Three-quarter length standing studio portrait albumen CDV. New York: J. Gurney & Son, 707 Broadway, [ca. late 1863]. A striking, high-contrast study showing Martin Davis Hardin standing resolutely in his double-breasted officer's frock coat with single-bar lieutenant colonel shoulder straps. He tucks his right hand into his coat breast, looking into the distance with a prominent mustache and long hair, while resting his left side next to a carved studio chair. Notably, on his left breast he wears a Maltese Cross badge - the proud insignia of the Fifth Army Corps. The reverse bears a central J. Gurney & Son backmark and deep collector research tracking Hardin's identity, command, and wounds. 

Martin Davis Hardin boasts an immortal operational record as one of the premier fighting leaders of the Pennsylvania Reserves and the Fifth Army Corps. A West Point graduate of 1859, he served as an aide-de-camp to Colonel Robert E. Lee during the John Brown raid before the war. During the Civil War he fought with distinction throughout the Peninsular Campaign, only to be severely wounded in action at the Battle of Second Bull Run (Second Manassas). 

Hardin returned to the field to command the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves  at the Battle of Gettysburg. He successfully led his regiment into the struggle for Little Round Top and the Big Round Top sector, stubbornly securing the extreme union left flank on the latter. Following Gettysburg, command of the brigade devolved upon him. His luck ran out during the Mine Run Campaign; on December 14, 1863, he was shot by guerrillas while on a reconnaissance, resulting in the total amputation of his left arm. Showing unimaginable resilience, he returned to field command as a Brigadier General during the Overland Campaign, where he was wounded yet again at the North Anna River.

The definitive studio connection to Gurney's New York gallery, paired with a visual study showing the officer just before the loss of his limb, lifts this image into a higher tier. It is a striking coincidence of history: Hardin rested his left side against the chair and tucked his right hand away in a manner that perfectly foreshadows the tragic physical constraint that would define the rest of his legendary military career just a month or two later.

[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]

The print and mount are in very good condition. The carte was trimmed along the lower edge for insertion into an album, a common practice of the era.