STREET VIEW OF EARLY-WAR SOLDIERS OFF TO WAR

American, circa 1861–62. Quarter plate ambrotype. Housed in a half leatherette case.

Oval-matted ambrotype showing a full infantry company drawn up at the shoulder, with three drummers and a fifer at left, officers fore and aft, and stacked wagons and tree-lined houses receding in the background, almost certainly a hometown muster or departure scene from the opening months of the Civil War.

Uniforms are the mixed sack-coat and frock-coat styles typical of state militia and newly raised volunteers in both North and South; a few men wear slouch hats, others forage caps, and the long arms appear to be percussion muskets with fixed bayonets. 

An impressive view that deserves further research.

[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]