Full-length studio portrait albumen CDV. Nashville, TN: J. H. Van Stavoren, Metropolitan Photograph Gallery, 53 College Street, [circa 1863-1864]. Photographer's imprint to mount verso. Period pencil inscription to mount verso reads: "Tom Hatfield / Drummer in / 79th Reg. O.V.I. / Died at Lebanon, O."

This evocative full-length portrait captures Thomas Hatfield, a young drummer for the 79th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Hatfield is posed confidently before an elaborate painted backdrop featuring a balustrade and pastoral landscape. He wears a smartly tailored sack coat, a bowtie, and a forage cap. His left hand rests on his hip, while his right hand proudly steadies his instrument, which is propped upon a draped studio pedestal. This image was produced by J. H. Van Stavoren's Metropolitan Photograph Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Thomas Hatfield enlisted as a musician in Company F of the 79th Ohio Infantry in the late summer of 1862. The regiment, largely recruited from Warren and Clinton counties in Ohio, was sent to the Western Theater to secure vital supply lines and railroad corridors in Kentucky and Tennessee. As a drummer, Hatfield's duties were essential and demanding; musicians dictated the daily rhythms of camp life, regulated marches, and transmitted orders amidst the chaotic noise of battle.

When this photograph was taken in Nashville, the 79th was serving grueling garrison and guard duty in the area before eventually pushing south to participate in the Atlanta Campaign. The harsh realities of army life, however, took a severe toll on the young men in the ranks. The inscription notes that Hatfield died at Lebanon, Ohio, his hometown and the county seat of Warren County. Like thousands of his comrades, it is highly probable the young drummer contracted one of the devastating camp diseases prevalent in the Tennessee garrisons and was sent home on a medical furlough, only to succumb to his illness surrounded by his family.

This carte is a highly desirable full-length portrait of an identified Ohio drummer boy, photographed with his instrument in occupied Nashville before ultimately succumbing to the harsh realities of the war.

[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]

The image is in very good condition. The albumen surface exhibits a soft, pleasing tonality that clearly delineates his facial features, his uniform, and the details of his drum. There is minimal surface wear and only light, age-related fading typical of period photography.