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Folks,
Over the Christmas holiday I found the following album at an antique mall on top of a mountain along the Lincoln highway in Pennsylvania. Over the years I've pulled a number of interesting articles out of this mall yet this was the coolest by far. Before I put the album on eBay to help pay for some refurbishment to my Sharps rifle, I wanted to share it with all of you.
The album is identified in the front as belonging to a James Brown of "Pitts Penna" which one can only assume is Pittsburgh (about an hour and a half's leisurely drive along route 30 from where it was found.) After some research I believe I have the owner narrowed down to one of two James Browns who served in Company B of the 46th Pa. and served with them through the course of several major engagements, east and west, until discharged on September 17th 1864 at the end of his term of enlistment.
The album itself contains what I believe are five definite soldier pictures, several great children pictures, and I believe at least two sets of pictures of the same person at different times. I will go set by set as the pictures were found in the album. Your comments and questions are appreciated, and high resolution copies of the images can be found by following links below the images themselves. I'm very excited to hear from folks who know more about the civilian attire than myself! Images of the backmarks have been added whenever they were present.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album1.jpg
These first two images I believe are of the same gentleman, and the owner of the album, James Brown. The first image I believe to be a slightly post war image of James, wearing a very fine citizen's suit. The trouser stripe did cause me to pause, but given the rest of his attire I think these are just attractive men's pants. The second image I believe to be James during the war, and this is easily my favorite of the album and one of my favorite images I have ever come across. The oversized uniform, the posture, and the gentle smirk all give an air of a veteran soldier who knows his business. Have you ever seen a picture that more epitomizes the federal soldier in the field?
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album2.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album3.jpg
Both of the above images I believe to be post war due to the attire and the thicker card stock on which they were printed. The gentleman on the right I also believe to be in a police officer's uniform.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album4.jpg
The gentleman on the left is wearing a very nice standard federal enlisted frock coat, dark matching trousers, and a pair of nice non-issue shoes. The brass on his cap I believe is a letter "A". In my heart I had originally hoped that this could be a member of the USSS due to his matching trousers, but without anything to tell us one way or another we must simply call him a federal infantryman with matching coat and trousers. The picture to the right is I believe another soldier wearing a fatigue blouse with the lapel turned back and a military stand-up-collar vest. I could be mistaken on the coat (look at the pointed nature of the lapel) but it is my understanding that standing collar vests with large brass buttons were not at all common among the civilian population, which leads me to believe this is a soldier.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album5.jpg
This unfortunately washed out image I also believe to be a soldier wearing a jacket or frock due to the large, closely-spaced brass buttons on his coat or jacket. This was another of those "I wish" photographs that appeared to me to possibly be a rare CS soldier because of the different color of the collar on his coat. But again, the condition of the image will make it so we can never know for sure!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album6.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album7.jpg
These images are of two cute little kids. Fairly unremarkable to my untrained eye, (I would love to hear any observations.) However, the right image I believe to possibly be a war time image of a child due to the Lexington, VA backmark and the smaller paper-saving CDV. How a Lexington backmarked image of a young boy found its way into James' album is beyond me!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album8.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album9.jpg
Again, two relatively unremarkable civilian images, though the one on the right is my favorite of all the civilian images because in addition to being wretchedly adorable the little girl obviously signed her own name to the back of the CDV!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album10.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album11.jpg
Here are a couple of excellent images. First we see a 1st sergeant obviously home on his veteran furlough in Northeast Iowa. He is wearing a privately purchased fatigue blouse, well tailored, with matching trousers and vest. He is obviously showing off his brand new uniform with his well-earned veteran stripe. The tax stamp on the back is also a nice bonus. Great picture! Next is I believe the same gentleman just after the war with his two young children in some sort of ethnic garb. I believe that Northeast Iowa had a great deal of Scandinavian descent throughout so this could likely be the source for their outfits. Talk about a proud papa!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album12.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album13.jpg
The first image here is one of the most interesting of the group. The gentleman is obviously well attired with a coat lined in some kind of strange corduroy. He has two devices on his lapel that I would very much like to know what they are! Everything about this image screamed "post war" to me until I turned it over and viola! Tax stamp! The last image of the children is adorable, and the boys look especially cute in their matching outfits (okay, my wife wrote that last line.) But do notice that the little girl has what looks like to be a woman's watch she's wearing around her neck!
Well folks, that's it. Thanks for checking out my album with me and I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do! Again, any comments or insight you might have would be wonderful!
