Unusual photograph

[billyreb61]

I found this photo on ebay. It's an interesting pose with the location of his cap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-War-REAL-PHOTOGRAPH-Private-Oscar-Ryder_W0QQitemZ330099729445QQcategoryZ136QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: Unusual photograph

*Sigh* Once again, some poor eBayite is being suckered into paying money for a photo print that can be had in super-high resolution format from the Library of Congress for free.

Anyway, this photo of Sgt. Ryder of the 7th NYSM makes the rounds frequently in books and documentaries as a classic "Boys of '61" image, also every now and then being misidentified as a C.S. image.

Makes him look like a nifty, all-about-his-business specimen of military preparedness, with the displaced cap perched elsewhere than his head making a super-jaunty statement. Let's call that his "official portrait."

Meanwhile, Ryder posed for another image that day, which isn't as widely known. The only similarity between the two is that, once again, he doesn't seem able to wear his own kepi. Oh, those wacky New York Militiamen...

(Photo #RG98S-CWP227.17, U.S. Army Military History Institute.)

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Unusual photograph

The cap on the end of the bayonet photo is popular and common enough to have been the basis of a drawing in the old Osprey "Army of the Potomac" book. It's one of the first plates. I have a sneaking suspicion that wearing your hat cocked in some odd angle was an affectation for the photographer, and they weren't really worn that way all that often. If your hat is straight on your head, your features are lost in the shadow. If you're in the company photo, cocking your hat at an odd angle is a great way of marking your location. "Dear folks: I'm the one with his hat hanging off his left ear, on the right of the photo" sort of thing. I've only had one forage cap that would stay on my head in any jaunty fashion, and my dress hat won't stay on in any way than the way it was meant to be worn. Am I the only soldier in the army with a congenital predisposition to dull headgear?