Outstanding quarter-plate sized ambrotype of a Virginia cavalryman and his sweetheart. A typewritten note behind the image identifies this soldier as Algernon Sidney Birdsong, who served with the 5th and 13th Virginia Cavalry Regiments. Birdsong is pictured here in a simple grey frock and forage cap, and holds the hand of a petite woman. Her expression is dour compared to his, which may be explained by the soldier leaving for war. Of note is a leatherette image case in her other hand, which may have contained a picture of her for the soldier to take to the front.

Images of Confederates with their spouses/significant others are extremely scarce. Birdsong managed to make it through almost the entire war unscathed before receiving a wound at Farmville, Virginia just a few days before Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. He survived. The woman beside him in this photo may be Georgianna Birdsong (Hall), his first wife and mother to his five children. Birdsong died at his home in Zuni, Virginia in 1916.

The image is housed in a desirable thermoplastic case bearing the “Washington Monument” in high relief.




[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, U.S Grant, Abraham Lincoln] [Antique Photography, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Albumen, carte-de-visite, CDV, Tintype] [Civil War, Union, Confederate, Ulysses S. Grant, US Grant, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln]