CDV-sized tintype photograph WITH gem-sized tintype. Full thermoplastic case.

Portrait of an unknown African American Civil War soldier who holds the rank of sergeant. He looks directly at the camera while resting his arm on the back of the photographer’s ornate chair. Affixed to the velvet pad opposite his image is a smaller tintype of an African American woman, likely the soldier’s wife. This image is encased in an ornate, heavy paper frame.

Images of United States Colored Troops such as these are both rare and extremely desirable. These men overwhelmingly escaped bondage to become Union soldiers, quite literally signing up to fight for their freedom. The fine clothes worn by the female subject and the elegant presentation of the portraits suggest that they were freed Blacks living in the north at the time of his enlistment. While this soldier and his wife’s story remains undiscovered, their photographs serve as a reminder of those who sacrificed for the cause of liberty.


[African American History, Black Americana, Frederick Douglass, Abolition, Emancipation, Slavery, Slave, Abolitionist, John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Union, Confederate]