Author: MI Editor

Brian Boeve purchased a photograph of an identified Union soldier about 25 years ago. The individual, Boeve learned, was a volunteer in the 2nd Iowa Infantry who suffered a mortal wound at the Battle of Shiloh. As it turned out, he was also the brother of a founder of Boeve’s hometown, Holland, Mich. The discoveries hooked Boeve on Civil War photography. Since then, he has focused on collecting citizen soldier likenesses. “To look into the eyes of these noble men and honor their sacrifice is the fuel that drives my passion to collect Civil War images,” he observes. Representative examples of his collection are featured in the Winter 2015 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

According to the historian of the 118th New York Infantry, 6-foot-6-inch Sgt. Joseph A. Hastings, “Carried our colors all through the war and was a modest and brave man. Because he was unusually tall, we claimed that we carried our colors higher than other regiments.” His image is included in a gallery of color bearers and other citizen soldiers posed with their regimental and national banners in the Winter 2015 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

A group of non-commissioned officers and enlisted men relax in camp at Warrenton Junction along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in Virginia. This is one of the photographs in the Winter 2015 collection of “Stragglers,” a gallery of distinctive and unique images shared by Military Images subscribers.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

Northern ingenuity created a singular style of headgear for the volunteer soldiery of the Union during the first few months of the Civil War. In order to provide protection from the elements, hatters in several states developed what generally became known as the “Havelock hat” or “Improved Military Cap.” A field guide to this distinctive cap is featured in the Winter 2015 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

Before the Monitor left the Brooklyn Navy Yard in February 1862, Acting Asst. Paymaster William Frederick Keeler had his photograph taken in his new uniform. “I felt awkward enough at first in mine,” he wrote to his wife, Anna, saying that, “it seemed like every one was looking at me.” Thus begins the story of Keeler and his experiences aboard the famed ironclad. He served on the Monitor for its brief lifespan, and his story is told in the Autumn 2014 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

Paul Russinoff has been fascinated by history and antiques for as long as he can remember. His interest was heightened in 1975, when at age 10, and living with his family in suburban Detroit, Mich., his mother bought him a box of lead Civil War soldiers. Soon after, he purchased a tintype of a Union soldier with a name scribbled on the back. “I was hooked,” he recalled. Representative images from Russinoff’s collection are the featured gallery in the Autumn 2014 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

An ardent collector and part-time dealer of early photography, Matt Cranford is drawn to the uncommon side of Civil War imagery. Matt searches for artfully composed, technically superior and conditionally sound images that reveal the theater of war—from the serious to the whimsical. Although a scientist by trade, Cranford is drawn to images by their aesthetics. He finds ambrotypes especially satisfying. “A great one possesses a rich tonal range from creamy lights to the deep blacks of the backing,” Cranford notes. “They add a painterly aura to the work.” 15 representative images from Cranford’s collection are the featured gallery in the Summer 2014 issue of Military Images.

• Go to the finding aid for this issue.
• Purchase the digital edition.
• Subscribe to the print and/or digital edition.

The hatband on the cap worn by William G. Armstrong is marked with his name and regiment. A private in Company F of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, he is pictured here with his cavalry saber and revolver after his November 1862 enlistment. Armstrong was killed in action less than a year later in the Battle of Whitestone Hill, the final engagement in 1863 operations against the Sioux and other Indian nations in Dakota Territory.

Carte de visite by an anonymous photographer. 

Two Union infantrymen identified only as Ed and Anson Brown.

Carte de visite by A D. Woodworth of Albany, N.Y.

A group of non-commissioned officers and enlisted men relax in camp armed with cooking equipment. The ranking member, a sergeant with an upturned fatigue cap, holds a plate of grub in one hand, and a tin cup in the other. A private to the right prepares to pour coffee into the sergeant’s cup. Behind them, a private and corporal stand with tin plates, cup, fork and knife at the ready. Another corporal and three more privates sit or crouch around the campfire circle and demonstrate various cooking scenes. The knife-wielding man on the far left seems to be smiling. Also visible is a stand of arms, tents and a wagon. The cooking implements and background appear in other images, which suggest the tin ware may have been props. One of these other views identifies the location as a camp at Warrenton Junction along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in Virginia.

Quarter-plate tintype by an anonymous photographer. Ken Bertholf collection.