Three-quarter length seated studio portrait albumen CDV. Washington, D.C.: R. W. Addis, 308 Penna Avenue, [circa 1864-1865]. Photographer's imprint to mount verso. Period pencil inscription to mount verso reads: "David Dubley [sic] / C 4th Mich Inf / South Milford / La Grange Co / Ind." Modern pencil research notation reads: "POW Gettysburg / 7-2-63."

This striking seated portrait captures David Dudley of Company C, 4th Michigan Infantry. Dudley is posed wearing a dark, unbuttoned sack coat over a military vest. Pinned prominently to his left breast is the distinctive Maltese Cross badge of the 5th Army Corps. The image was struck in the Washington D.C. gallery of R. W. Addis. The reverse of the mount features a period pencil inscription recording his name, unit, and his pre-war home in South Milford, LaGrange County, Indiana. 

Dudley crossed state lines to volunteer with the Wolverines. Prior to his capture, Dudley and the hard-fighting 4th Michigan saw extensive and brutal action across the Eastern Theater, battling through the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. On 2 July 1863, the veteran regiment was plunged into the swirling chaos of the Gettysburg Wheatfield. The 4th Michigan engaged in desperate, hand-to-hand combat against attacking Confederates, a brutal melee that famously resulted in the death of their commander, Colonel Harrison Jeffords. It was in this brawl that Dudley was overwhelmed and taken prisoner of war.

David Dudley survived his time as a prisoner of war. After enduring captivity, he was paroled, survived the remainder of the conflict, and returned to civilian life in the Midwest. His image was a treasured part of the Carlile collection for nearly thirty years. 

[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, Stereographs] [Civil War, Union, Confederate]

The image is in very good condition. There is minimal surface wear and only light, age-related fading typical of period photography. Each corner was gently clipped for insertion into a period CDV album a typical practice of the time.