Best Regards,
Over the Christmas holiday I found the following album at an antique mall on top of a mountain along the Lincoln highway in Pennsylvania. Over the years I've pulled a number of interesting articles out of this mall yet this was the coolest by far. Before I put the album on eBay to help pay for some refurbishment to my Sharps rifle, I wanted to share it with all of you.
The album is identified in the front as belonging to a James Brown of "Pitts Penna" which one can only assume is Pittsburgh (about an hour and a half's leisurely drive along route 30 from where it was found.) After some research I believe I have the owner narrowed down to one of two James Browns who served in Company B of the 46th Pa. and served with them through the course of several major engagements, east and west, until discharged on September 17th 1864 at the end of his term of enlistment.
The album itself contains what I believe are five definite soldier pictures, several great children pictures, and I believe at least two sets of pictures of the same person at different times. I will go set by set as the pictures were found in the album. Your comments and questions are appreciated, and high resolution copies of the images can be found by following links below the images themselves. I'm very excited to hear from folks who know more about the civilian attire than myself! Images of the backmarks have been added whenever they were present.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album1.jpg
These first two images I believe are of the same gentleman, and the owner of the album, James Brown. The first image I believe to be a slightly post war image of James, wearing a very fine citizen's suit. The trouser stripe did cause me to pause, but given the rest of his attire I think these are just attractive men's pants. The second image I believe to be James during the war, and this is easily my favorite of the album and one of my favorite images I have ever come across. The oversized uniform, the posture, and the gentle smirk all give an air of a veteran soldier who knows his business. Have you ever seen a picture that more epitomizes the federal soldier in the field?
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album2.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album3.jpg
Both of the above images I believe to be post war due to the attire and the thicker card stock on which they were printed. The gentleman on the right I also believe to be in a police officer's uniform.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album4.jpg
The gentleman on the left is wearing a very nice standard federal enlisted frock coat, dark matching trousers, and a pair of nice non-issue shoes. The brass on his cap I believe is a letter "A". In my heart I had originally hoped that this could be a member of the USSS due to his matching trousers, but without anything to tell us one way or another we must simply call him a federal infantryman with matching coat and trousers. The picture to the right is I believe another soldier wearing a fatigue blouse with the lapel turned back and a military stand-up-collar vest. I could be mistaken on the coat (look at the pointed nature of the lapel) but it is my understanding that standing collar vests with large brass buttons were not at all common among the civilian population, which leads me to believe this is a soldier.
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album5.jpg
This unfortunately washed out image I also believe to be a soldier wearing a jacket or frock due to the large, closely-spaced brass buttons on his coat or jacket. This was another of those "I wish" photographs that appeared to me to possibly be a rare CS soldier because of the different color of the collar on his coat. But again, the condition of the image will make it so we can never know for sure!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album6.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album7.jpg
These images are of two cute little kids. Fairly unremarkable to my untrained eye, (I would love to hear any observations.) However, the right image I believe to possibly be a war time image of a child due to the Lexington, VA backmark and the smaller paper-saving CDV. How a Lexington backmarked image of a young boy found its way into James' album is beyond me!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album8.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album9.jpg
Again, two relatively unremarkable civilian images, though the one on the right is my favorite of all the civilian images because in addition to being wretchedly adorable the little girl obviously signed her own name to the back of the CDV!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album10.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album11.jpg
Here are a couple of excellent images. First we see a 1st sergeant obviously home on his veteran furlough in Northeast Iowa. He is wearing a privately purchased fatigue blouse, well tailored, with matching trousers and vest. He is obviously showing off his brand new uniform with his well-earned veteran stripe. The tax stamp on the back is also a nice bonus. Great picture! Next is I believe the same gentleman just after the war with his two young children in some sort of ethnic garb. I believe that Northeast Iowa had a great deal of Scandinavian descent throughout so this could likely be the source for their outfits. Talk about a proud papa!
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album12.jpg
http://www.wwandcompany.com/album/album13.jpg
The first image here is one of the most interesting of the group. The gentleman is obviously well attired with a coat lined in some kind of strange corduroy. He has two devices on his lapel that I would very much like to know what they are! Everything about this image screamed "post war" to me until I turned it over and viola! Tax stamp! The last image of the children is adorable, and the boys look especially cute in their matching outfits (okay, my wife wrote that last line.) But do notice that the little girl has what looks like to be a woman's watch she's wearing around her neck!
Well folks, that's it. Thanks for checking out my album with me and I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do! Again, any comments or insight you might have would be wonderful!
Best Regards,
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