This striking full-length study captures Charles Russell Lowell, a legendary figure of the Union cavalry and one of the most brilliant young officers hailing from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Posed with a quiet but intense dignity, Lowell wears a rare officer's overcoat with elaborate braided "Austrian knots" on the sleeves and a velvet collar. The image was produced by the renowned John Adams Whipple in Boston, a photographer favored by the city's elite families. The pencil identification on the mount recto correctly identifies him by his final rank, immortalizing a man whose battlefield presence was considered nearly supernatural by his men.

Lowell’s career was a meteoric rise characterized by extreme personal bravery. A member of the storied Lowell family of Boston and the first scholar of his Harvard class, he left a promising career in iron manufacturing to lead the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. During the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, he became a favorite of Gen. Philip Sheridan. His end came at the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864. Although severely wounded earlier in the day by a bullet that collapsed a lung, Lowell refused to leave the field. He had to be lifted into his saddle for the final, decisive Union countercharge. Leading his brigade forward, he was struck again, this time mortally. He died the following morning, having been promoted to brigadier general for his gallantry in that final action.

Lowell was a premier subject for Rick because he embodied the "cavalier" ideal: an intellectual who became a master of shock tactics. Finding a sharp, identified portrait of a well-educated, successful man who fell at the head of a charge is a textbook example of the elite, narrative-driven material that defined the Carlile archive.

[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]

The image is in generally excellent condition, featuring rich tonal depth and exceptional clarity in the intricate braiding of the overcoat.