Carte-de-visite (CDV) photograph of Lt. James T. Mackey, an officer in the 48th Tennessee Infantry (CSA) who died of smallpox as a POW in 1865. In this wartime view, Mackey is clad in his Confederate officer’s coat, giving off a rather sophisticated appearance with his mustache and coiffed hair. A pencil inscription on the reverse reads: “Son of Aunt Bea / Lt. J.T. Mackey / Tenn. Vol. Calv. (sic) / Your cousin." Clearly the reference to “calv” (a misspelling of a common abbreviation of "cavalry") is incorrect.

Mackey’s time with the 48th Tennessee was eventful, he was captured at Ft. Donelson in 1862 and spent approximately eight months as a prisoner-of-war at Camp Douglas. A diary kept by Mackey while confined at Camp Douglass survives and is often referenced. Though he survived Camp Douglas and returned to active service, Mackey was quickly captured again and ultimately died from smallpox in Fort Delaware prison.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [19th Century Photography, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, CDV, carte-de-visite, albumen, cabinet card]