Civil War Era Photographic Portraiture
I am currently making my way through the American Civil War with material that I have gathered over the last 15 or so years—diary and journal entries, news articles, letters, photos and images, day-by-day stepping through the war. I am sharing the material 160 years after the events that these snippets of peoples lives and the news recorded in a blog called American Civil War Chronicles.
Today, for instance, most of the material is from July 20, 1861, two days before the first major battle of the war, Bull Run—also called, by the South, Manassas.
Forces are moving and colliding already in the days before the battle.
The blog does not and will not dwell on the battles and the conflict itself. There are other resources that do that very well.
The blog conveys some of what individuals and the media of the day saw and recorded for posterity, such as
- the Woolsey family and their letters,
- a diary recording the experiences of Battery A, First Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artillery,
- the diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut.
- a US patent clerk’s diary
- the war letters of William T. Lusk,
- the diary of a refugee in the south, Judith McGuire
- a daily diary of events for that day compiled in the 186s by Frank Moore
- diary and letters of Union officer Rutherford B. Hayes
- the diary of a high level clerk in the War Office of the Confederacy
- Extracts from the diary of Rafael Semmes, commanding CSS Sumter
- Letters of the Adams family—the US Minister to the UK and his sons
- Letters of General Samuel Ryan Curtis
- Letters and journal of Louise Wigfall
- War Diary of a Union Woman in the South
and more. There are currently 23,802 total posts that will be published over a period of a little over 5 years. 3,867 have already been published, 9,445 are scheduled, and 10,490 are in draft, having been previously published and requiring minor editing, mostly changing the date from the previously published date to a date five years later, which will put them in the schedule 160 years after original writing date or occurrence.
The following is the information for this image.
Title
[Jesse Sharpe Barnes, later captain of Co. F, 4th North Carolina Infantry, in South Carolina militia uniform with sword and pistols]
Summary
Photograph shows identified soldier, Jesse S. Barnes, a Confederate captain who was killed on May 31, 1862, at Seven Pines, Virginia. Captain Barnes probably fought in a South Carolina militia unit before organizing the Wilson Light Infantry which became Company F, 4th North Carolina Infantry and began enlisting on April 18, 1861. (Source: Katharina Schlichtherle, 2015)
Created / Published
[between 1861]
Subject Headings
– Barnes, Jesse Sharpe,–1838-1862
– Confederate States of America.–Army.–North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 4th.–Company F–People–1860-1870
– Soldiers–Confederate–1860-1870
– Military uniforms–Confederate–1860-1870
– Handguns–1860-1870
– Daggers & swords–1860-1870
– United States–History–Civil War, 1861-1865–Military personnel–Confederate
Headings
Ambrotypes–Hand-colored–1860-1870.
Portrait photographs–1860-1870.
Genre
Portrait photographs–1860-1870
Ambrotypes–Hand-colored–1860-1870
Notes
– Identification based on an almost identical photograph of Jesse S. Barnes published in Histories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina, in the great war 1861-’65 … Ed. by Walter Clark. Raleigh : E.M. Uzzell, printer, 1901, vol. 1, bet. pp. 256-257. The uniform depicted in the book shows has been painted over to change it to a North Carolina uniform.
– Title devised by Library staff.
– Case: Leather; floral and scroll design.
– Jesse Sharpe Barnes was brother to William Sharpe Barnes who is depicted in AMB/TIN no. 2697 and cousin to Thomas A. Martin who is tentatively identified as being depicted in AMB/TIN no. 2696.
– Palmetto tree insignia on cap.
– Vintage mat supplied by donor.
– Gift; Tom Liljenquist; 2011; (DLC/PP-2012:127).
– More information about this collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.lilj
– Purchased from: Bryan Watson, Civil War Images, Torrington, Wyoming, 2011, who obtained this photograph with two others, one of William Sharpe Barnes (AMB/TIN no. 2697) and the second one tentatively identified as Thomas A. Martin (AMB/TIN no. 2696), from an estate in Florida.
– Forms part of: Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
Medium
1 photograph : quarter-plate ambrotype, hand-colored ; 11.9 x 9.3 cm (case)
Call Number/Physical Location
AMB/TIN no. 2730 [P&P]
Source Collection
Ambrotype/Tintype filing series (Library of Congress) Liljenquist Family collection (Library of Congress)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id
ppmsca 31657 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.31657
Library of Congress Control Number
2011648526
Reproduction Number
LC-DIG-ppmsca-31657 (digital file from original item)
Library of Congress permalink
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Mike’s notes:
Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject
