An extraordinary group of three (3) original albumen carte-de-visite photographs tracing separate studio sittings of Captain J. Sewall Reed, the legendary commander of the California Hundred, 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. All three images were produced via the master negative work of Boston photographer J.W. Black.

This three-card archive represents one of the most historically compelling visual records of the famous California Hundred to appear on the market, capturing its tragic founder and initial commander, Captain J. Sewall Reed (1832–1864). Born in Massachusetts, Reed migrated west during the Gold Rush and became a prominent captain in the California militia. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, when the federal government declined to transport full California regiments east, Reed spearheaded a patriotic movement to recruit an elite company of 100 volunteer marksmen and horsemen in San Francisco to serve on the eastern frontlines. Offered to the state of Massachusetts to expedite their deployment, Reed's company became Company A of the celebrated 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, universally immortalized as the California Hundred.

Arriving in the Eastern Theater, Reed and his Californians were thrown into grueling, constant counter-guerrilla operations in Northern Virginia, tasked with hunting down Colonel John S. Mosby’s elusive partisan rangers. On 22 February 1864, near Dranesville, Virginia, Reed led a detachment of his cavalrymen into a meticulously executed ambush sprung by Mosby’s rangers. During the savage, close-quarters melee that followed, Captain Reed fought tenaciously at the head of his men until he was shot and instantly killed. Mosby himself later noted the severe nature of the fighting and the gallantry of the California officers. Captured by J.W. Black's premier studio during the regiment's organizational period in Boston, this incredible triumvirate tracks Reed at the absolute zenith of his martial career before leading his men east to face their fateful clash with the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy.

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Civil War, Union, Confederate]

Very good to fine. All three albumen prints exhibit marvelous forensic clarity and exceptional deep tonal contrast. The mounts are structurally crisp, square, and unclipped, showing only a very light, uniform age-toning.