Albumen CDV of a medical procedure. New York: Krüger & Jaenücke. Photographer's imprint to verso. Later ink identification. 

Extraordinarily intimate view of a surgeon and his assistant bandaging a wounded Union officer's lower leg. The injured man lays prone on a crude table, in this case nothing more than a chair and wooden crate with the crate lid balanced between the objects for support. Of interest is how the officer looks away from the doctors and instead gazes at a young boy standing to his left. He also appears to be gesturing towards his boot, which was removed for the procedure. The subject of his interest is possibly African American, and may have been his contraband camp servant. Medical scenes like these are scarcely encountered but highly instructive regarding the reality of treatment during the Civil War: surgeons utilized the tools available; the men who needed their services relied heavily on their own toughness to survive. 

This particular view, of which we can find no other examples, was published during the Civil War era by Krüger & Jaenücke, German immigrant photographers who operated at 207 Bowery in New York City. An early but more modern ink inscription on the verso reads, "James Perry / Died 1862 in Georgia during the War." This may be a reference to Col. James H. Perry of the 48th New York Infantry, an officer who died suddenly of 'apoplexy' - a period term for a cerebral stroke or hemorrhage - at Fort Pulaski in 1862. Extant photographs of Perry do not show him with a beard like the patient in this photo, but it is possible he changed his style during the War. No record exists of a wound or other injury, however. Regardless, this is a remarkable and unusually candid Civil War CDV. 

[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] [Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Medical History, Medical Photography]