A premier collection of four original albumen cartes-de-visite tracking the specialized uniform variations of the celebrated 44th New York Infantry. The first depicts an enlisted man leaning on a column in the distinctive Chasseur/Zouave jacket with a pistol tucked in his belt. The second captures a corporal with musket, bayonet, and draped American flag (reverse penciled: "Preston Family Upstate NY"). The third shows an enlisted trooper holding his forage cap beside a balustrade and military overcoat (reverse penciled: "Rochester NY Album"). The fourth features a standing sergeant displaying intricate jacket piping and crisp NCO chevrons, bearing the purple letterpress backmark of D. Woodworth, No. 444 Broadway, Albany, N.Y. (reverse penciled: "44th New York").

This exceptional four-card grouping provides an invaluable material culture study of one of the most famous and heavily engaged northern regiments of the Civil War: the 44th New York Volunteer Infantry, universally known as Ellsworth's Avengers. Organized in Albany in the fall of 1861, the regiment was raised to honor the memory of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, the charismatic leader of the 11th New York Zouaves who became the first conspicuous Union officer killed in the conflict. To form an elite unit, recruiters required each township in the state to select and fund their finest, most physically fit young volunteers.

The 44th New York went on to carve out an elite, bloody combat legacy in the Eastern Theater as part of the Fifth Army Corps. The regiment is most universally immortalized for its pivotal role on the afternoon of 2 July 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg. Positioned on the rocky, exposed slopes of Little Round Top alongside the 20th Maine, the 16th Michigan, and the 83rd Pennsylvania, the 44th New York withstood a succession of desperate, bloody assaults launched by Hood's Texas and Alabama brigades, suffering devastating casualties but successfully preserving the tactical left flank of the Army of the Potomac. 

The 44th New York Infantry was of special interest to Rick Carlile. Representing a definitive visual monument to the heroic defenders of Little Round Top, this four-piece archive of a difficult to find regiment constitutes a quality centerpiece for any Civil War collection. 

[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 to fine overall. The individual albumen prints retain impressive clarity, strong contrast, and rich tones. The mounts are structurally crisp and unclipped, showing only standard, minor handling wear and uniform light age-toning.