Sixth plate half-length studio portrait ambrotype. [Tennessee], circa 1861-1862. Full leatherette case. Subject identified as "T.H.B. Lang" in ink on case pillow. 

Poignant portrait of Thomas H. B. Lang of Company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry. Lang enlisted as a private at Camp Harris, Tennessee, in May 1861. Like most of his comrades, he hailed from the east-central counties of the Volunteer State. Promoted to corporal a year later, his budding military career was cut short by illness. Regimental records note that he spent the remainder of 1862 sick and in hospital, and that he “departed this life, Jan. 11th, 1863, Winchester, Tenn.”

In what may have been his only wartime likeness, Lang appears in a homespun Confederate jacket, paired with a distinctive beehive-style hat commonly associated with soldiers of the Western Theater. His accoutrements include a leather belt with roller buckle, and what seems to be an eagle breast plate affixed at the right side of the buckle. A musket is held across his chest, while a small bar-hammer single-shot pistol is visible tucked behind his belt.

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