman as in the first picture (the one who we originally thought was Angus McAskill, if in fact it is the same man as in the first picture. He is wearing a different uniform, but the facial features and posture are very similar). However, there was yet another name attributed to this man: Jean Bihin, the Belgian giant. As in the previous pictures there was an extensive realistic sounding caption next to the picture. For Bihin, nothing was mentioned about the Civil war and why should there be, he was belgian after all. But he was still wearing a uniform? Strange...
On a sidenote: i think that Angus, Sullivan, or Jean actually looks a little bit taller in this picture than in the original picture. Can't wait for the next development...
I did a quick research on General Sullivan A. Meredith and discovered he was a Brigadier General in the Civil War. His full name was Brigadier General Sullivan Amory Meredith.
It is the same person (same photo in fact or part of) of the one in an earlier message above. I think based on this we can rule out General Meredith being the person in the first photo.
That leaves either Angus McAskill or Jean Bihin. Jean Bihin was born in 1805 and according to the website the original picture came from it was taken in 1855 (give or take 5 years). Jean Bihin would have been 50 in that year, and I don't think the person in the picture is that old yet. To me, for Jean Bihin the dates just don't add up after having checked the history of photography on Wikipedia. Although, there is a resemblence:
So, I do think it can't be Jean Bihin which leaves only good old Angus McAskill. Who we thought was in the picture in the first place. But doubt has been planted in my mind. The subject is far too small to be the person in all of the tall stories about chest size, 7'9" in height, throwing 300 pound sailors over piles of wood, lifting heavy anchors, breaking fisherman boats in half etc.
So if it is Angus we go back to where we were, which is a 'not so' Big Angus of 7'2"-7'4".
2 links to statues of Angus MacAscill have been posted on Celebheights.com and the statues are both quite different. However, this is nothing unusual. I've seen many statues of Robert Wadlow and some of them look nothing like Robert. Also, I would not recognize Edouard Beaupre just by looking at his statue (if I wouldn't have known it was him).
Here are the statues:
Angus with Chris MacAskill (6'4").
Angus with Abagael MacAskill's daughter (5'2"). This statue looks a lot like the person in the uniform in the first picture.
However, in the book The Cape Breton giant : a truthful memoir we can read the following on page 30: "Touching on his face, it is interesting to know that it was positively beardless. Hence he was never obliged to patronize the consolations of the barber's chair except for a hair cut or a shampoo."
Does this mean he did not have a moustache or just not a beard?
Abagael's website about her great great great uncle Angus MacAskill can be found here: The Cape Breton Giant, Angus MacAskill. She says that within the MacAskill family there is no confusion about who the person in the uniform is. It is big Angus.
One thing that's confusing me is: although facially and costume-wise the photos of Jean Bihin and 'Angus MacAskill' look very similar, the tall man in the photo of 'Angus' looks to me to be shorter than 'Jean Bihin'.
I have never seen that picture of Jean Bihin before. Great picture! And yet another uniform.
I kept changing my mind on who is who on these pictures, but now you have posted this new picture I think that the original picture is Angus MacAskill and the other 2 pictures of tall man in uniform are both Jean Bihin. And I agree with you that Jean Bihin appears to be taller than Angus MacAskill, 3 or 4 inches perhaps.
Is there any more news on this subject? To me the facial resemblance is too great, and the evidence of facial hair too evident- all the pics are Jean Bihin - and he's wearing various stage costumes.
Angus would never need, nor own, nor be photographed in a uniform.
Further, f Angus didn't have facial hair - I wonder if he was eunochoidal and these tales of strength are just balderdash.
Poker Portal wrote:Personally, I think it is General Meredith, and not Angus McAskill.
That brings up another interesting subject. Many website have reduced Angus's height because of that picture to 7'4" or even 7'2". Does this mean that his height of 7'9", as often mentioned in the many stories about him, should be reinstated? I think it should. Is there any reason to think he is only 7'2" now? This picture was the only reason there was as far as I know.
p.s. I wonder if the person who has the image up for auction realised the stir he/she caused by having it up for auction.
I have to say unless a giant's height has been verified it is safe to say, he or she isn't has tall as reported.
