Although the photo was of an older Jeff Brooks, his former comrades did recognize him, and he received his pension. The photo also helped distinguish this James Brooks from another James Brooks - James H. Brooks - in the same Company A.

Brooks’ military records note that he was shot in the right arm while in the trenches in front of Petersburg on June 22, 1864, and sent to the hospital. James Glasgow, former Private, Company A, was shown Brooks’ photo and gave an affidavit which said:

Ah! This is Jeff Brooks. Yes, I remember him. He got wounded through the wrist. I do not remember which wrist, but since you speak of him and I have taken a second look at his picture I remember him well. That picture does not look like he looked when I knew him. Jeff got shot one Monday morning. I know the regiment was lying behind the breast works and Jeff was up in the woods on the right of the regiment… I know that we went into those breast works on Sunday night, relieving some other troops, and Jeff was wounded the next morning… We were in front of Bermuda Hundred when Jeff was shot...

Sidney Winder, another former Private in Company A said:

I served in Company A, 19 USCT...

Yes, I knew a man named Brooks in my company. If I remember rightly, there were four men of that name in my company... I know this man, who is here present with me now, was in my company – his name is Jeff Brooks.... He was called Jeff Brooks while in the company...

After we left Benedict we came here to Baltimore – from here to Annapolis – from there we marched to Washington. We laid there two or three days on the roadside the other side of Georgetown, and then marched south...

We went to Texas, landed at Brazos Island and were at Brownsville...

Jeff was wounded in the wrist... I was present when he was wounded. It was the first time we went into the breast works in front of Petersburg. The Regiment was on picket at that time. He went to the doctor after he was wounded and the doctor bound it for him.

The pension file also contains an affidavit by Brooks himself, which says in part:

I was born at Baltimore, Md. and when a boy was bound out to Mr. Ben Tolsen of Kent Island, Md… I was no slave, but bound boy.

… that while in the service, on picket duty, I received a gun shot wound in right wrist, that I was carried to field hospital and from field hospital was shipped to a hospital in New York, the name of which I do not remember.

I couldn’t tell how long I stayed at Benedict (Camp Stanton). We had our winter quarters there. I was a Private soldier - didn’t do anything outside of my duties as a soldier - carried my musket from beginning to end. When we left Benedict, in the spring, we came to Baltimore and went into Camp Belger. The 19th Regiment was the only regiment at Benedict while we were there. The 7th Regiment had been there before we were there. Part of the 39th Regiment was there and came with us to Camp Belger… 

When we left Camp Belger we went by boat to Annapolis and from there we marched clear down south… We marched through Washington and camped near Alexandria, but we had no permanent camp - was always on the move until we got to the front. I cannot tell what places we were down there. I know we were down about the Weldon Railroad and Dutch Gap. We were in several skirmishes and I was on picket at Bush Harbor where I was wounded through the right arm near the wrist. Bush Harbor is in the neighborhood of Petersburg. When I was wounded I was standing outside of a picket hole. There were no trenches along there, only holes for the pickets….The ball entered on the outside of the forearm near the wrist, and passed diagonally through the arm between the tendons and the bone. I think I was in the hospital a little over two months. 

We were in the city of Richmond when Lee surrendered. 

I was in the hospital when the mine was exploded July 30, 1864 front of Petersburg… Soon after Lee surrendered we went to Texas. There we were at Brownsville - we moved somewhere else, but I have forgotten the name of the place. When we left Texas we came by boat to Baltimore and were mustered out on Federal Hill.