Horizontal studio portrait albumen CDV. Photographed by "J. Jeanes, No. 415 Market Street, Wilmington, Del." [circa 1863-1865]. A collector's note on the back identifes the subjust at far left as Thomas M. Wenie. 

This compelling horizontal studio portrait captures four Union officers seated shoulder-to-shoulder in a classic display of camaraderie. The men wear a mix of officer's frock coats and sack coats, all displaying their shoulder straps indicating line or field rank. The most critical visual evidence lies in the hats held by the second and fourth officers: both clearly display the prominent trefoil insignia of the Army of the Potomac's vaunted 2nd Army Corps. The horizontal format of this carte de visite is unusual and highly desirable, specifically chosen to accommodate a group portrait of pards who likely fought through some of the war's most brutal campaigns together.

A collector's note on the verso identifies the officer at far left as Lt. Thomas Wenie, who served as a Captain in both the 2nd Delaware and 1st Delaware Infantry. His relentless frontline service earned him a late-war captaincy in Hancock's 4th U.S. Veteran Volunteers. Following the war, he built a dedicated career as a regular U.S. Army officer in the 19th Infantry, serving at rugged western outposts until his death in 1882.

The presence of the trefoil badges firmly anchors Wenie and his pards  in the 2nd Army Corps, a command that saw some of the heaviest fighting and sustained the highest number of casualties in the Union army. From the Sunken Road at Antietam to the defense of Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg and the bloody assaults at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, the 2nd Corps was the shock troop formation of the Eastern Theater. Regardless, this is a fine study of four comrades with a story to tell. 

[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, Stereographs] [Civil War, Union, Confederate]

The image is in good condition, exhibiting a pleasing, slightly warm tonality with strong contrast.