Extremely scarce carte-de-visite (CDV) photograph of Lt. Morris Greenwall of the 10th Louisiana Infantry, 1st Battalion Zouaves (CSA). Greenwall is shown here in a double-breasted Confederate officer’s jacket, with his hands clasped in front. He is posed slightly to the left and looks directly into the camera. Greenwall’s simple portrait belies a complicated history: he served the Confederacy as a “secret and special agent” - a spy!

Born in New Orleans to German Jewish immigrants, Lt. Greenwall entered into the Confederate service in 1861. Greenwall, who may have had a powerful patron in his family’s neighbor, Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin, soon resigned his commission and became a detective for the provost marshall in Richmond. In 1863, he became a “secret and special agent” for the Confederacy, where he conducted enough investigations and espionage work to fill a novel. Greenwell may have posed as an Englishman who became disillusioned with his service in the Confederate Army to gain the confidence of Union officers and other insiders, who shared secrets the agent then passed to his handlers. The record is full of hints of his exploits, yet doesn’t completely explain why he wound up in the studio of E.T. Anthony to have his picture made. There is some speculation that Greenwall is a prisoner of war in this photo, but it is not certain. In any event, like Greenwall himself, there is much more than meets the eye in this photo.

Condition of the image is very good.

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