Full-length standing studio portrait albumen CDV. Uncredited Washington, D.C. area artist, [ca. May 1861]. Period ink inscription to lower front mount reads: “Jesse Comstock / Camp Sprague - May 1861.” Detailed collector research to mount verso.

This exceptional CDV features a strikingly sharp portrait of Private Jesse Comstock, a member of the 1st Rhode Island Detached Militia. The image was captured by an artist in the Washington, D.C. area and may be the work of a studio such as Brady or Whitehurst. Comstock is shown in full marching rig, wearing his signature early-war pleated flannel blouse, a crossbelt, and dark trousers while holding his regulation forage cap with its visible regimental insignia at his side. He rests his right hand firmly on the muzzle of his rifle-musket, which is fitted with a long triangular socket bayonet. 

Comstock was among the initial wave of patriotic volunteers who answered the call to arms following the fall of Fort Sumter, mustering into Company D on 2 May 1861. He moved south with the regiment under the command of Colonel Ambrose Burnside, helping establish Camp Sprague outside the nation's capital. On 21 July 1861, Comstock and his comrades were thrown into the absolute epicenter of the opening infantry clashes at the First Battle of Bull Run. Tasked with anchoring the federal flanking movement on Matthews Hill, the regiment engaged in a fierce, chaotic firefight before the Union position collapsed into a panicked retreat.

Comstock’s wartime service came to a tragic end during the regiment's chaotic withdrawal from the field. Severely wounded, he was taken to a primitive hospital at Sudley Church. Left behind in the pandemonium of the Union retreat, he was captured by victorious Confederate forces. He died ten days later at the age of just 18. His remains were buried in a mass grave, and were never returned to Rhode Island.

Comstock became a tragic figure in Rhode Island, although original photographs of him remain very scarce. This is a rare chance to add a top-tier identified early-War casualty image to your collection. 

[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 image and mount exhibit rich tones and appropriate period wear. The top of the mount is slightly trimmed.