WONDERFUL ALBUMEN OF HQ, 2ND BRIGADE, 1ST DIVISION, CORPS DE AFRIQUE

$1,250.00 SOLD

Quantity Available: None

Item Code: 37-287

Image shows the headquarters tents of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Corps De Afrique at Port Hudson, Louisiana. The image shows the main street through the camp ending with at a large headquarters tent. The camera is viewing the tent from the side. At top of the tent is a barrel being used as a chimney while a fly has been rigged to the front to supply shade. Posed in front of the fly are five officers and several enlisted. The officers have numbers at their feet to identify them by a key that is now lost. Visible by the fly is a US flag guidon and another flag whose design cannot be made out. Waving from the top of a pole just forward of the tent is the Brigade flag with a large numeral “2.”

Visible on either side of the road are three other tents that probably house headquarters staff. Standing in a line along the left side of the photo in front of one of the above mentioned tents are 6 African American soldiers. None are armed but all are in uniform standing at attention. Just forward of them in the foreground is a 7th soldier who is obviously on guard. He wears a Hardee hat with crossed cannon insignia, a dark frock coat with light trousers with all his accoutrements and stands with his rifle at the position of “SUPPORT ARMS.” He is by far one of the largest soldiers we have seen in a period photograph. He is almost as wide as he is tall!

Written in period ink across the bottom of the image is “HEAD QRS. 2ND BRIG. 1ST DIV. CORPS DE AFRIQUE- PORT HUDSON, LA. - #1 COL. CYRUS HAMLIN COMDG. BRIGADE.”

The names of the other officers numbered in the photo appear on the reverse and details of their service are listed below. The contrast of the image is good as is the clarity but there is some light surface dirt. Also, the mount has some water staining on each side but none of this affects the view.

 

The officers numbered are:

#1 Cyrus Hamlin was born in Hampden, Maine on April 26, 1839. He was the third son of the Vice President of the United States, Hannibal Hamlin. He was educated at the Hampden Academy and studied at Waterville College in Waterville, Maine. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and practiced law for a year.

Hamlin was commissioned as a captain in the Union Army in April 1862, serving as an aide-de-camp to Major General John C. Frémont. He was among the first to advocate enlisting African-American troops in the Union Army. In February 1863, he was appointed Colonel of the 80th United States Colored Troops and was assigned to field duty in Louisiana, where he eventually took charge of a brigade of black troops and participated in the Siege of Port Hudson. He was promoted to Brigadier General in December 1864 and assigned command of the Military District of Port Hudson in the Department of the Gulf. He was mustered out on January 15, 1866. He received a brevet promotion to Major General to date from March 13, 1865.

Hamlin remained in Louisiana after the war as a carpetbag lawyer and politician. He died of yellow fever in 1867 and was buried in his family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine.

#2 Lewis P. Mudgett enlisted as a Private in the 2nd Maine in 1861 and rose to be 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant. He was captured on the Peninsula and was exchanged. He was mustered out on June 9, 1863. He next served in the 80th USCT as a Captain and as Major of the 86th USCT before becoming Acting Assistant Adjutant General on the 2nd Brigade staff. He was killed in action at Blakely, Alabama in April of 1865.

#3 Thomas B. Odell served as a Captain of Company A, 80th USCT and on the 2nd Brigade staff as an aide-de-camp.

#4 George E. Smallwood first enlisted as a Private in the 22nd Massachusetts in 1861 and served with them until his discharge for promotion on February 28, 1863. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in Company K, 79th USCT. He served as an aide-de-camp on the 2nd Brigade staff.

#5 George F. Tincker-No officer with this name could be found. Might be a misspelling.

#6 Elbridge Gerry Manning first enlisted as a Corporal in Company F, 19th Massachusetts Infantry in 1861 and served with them till his discharge on February 28, 1863. He was commissioned the same day as a Lieutenant on the Field and Staff of the 81st USCT. He served on Brigade staff as in the Commissary and Sustenance department.

The last name on the back of the photo is not numbered and separated from the others. That name is Charles C. Hudson. A search shows that there was a Charles C. Hudson who served as a Private in the 80th USCT. He may be one of the enlisted men visible on the left edge of the photo.

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