warbetweenthestates

Bennett, in the white jacket, seems likely to be Colonel Risden Tyler Bennett antietam.aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=563 www.ncpedia.org/biography/bennett-risden-tyler bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000381 "BENNETT, Risden Tyler, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Wadesboro, Anson County, N.C., June 18, 1840; attended the common schools and Anson Institute; was graduated from Cumberland University and from Lebanon Law School, Tennessee, in 1859; during the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private on April 30, 1861, and left the service as colonel of the Fourteenth North Carolina Troops, having been wounded on three occasions; solicitor of Anson County in 1866 and 1867; member of the State house of representatives 1872-1874; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1875; judge of the superior court from 1880 until his resignation in 1882; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1887); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Forty-ninth Congress); engaged in the practice of law in Wadesboro, N.C., and died there July 21, 1913; interment in the family cemetery near Wadesboro, N.C. "

W. A. Smith definitely looks to be Smith, William Alexander, 11 Jan. 1843–16 Apr. 1934
www.ncpedia.org/biography/smith-william-alexander-0
"William Alexander Smith, businessman, farmer, and local historian, was born in Anson County, the son of William Gaston Smith (1802–79), a planter, miller, merchant, magistrate, militia officer, chairman of the trustees of the Carolina Female College, and leader of the local Methodist church. His mother was Eliza Sydnor Nelme of Anson County whose niece, Mary Ann Nelme Crump, was the mother of Mayor Edward Hull Crump of Memphis, Tenn.
Smith was born on the Nelme plantation near Ansonville, but his family soon moved to that town where his father built a handsome residence, the Oaks. He was educated in local schools and at Davidson College, from which he was graduated in 1865. His student life was interrupted by the Civil War. Joining the Anson Guards (Company C, Fourteenth Regiment, North Carolina Infantry) in 1861, he served until 1862, when, as a member of the color guard, he was severely wounded at Malvern Hill, injuries that required him to use crutches for the rest of his life."
A crop from the group photo has been added to www.findagrave.com/memorial/43733543/william-alexander-smith

Smith wrote " Anson guards, Company C, Fourteenth Regiment, North Carolina Volunteers, 1861-1865" in 1914
digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p15012coll8/id/4092
Full text (OCR) is at archive.org/stream/ansonguardscompa00smit/ansonguardscomp...

See William Alexander Smith elsewhere in this batch:

Watkins (bottom left) is Thomas Jefferson Watkins Birth 11 Nov 1842, Anson County, North Carolina, USA Death 18 Oct 1917 (aged 74), Wadesboro, Anson County, North Carolina, USA Burial Henry Cemetery, Polkton, Anson County, North Carolina, USA www.findagrave.com/memorial/47850365/thomas-jefferson-wat...

This photo appears to have been printed in a Wadesboro newspaper moconfederacy.pastperfectonline.com/photo/8944AB0F-BF42-4... Another use is in "Remembering North Carolina's Confederates" at books.google.co.uk/books?id=HiqyKmoDXEMC&pg=PA58&...

A bio for Fenton (bottom right) is at files.usgwarchives.net/nc/anson/photos/fenton1537gph.txt Edmund Forrest Fenton (March 11, 1842 - February 28, 1923)

flickr.com/photos/193005003@N06/52450786082/in/photolist-...

Here is the roster of those who served most from Branch County www.migenweb.org/michiganinthewar/cavalry/5cavm.htm

Thank you for posting a link to this information, Jamica1!