Pair of horizontal albumen print cartes-de-visite on thin card mounts with double ruled gilt/brown borders. Washington, D.C.: Photographed by Alexander Gardner / Published by Philp & Solomons, circa 1863–1865. Mount versos printed in gold bronze ink with Gardner's distinctive Capitol dome backmark: "ALEX. GARDNER, / Photographer to the Army of the Potomac, / GALLERIES / 511 SEVENTH STREET AND 332 PENNSYLVANIA AV. / PUBLISHED BY / PHILP & SOLOMONS, / WASHINGTON, D.C." The lot includes:

1. African American Gathering at Wooden Barracks / Hospital: An extraordinary outdoor documentation depicting a large gathering of African American men, women, and children assembled along the porch and white picket fence of a long, whitewashed military barracks or contraband hospital ward, with a central flagpole visible in the background. 

2. Military Camp Hospital / Contraband Complex: A wider perspective showing the sprawling compound of low-slung wooden barracks and outbuildings situated on open ground near the nation's capital.

During the Civil War, thousands of formerly enslaved people, legally classified as "contraband of war," escaped into Union lines around Washington, D.C., Alexandria, and northern Virginia. The federal government and relief organizations established contraband camps, barracks, and specialized hospitals (such as Freedmen's Village at Arlington or Campbell Hospital) to house and provide medical care to displaced African Americans. Outdoor documentary CDVs by Alexander Gardner depicting African American freedmen and families in the field, particularly bearing his early "Photographer to the Army of the Potomac" imprint, are exceedingly rare and represent crucial visual records of emancipation and wartime Washington.

[Civil War, American Civil War, African Americana, Black Americana, Contrabands, Freedmen, Freedpeople, Contraband Camp, Freedmen's Village, Washington D.C., Military Hospital, Barracks, Emancipation, Army of the Potomac, Alexander Gardner, Philp & Solomons] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Carte-de-visite, CDV, Albumen Photographs, Alexander Gardner, Military Photography, 19th Century African American History]

Good to very good. The prints exhibit warm, even sepia tones with clear definition. The card mounts remain stable and flat, with light handling wear and minor edge toning/foxing along the upper margin of the second card.