An original albumen carte-de-visite vignette studio portrait depicting Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Weygant of the 124th New York Infantry, looking slightly to the right. He is shown from the chest up, wearing an officer's coat with visible buttons and collar trim. The reverse features a bold, sweeping period ink presentation autograph and unit attribution: "Chas. H. Weygant / 124th N.Y. Vols." Also on the verso is the printed backmark for F. Forshew, Photographer, Hudson, N.Y., along with modern pencil tracking at the upper edge: "Charles H. Weygant / Lt. Col., 124 NY," along with a list of his battle wounds. 

This remarkable portrait captures one of the premier field officers of the legendary 124th New York Volunteer Infantry, affectionately known as the "Orange Blossoms." Recruited out of Orange County in the late summer of 1862, the regiment earned a reputation as one of the hardest-fighting units in the Army of the Potomac, suffering heavy losses as part of the Third Corps and later the Second Corps. Charles H. Weygant (1839–1909) entered the service as Captain of Company A and steadily rose through the ranks due to his conspicuous gallantry under fire and the high rate of attrition among the regiment's field officers.

Weygant's wartime record is a testament to the brutal, frontline combat his regiment faced throughout the Eastern Theater. He was wounded in action three separate times: first during the fierce close-quarters fighting at Chancellorsville in May 1863; a second time during the bloody, grinding assaults of the Overland Campaign at Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864; and a third time during the Siege of Petersburg at the Battle of Boydton Plank Road in October 1864.

When the regiment's iconic initial commander, Colonel A. Van Horne Ellis, was killed on the rocky slopes of Devil's Den during the Battle of Gettysburg, Weygant assumed field command of the battered Orange Blossoms, leading them through the remainder of that historic engagement and the brutal campaigns that followed. Following the war, Weygant became the chief historian of his unit, authoring the celebrated regimental history The History of the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Regiment, N.Y.S.V. 

This card features a highly dramatic, dark presentation signature by Weygant, personally gifted to an associate to commemorate his survival through some of the bloodiest engagements of the rebellion.

[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]

Very good. The albumen print retains crisp definition and strong clarity, with excellent contrast. The mount is clean and unclipped, showing only minimal, uniform age-toning and very minor wear along the edges.