An original albumen carte-de-visite photograph capturing a studio portrait of a completely shredded, bullet-torn and frayed Union national combat color draped over its staff. The lower front margin features a neat, period ink script inscription reading, "The Old Flag."

The reverse features a spectacular, large ornate graphic backmark for Whitehurst Gallery, 434 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. A crisp, authentic period fountain pen inscription at the upper margin provides the unit identification: "24th Wis. Vols."

This extraordinary photograph stands as a profound visual monument to frontline sacrifice, documenting the physical remnants of the national flag carried by the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry (the "Independent Regiment"). Raised primarily in Milwaukee in the summer of 1862, the 24th Wisconsin was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and earned an immortalized reputation as one of the hardest-fighting infantry units in the Western Theater.

The complete destruction of the silk stripes and canton captured in this Whitehurst studio portrait reflects the terrifying volume of fire the regiment endured during its engagements, most notably at the Battle of Stones River, the bloody assault up Missionary Ridge and the desperate stand at Franklin. The flag is closely linked to the legacy of the regiment's young adjutant, the 18-year-old Arthur MacArthur Jr. (father of General Douglas MacArthur). During the Battle of Missionary Ridge, when the regiment's color-bearers were successively shot down, young MacArthur seized these very colors, ran to the crest of the ridge, and planted them before the shattered Confederate lines, shouting "On, Wisconsin!", an action that rallied the regiment and earned him the Medal of Honor. This photograph was produced shortly after the war at Jesse Whitehurst's premier Washington gallery to preserve the physical memory of the flag that MacArthur and his comrades bled to defend.

[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]

Very good. The albumen print exhibits sharp clarity and deep tones. The carte itself is structurally sound and unclipped with light, uniform age-toning and minor handling wear along the borders.