Full-length albumen CDV studio portrait. Manchester, New Hampshire: D. A. Simons, n.d. Photographer's imprint to mount verso.  Three-cent revenue stamp affixed to verso, with pencil inscription identifying the subject: "Sgt. Charles Vickery. 2nd New Hampshire." A bearded Vickery is shown standing with one arm bent to distinctly showcase the three-chevron sergeant's insignia on his Union Army frock coat.

Charles Vickery (1841–1863), a Manchester laborer, enlisted on June 7, 1861, as the original corporal in Co. I, 2nd New Hampshire Infantry. A capable soldier, he was promoted to sergeant in May 1862 and commissioned as a lieutenant later that September. Vickery and his regiment opened the conflict at the Battle of First Bull Run and subsequently saw heavy action at Williamsburg, Gaines Mill, Second Bull Run, and Fredericksburg, where Vickery was among five members of his regiment to sustain wounds. He recovered and returned to duty, serving at the Battle of Chancellorsville before moving north to Gettysburg.

On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, the 2nd New Hampshire was engaged near the Peach Orchard. During the fighting, Vickery was struck in the back by a gunshot that fractured his spine. Left paralyzed in the battlefield, Vickery was discovered by advancing Confederate troops who purportedly "stripped him and robbed him with their customary dexterity," before he was moved to a barn at the nearby Abraham Trostle farm. The following day, as the farm became the focal point of intense artillery fire, Vickery was struck a second time, sustaining a grapeshot wound to the chest. He was eventually evacuated to a field hospital, where he was placed under the dedicated care of Harriet Patience Dame (1815–1900), the celebrated field nurse of the 2nd New Hampshire.

Despite being informed by surgeons that the minié ball lodged in his spine was inoperable and his condition terminal, Vickery remained confident that he would survive to return home to his new bride, Ellen "Nettie" Pritchard (1839–1927). The couple had wed just five months prior while Vickery was home on furlough, with their five-month anniversary falling on the exact day he was wounded. Vickery ultimately succumbed to his wounds on July 11, 1863.

Included with the CDV is a contemporary reproduction of the condolence letter written to Nettie by Vickery’s comrade, Samuel H. Oliver (1838–1901), informing her of her husband's death and explaining what transpired:

"The battle took place on the afternoon of the 2nd of July...we laid there a while when the Rebs pressed us so hard we got the order to fall back & Charlie was hit just was we got that order. It was a minnie [sic] bal it struck him in the small of his back it remain in him, could not be taken out. I asked him several times if he was in any pain [and] he always answered that he was not. He thought that he would get well, spoke several times about being sent to Philadelphia & then have you come out there to see him...On the afternoon of the 10th he began to fail and after dark he could not speak & didn't know me...about 10 in the evening he spoke your name...a few moments past one in the morning of the 11th [was] when he died....The Rebs took his sword an belt [but] the Captain informs me that he has sent his [other] things to you, but I have a picture of yourself [and] and piece of silver money which Charlie carried with I'm...which I will send to you."

 A powerful, photographic artifact a young, newlywed soldier fatefully tied to the apex of the Gettysburg campaign.