A significant grouping of three CDVs related to the United States Sharpshooters, including: 

1. Colonel Hiram Berdan: Standing full-length portrait in uniform. New York: Mathew Brady (E. & H.T. Anthony), ca. 1862.

2. Mrs. Hiram Berdan: Standing full-length portrait in fine silk dress. New York: Mathew Brady (E. & H.T. Anthony), ca. 1862.

3. John Rogers' "Sharpshooters": CDV of the famous 1862 statuette group. New York: M. Stadtfeld, 1863. Reverse bears a period ink inscription attributed to Union Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs.

Col. Hiram Berdan (1824-93) was the inventive mind and controversial commander behind the 1st and 2nd United States Sharpshooters (USSS). Renowned as the best marksman in the country, Berdan outfitted his men in distinctive forest-green uniforms and armed them with Sharps breech-loading rifles, creating the most feared specialized units in the Army of the Potomac. His wife, Elizabeth Wright Berdan, was a prominent figure in Washington and New York social circles, often seen at her husband’s side during the regiment’s initial encampments.

Both Berdan portraits are quintessential Brady productions. The colonel is depicted in his officer’s frock coat, leaning against a studio chair with his sword at his side, projecting the confidence of a man who changed the face of American light infantry. The accompanying image of Mrs. Berdan, taken at the same studio, provides a rare domestic counterpoint to the martial nature of the collection.

The third CDV depicts John Rogers’s iconic sculptural group, "The Sharpshooters," which portrays two soldiers in a picket line — one aiming a rifle while the other observes through a telescope. This specific card is of substantial historical interest, as the reverse is noted to be in the hand of Montgomery Meigs, the architect of the Union’s logistical victory. 

Berdan’s Sharpshooters were instrumental at Gettysburg, particularly in Pitzer’s Woods and on the slopes of Little Round Top, where their skirmishing delayed entire Confederate brigades. While Berdan himself was a polarizing figure among his peers, the technical superiority and battlefield efficacy of his "Green Coats" are undisputed. This lot represents a complete visual narrative of the Sharpshooter phenomenon: the commander, the social support and the cultural immortalization of the unit. 

[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]

Overall very fine; Berdan images maintain excellent contrast and sharp details. The Rogers’s group CDV shows minor toning but remains a rare and highly researchable documentary piece.