PORTRAITS OF WOUNDED CONFEDERATE SOLDIER

United States, sixth plate daguerreotype circa 1855-1860 (by “Hobday,” active in Virginia); ambrotype, Civil War, 1861–65.

Two portrait studies of a single, unidentified soldier, spanning his transition from antebellum militia service in Virginia to the Confederacy. The earlier view is a sixth-plate daguerreotype, the gilt-embossed mat stamped “HOBDAY,” a photographer documented as operating in Virginia before the war. The companion image is a ninth-plate ambrotype taken during the war, the same man now in Confederate gray, his right arm carried in a sling.

Paired images showing the same soldier’s passage from militia to general service during the Civil War are scarce; examples in which the wartime view shows an evidently wounded Confederate are exceptionally rare. The Virginia “Hobday” attribution ties the pre-war portrait geographically to Virginia and represents a chance for further research. 

Together, the views offer an unusually personal, before-and-after narrative of service and sacrifice, and would be a compelling addition to advanced collections of early American photography and Confederate portraiture.

[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]