IDENTIFIED FRAMED FULL-PLATE AMBROTYPE OF CAPT. ROBERT A. WILSON OF THE 1ST MARYLAND, MORTALLY WOUNDED AT HATCHER’S RUN

Provenance: From the collection of Frederick "Frank" Logan. Frank Logan was a dedicated Civil War enthusiast and respected member of the collecting community. He began his lifelong passion for Civil War history as a relic hunter in the mid-1970s. Over the decades, that early interest grew into a deep passion for all aspects of the Civil War, with his collecting efforts eventually centering on Maryland-related artifacts and material culture. This portrait was among his most prized possessions.

A deeply moving and extraordinarily rare full-plate ambrotype portrait of Captain Robert A. Wilson of the 1st Maryland Cavalry, shown full-length beside his saddled horse, saber in hand, and preserved in an imposing presentation frame with figured veneer, gilt slips, and an oval mat. Far removed from the more familiar studio busts of the Civil War era, this outdoor portrait was composed on a notably ambitious scale and with uncommon theatrical presence: Wilson appears as a mounted officer momentarily at rest, his martial bearing heightened by the striking inclusion of his horse and equipment. Subtle hand-coloring, visible in the horse, tack, and uniform accents, further enlivens the portrait.

The visual “wall power” of the ambrotype is matched by its provenance and the history of its subject. Manuscript material from the reverse of the frame, likely written by a family member of Wilson’s, identifies the officer as “Capt. Robert A. Wilson,” addressed at “Camp Carroll / Baltimore / Maryland,” while a later family memorandum records the tragic arc of his final campaign: Wilson was wounded on 2 February 1865 and died on 13 February 1865, the wound having been received “at Hatcher’s Run, Dabney’s Mills, Va.” The same note preserves the broader martial history of the Wilson family, naming Malcolm Wilson as “killed at Antietam,” and recording additional Wilson brothers lost in the war. Most powerfully, it states that the family were “all members – 1st Md Cavalry – from Baltimore County, Maryland,” and that they were later commemorated by the Wilson Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Robert A. Wilson’s military record embodies the arc of patriotic resolve that defines so many of the war’s most affecting individual histories. Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1826 and later established as a farmer in Baltimore County, Maryland, Wilson first entered Federal service in September 1861, when he was commissioned captain of Company F, 1st Maryland Cavalry. That early period of service was cut short by ill health, forcing his resignation at Camp Carroll in May 1862. Yet Wilson’s withdrawal from the army proved only temporary. In August of that same year, he again offered himself to the Union cause, this time entering Company G, 1st Maryland Infantry, and beginning anew in the ranks.

Wilson advanced from corporal to sergeant, and ultimately to second lieutenant in December 1864, a progression that speaks to sustained merit and the confidence of his superiors. In July 1864 he was detailed to the Ambulance Corps, an assignment demanding exceptional steadiness under fire and intimate familiarity with the war’s human cost. Wilson’s final trial came at Dabney’s Mills, Virginia (Battle of Hatcher’s Run), on 6 February 1865, where he was wounded in the shoulder during one of the closing actions of the Petersburg campaign. Removed from the field and returned to Maryland, he died of those wounds at his home in Baltimore County on 14 February 1865.

Wilson was buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Chestnut Grove, Maryland, leaving behind a service record made still more poignant by the losses borne within his own family. His brothers Isaac and John W. served in the same regiment, and the Wilson family appears to have suffered grievously in the war: John W. Wilson was killed in action in 1865 (also at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run), while another brother, Capt. Malcolm Wilson of the 2nd Maryland, was killed at Antietam in 1862. Isaac appears to have survived the conflict.

[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]