Vignetted bust portrait albumen CDV. Adrian, MI: A. W. Aldrich, [circa 1864-1866]. Photographer's imprint and two-cent blue proprietary tax stamp to mount verso. Research pencil identifications to mount verso read: Richard Watson Seage / 4th Michigan / WIA Gettysburg.

This clean, vignetted bust portrait captures Richard Watson Seage of the 4th Michigan Infantry. Seage, who joined the regiment with both his father and brother, is shown in a line officer's single-breasted frock coat, with his shoulder straps clearly visible. The image was produced by A. W. Aldrich of Adrian, Michigan.  

The 4th Michigan Infantry is legendary for its desperate hand-to-hand combat on July 2, 1863, during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Operating as part of the 5th Corps, the regiment was positioned in the swirling chaos of the Wheatfield and the adjacent Stony Hill. They fought fiercely against attacking Confederates in a brutal melee that famously saw their commander, Colonel Harrison Jeffords, killed by a bayonet thrust while defending the regimental colors. It was within this exact crucible of fire that Seage fell wounded: in his chest, arm, and both legs, only to be trampled by advancing Confederate troops. Seage lay on the battlefield until the next morning when he was rescued by his brother Henry, a corporal in the same regiment. It was not the first time Seage took a bullet for the Union: he survived previous, less serious blows at both Malvern Hill and Antietam. 

Henry helped nurse Richard back to health over the following months. In September 1863, the two brothers took a train back to Michigan to visit their father, John Seage, who served as the regimental chaplain and had also been severely wounded earlier in the war. Thanks in large part to the care provided by his family, he returned to active duty and lived to see the surrender. 

This is a highly desirable and rare portrait of a 4th Michigan line officer severely wounded during the legendary and brutal hand-to-hand fighting in the Wheatfield on the second day of Gettysburg.

[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. The albumen surface exhibits a soft, warm tonality that beautifully captures his facial features and uniform details. There is minimal surface wear and only slight age-related toning.