A vignetted bust albumen CDV. Port Jervis, NY: E. P. Masterson, Photographer. [ca. 1862]. Recto features a youthful portrait within a double-border mount. Verso bears a Masterson gallery backmark, period pencil identification "Harry R. Brodhead," and later research notations: "WIA, Chancellorsville" and "KIA—Boydton Road / 10-27-64."

Enlisting at just 18 years old from Port Jervis, Brodhead was part of the original muster of the "Orange Blossoms." He survived the regiment's famously bloody stand at Gettysburg, but his service record is a testament to the relentless attrition of the Union's final years. He was wounded in action at Chancellorsville in May 1863 and returned to his unit for Gettysburg, only to be killed in action during the Battle of Boydton Plank Road on October 27, 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg.

A serene and sensitive vignetted study produced in his hometown of Port Jervis, the boyish Brodhead is depicted in his private's shell jacket with a high standing collar. The image captures the striking youthfulness of the volunteers who filled the ranks of the 124th New York. The Masterson backmark, noting negative preserved, is a poignant reminder that many Civil War families relied on local galleries to produce memorial prints of the sons they lost in Virginia.

Brodhead represents the core of the 124th New York, Hudson Valley boys who battled constantly from the Rappahannock to the James. While he survived the whirlpool of Devil's Den at Gettysburg, the long war of 1864 eventually claimed his life.

[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]

Soft tonal quality typical of vignetted prints. The mount is well-preserved with minor age-related toning.