An original albumen carte-de-visite full-length studio portrait of an enlisted soldier standing with his rifle and bayonet beside a large decorative column. He wears the regiment's distinctive early-war pattern jacket with stylized piping, matching trousers, and a forage cap. The lower front margin carries a spectacular, dark period ink memorial inscription identifying the subject: "Chas. Luff 44 Ellsworth Regt / Killed in the Battle of Manassas."

This profound and heartbreaking portrait captures Private Charles P. Luff of Company H, 44th New York Volunteer Infantry, offering an ironclad visual record of an original member of Ellsworth's Avengers who gave his life during the early, chaotic seasons of the conflict. Recruited out of Herkimer County in the late summer of 1861, Luff met the stringent physical and moral requirements demanded of the initial recruits who volunteered to avenge the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth.

The historical notations on both sides of this card document Luff's final moments during the final, bloody phase of the Second Battle of Bull Run, specifically the intense engagement at Groveton on 30 August 1862. Deployed on the Union left flank as part of the Fifth Army Corps, the 44th New York was suddenly struck by an overwhelming, massive flank assault launched by Major General James Longstreet’s Confederate wing. Caught in a vicious, crossfire bottleneck near the Groveton schoolhouse, the regiment fought tenaciously to secure a defensive line, sustaining an astronomical rate of casualties. Private Luff was killed on the field during the height of the southern breakthrough. Taken before the regiment moved south, this portrait was subsequently embellished on the front margin by a grieving family member or comrade to serve as a permanent, sacred monument to his ultimate sacrifice.

[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]

Good. The albumen print exhibits average clarity and deep tones. The carte exhibits uniform handling wear and expected light age-toning along the edges.