This exceptional 2-piece collection of CDVs features a pair of magnificent candid and field-configured studio portraits capturing members of the elite 7th New York State Militia (NYSM) during their historic 1861 mobilization. Loaded with interesting details, both images showcase the relaxed, pipe-smoking "field reality" that advanced collectors prize over stiffer, more typical portraits.

The lot includes:

1. Paymaster Meredith Howland: Full-length standing studio portrait albumen CDV. [ca. April-May 1861]. A spectacular study of Howland standing on a diamond-patterned studio floor in a heavy winter overcoat and forage cap. He is heavily laden with field gear, including a slung canvas canteen, a hanging tin cup, a waist belt with a holstered revolver, and a shoulder strap supporting an officer's sword. He poses with a clay pipe clenched in his teeth, his gaze fixed at the lens. The reverse is oriented horizontally, carrying an early pencil signature reading "Paymaster Howland."

2. 7th NYSM Pipe-Smoking Sentry (Company B): Full-length standing studio portrait albumen CDV. Ballston Spa, NY: J. N. Ramsdill, Bath Street, [ca. 1861]. A striking, high-contrast portrait of an infantryman standing at ease beside a massive, fluted column and staircase railing. He is attired in the unit's signature light gray uniform with canvas crossbelts, a slung cartridge box, and a round canteen. He holds his long-rifled musket horizontally over his left shoulder while casually smoking a pipe. The reverse features a highly desirable green-tinted plaid pattern border design framing a central J. N. Ramsdill letterpress backmark, beautifully enhanced by a period ink identification reading "7th Regt. N.Y.V. Co. B."

The 7th New York State Militia, recruited from Manhattan's elite merchant and social dynasties, holds an immortal place in Civil War history as the regiment that answered Lincoln's first desperate call to secure Washington D.C. after the fall of Fort Sumter.

These two portraits capture a more human element of that frantic period. While formal sittings showing soldiers in unblemished parade dress are common, finding early-war militia portraits that incorporate casual, camp-life realities like pipe-smoking, heavy overcoats, and field-slung canteens is a rarity. This 2-CDV grouping represents a ready-made display for advanced collectors, 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [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]

The prints and mounts are in excellent condition.