Sixth plate half-length studio portrait tintype. [Tennessee], circa 1862-1865. Full leatherette case. With two different locks of hair affixed to image verso. 

Note: Published material identifies the sitter as Colonel Estes of the Third Confederate Cavalry, suggesting the image was recognized and recorded in earlier scholarship. Colonel Estes was killed in action September 17, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. However, Pat Booth recorded the image as depicting James R. Estes of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry. Further research may clarify the subject's identity. 

Portrait of an officer who Pat Booth believed to be James R. Estes of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry. He is clad in a classic grey double-breasted Confederate officer's frock coat and armed with a sword. A lieutenant based on the two-bar rank on his collar, his sleeves also feature the iconic gold "chicken guts" design. While the focus on his brass two-piece tongue and wreath belt buckle is slightly soft, some detail is visible. Intriguingly, two different locks of hair were stored behind the image, which is housed in half of a leatherette case. 

Estes's records with the 7th are scant, and it is unclear whether he ever became an officer. Formed in April of 1862, the 7th Tennessee was an active unit that eventually became part of Nathan Bedford Forrest's fearsome cavalry. Estes hailed from Lawrence prior to the Civil War and moved to Nashville after the surrender; he is said to have taken an Oath of Allegiance to the United States in April of 1865. 

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