Benton Barracks was established at St. Louis, Missouri, as a training ground by General Fremont in 1861. Constructed on the site of the St. Louis Fairgrounds, it grew to include extensive barracks buildings, warehouses, administrative buildings, stables for cavalry horses, parade grounds, and an extensive hospital. Many units passed through there and it was said to be able to handle up to 30,000 men at a time.

This is a very nice carte-de-visite of a fully-armed cavalryman photographed by Enoch Long, whose name and address are printed in red across the bottom front of the card. Long was a New Hampshire native who studied photography in Philadelphia and set up shop in St. Louis with his brother. The presence of so many new soldiers anxious to send home photographs was a tremendous boon for photographers and Long moved his operation from downtown St. Louis to be closer to his customers. His painted backdrop is perhaps the best known of those associated with Benton Barracks and shows that he originally intended to be selling ambrotypes and tintypes (or so the painter thought,) since the letters “U.S.” on the cartridge box and “U.S.A” on the haversack portrayed in the backdrop were reversed to show correctly in those formats, but in the positive prints of a CDV come out backwards.

Our subject wears the regulation shell jacket of mounted troops and broad-brimmed hat that might just be a regulation Hardee hat with the brim down and the crown lowered to a convenient height. In any case, the tassel of a hat cord is visible at one side hanging below the brim. He is equipped with carbine, revolver and saber. He has drawn the saber and is posed at parade rest, with his hands on the pommel. A Sharps carbine hangs at his side from his carbine sling. His pistol holster shows next to it and his has tucked the revolver into his belt, its grips and hammer showing just above his clasped hands. The photographer may have touched up some shadows slightly in the image, but did not obscure any detail. The carbine shows plainly the breech mechanism marking it as a Sharps. The matt finish of his leather gear shows plainly that they are regulation buff leather. The crude wood floor of the studio shows at bottom, making the martially painted backdrop with cannon, mortar and muskets, and tent even more noticeable.

The reverse of the card bears two period ink identifications, most likely the soldier’s signatures, reading, “R. Darby” and “R. Darby / MO,” (along with an old collector’s pencil note.) We have not been able to pin him down. Several cavalry units went through Benton Barracks, including regiments from Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The use of “MO” would seem to indicate he was from Missouri. The closest possibility seems to be Robert Derby, Co. D, 2^nd Battalion Missouri State Militia Cavalry, who enrolled 4/1/62 and mustered in 4/14/62. He was captured 8/11/62 with a detachment of battalion and some other troops in the first battle at Independence, MO, paroled, and mustered out at Benton Barracks 9/8/62. He is listed under the name “Robert Denny” in some records, however, and as age 45. The cavalryman in the photograph looks rather too young and too well equipped. This may well be a case of a soldier using his middle name or initial in informal contexts.

Regardless of identification, this is an unusual example of a fully-equipped cavalry trooper. Photographers occasionally recorded a trooper with a saber or even a revolver, but a fully equipped soldier, showing how he was armed in the field did not often make his way out of camp to a photographer’s camera. And, he is plainly armed with a Sharps carbine to boot.  [sr]

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