Ninth plate waist-up studio portrait ambrotype. [Corinth, Mississippi]: N.p., [May 1861-May 1862]. Half thermoplastic case. 

A rare and unusual portrait of a Confederate soldier in uniform. Evidently patriotic to his new nation, he is captured with a placard to the left that reads “Jeff Davis and the South.” 

A comprehensive survey and examination of portraits with the “Jeff. Davis and the South!” sign was conducted by Rick Brown and Ronald S. Coddington, published in Military Images Magazine, 26 February 2023. Though the photographer is as of yet unidentified, they confidently place them working in Corinth, Mississippi or surrounding Tishomingo County between the start of the war and May 1862. 

VERY RARE. In a survey of known examples, 29 portraits with the “Jeff. Davis and the South” sign were located. 11 of those were ninth plate ambrotypes, the most commonly found format. Most known examples are held institutionally, including 4 portraits in the Library of Congress (AMB/TIN nos. 3026, 3050, 3528, &  3757 [P&P]). This portrait is Ref. #28 in the Brown-Coddington survey. 

[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]