Three-quarter length studio albumen CDV. Boston: Whipple, 96 Washington St., [ca. 1862]. Photographer’s imprint to mount verso. Verso also bears a pencil collector's inscription: "COL. PAUL J. REVERE / 20TH MASS / KIA GETTYSBURG / MW 7-3-1863 / DOW 7-5-1863."

Col. Paul Joseph Revere (1832-63), grandson of the Revolutionary War patriot. Revere served with the storied 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, known as the "Harvard Regiment." During the Battle of Gettysburg, while commanding the regiment on 2 July 1863, he was struck in the chest by a piece of shrapnel during the Confederate cannonade preceding Longstreet's assault. He died on 4 July, the same day the nation celebrated the twin victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, leaving behind a legacy that linked the founding generation to the preservation of the Union.

Revere's portrait is a masterful Boston studio shot by the renowned John Adams Whipple. Revere is depicted in a commanding profile pose with arms crossed, wearing a double-breasted officer’s frock coat and a sword belt with a sling attachment visible. Whipple’s studio was the preferred destination for the Massachusetts social and intellectual elite, and this image captures the defiant resolve of a man carrying one of the most famous names in American history into the nation's greatest crisis. This CDV survives as a poignant study of the heavy price paid by our founding families during the Civil War.

[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]

Crisp focus and rich sepia tones; minor corner wear to the mount. A premier example of a legendary Gettysburg casualty with impeccable Massachusetts provenance.