Outdoor view of a plantation house and over 20 posed subjects, both Black and white. Oversize albumen. [Murfreesboro, Tennessee?]: N.p., [1866?]. 10 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. Printed slip affixed to verso reading "Office Assistant Quartermaster in charge of national Cemeteries and Mortuary Records, Military Division of the Tennessee, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1866." 

An unusual view of a plantation house surrounded by both white subjects and Black individuals. The slip to the verso suggests that the image was taken in the early days of Reconstruction. It is a valuable glimpse of early post-War life in the South. Despite Emancipation, many former slaves remained on the plantations where they had been enslaved as they sought to navigate the complexities of the post-War South. Careful observation of the photograph reveals not only the figures visible in the front yard and porch, but also several visible from the upper colonnade and open windows. 

[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, Stereographs] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] 

Short marginal tears.