This beautifully composed image depicts a seated Union officer in full uniform, identified as Lt. Col. Jonas W. Lyman, with his young daughter, Elizabeth "Libbie" Lyman, standing beside him. The officer wears a double-breasted frock coat with field officer's shoulder straps and a distinct corps badge pinned to his breast. The backmark indicates the image was captured by photographer John F. Nice in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Jonas W. Lyman (1820-65) served as the lieutenant colonel of the 203rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. A resident of Lycoming County prior to the war, Lyman was a dedicated officer who led his regiment during the harrowing amphibious assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

On 15 January 1865, during the second battle for the fort, Lyman was killed in action while gallantly leading a charge against the Confederate position at Shepherd's Battery. His death was a significant loss to the regiment, occurring just months before the war's conclusion. The child in the photograph, Libbie, was born around 1860, placing the date of this portrait in the mid-war period, likely during one of Lyman’s final furloughs home before the 1864-5 campaigns. Following the return of his remains to Pennsylvania, he was interred in Jersey Shore Cemetery.

The Lyman family portrait is one of the most moving in the Rick Carlile Collection, putting a fine point on the human toll of the American Civil War. This is the nicest example of this famous photography that we have ever encountered, and it would have a place in any advanced collection of early photography. 

[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]

Very good overall condition with deep tones and minimal surface wear, mostly limited to the lower right edge of the print. There is a slight bend on the extreme lower right corner of the mount.