PATRIOTIC PORTRAIT OF A USCT SOLDIER

Full-length standing portrait of a Black USCT soldier in uniform. Quarter plate hand-gilt tintype. Full pressed paper case with floral motif. 

While individual portrait photographs of white Union enlistees are widely preserved, wartime images capturing African American soldiers who fought for their emancipation within the ranks of the USCT remain among the rarest and most intensely sought-after examples of early American photography. This unknown soldier is captured standing in a proud posture, clad in a standard federal four-button fatigue blouse and an infantry forage cap. He holds his right hand deliberately over his chest while his left arm rests alongside a long infantry musket outfitted with a fixed socket bayonet. The studio artist applied delicate gold accents to the soldier's oval US brass belt plate and uniform buttons. While the plate has suffered notable environmental wear over the past 160 years, the visual command and historical identity of this black soldier remain completely unmistakable. More than 180,000 African American men donned federal blue to secure the destruction of slavery and the preservation of the Union - this was one of them.

[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] [USCT, United States  Colored Troops, Glory, 54th Massachusetts, Buffalo Soldiers, Black Soldiers] 

The plate is in rough but stable condition, exhibiting significant era-appropriate solarization, surface swipes, and some bends. That said, the content is still readily visible. It is housed in a complete leatherette case.