CDV image of Banks posed standing with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword and the other by his side holding a bicorn. The General wears a dark double-breasted frock coat with matching trousers and high topped boots. At his waist he wears a light colored sash and waist belt with rectangular eagle plate and presentation grade Model 1840 Foot Officer’s sword.

Image is clear with good contrast. Small area of rubbing above the General’s head. Bottom of mount has a period pencil inscription that reads “BANKS.”

An upside down back mark is for E. ANTHONY from a Brady negative. Top back has a period pencil inscription of “GEN. BANKS.”

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was born January 30, 1816 in Waltham, Massachusetts.

A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, and his oratorical skills were noted by the Democratic Party. But his abolitionist views fitted him better for the nascent Republican Party, through which he became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Governor of Massachusetts.

At the outbreak of the war, President Lincoln appointed Banks as one of the first 'political' Major Generals, over the heads of West Point regulars, who initially resented him, but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war. After suffering an inglorious defeat in the Shenandoah Valley at the hands of the newly famous Stonewall Jackson, Banks replaced Benjamin Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department of the Gulf, charged with liberating the Mississippi. But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and only took the surrender of Port Hudson after Vicksburg had fallen. He was then put in charge of the Red River campaign, a doomed attempt to occupy eastern Texas. Banks had no faith in this strategy and was removed from command.

After the war, Banks returned to the Massachusetts political scene, where he influenced the Alaska Purchase legislation and supported women's suffrage. He died in Waltham on September 1, 1894 and is buried in Grove Hill Cemetery there.

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