Two individual studio and outdoor portrait albumen CDVs. Both photographs by L. V. Newell’s Photograph Gallery, [circa 1864]. Photographer's imprint to mount verso. Later pencil inscriptions to mount versos. One mount features a beautiful period ink signature on the reverse.

A premier pair of albumen CDVs documenting a single officer. The first is a vignetted bust portrait of the subject in uniform; the second is a rare horizontal outdoor study showing the same officer mounted on his horse. The outdoor view bears the backmark of L. V. Newell’s Photograph Gallery, while the portrait features a crisp rendering of the subject's features. Both are identified via later pencil notations as Curtis H. Whittemore.

Curtis H. Whittemore served as an officer in the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, a notable regiment of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Whittemore rose to the rank of Lieutenant during his service. The 5th Massachusetts Cavalry was a hard-working unit that spent significant time in the Department of the Gulf and later participated in the Siege of Petersburg and the Richmond campaign. Notably, they were among the first troops to enter the Confederate capital of Richmond in April 1865.

This pairing provides a rare dual perspective of a cavalry officer's life. It includes two CDVs: A formal studio portrait where Whittemore wears an officer’s frock coat with prominent uniform buttons and a white collar. His expression is framed by a dark, neatly trimmed mustache. An exceptional outdoor view, taken in camp. Whittemore sits tall in the saddle, outfitted in full field gear including a dark slouch hat and riding boots. The horse is well-captured in profile, showing the specific tack, saddle blanket, and McClellan saddlery used by Union cavalry officers with a large building visible in the distant background. Mounted and outdoor horse views from the period are significantly rarer than studio portraits due to the technical difficulty of keeping an animal still for the required exposure time.

Officers of the USCT cavalry regiments occupied a unique and often dangerous niche in the Union army. This collection preserves the likeness of a man who led Black troopers during the climactic push into the heart 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]

The images are in good to very good condition. The albumen surfaces exhibit a soft, pleasing tonality with excellent contrast. There is minor surface wear, light silvering to the margins, and faint age-related foxing typical of period photography.