Once in the collection of well-known Virginia photography collector Bill Turner, this Civil War albumen photograph of a Confederate officer has period notations on the reverse, but had some cracks and a missing corner and a subsequent collector decided to mount it in a recently paint decorated mat for display, largely concealing the damage though cracks are visible along the upper and right edges. He did, however, make a photocopy of the reverse to preserve the information on the reverse of the image. We have not tried to remove the image from the mount, but the photocopy of the back accompanies the piece.

The photo itself is a period albumen copy of what was clearly a hard image, a tintype or ambrotype, showing a Confederate officer standing, wearing a gray single-breasted frock coat with second-lieutenant shoulder straps, along with a sash and swordbelt with two-piece interlocking buckle, resting one hand on the backrest of a chair and in the other holding the hilt of a pre-war style officer’s sword point-down to the floor, with its oval, down-turned counterguard visible to the camera. The officer has dark hair, wears a full mustache and chin beard, and appears to be looking to the viewer’s right. As matted, the officer is shown in 3-1/2” by 5-1/4” oval from the knees-up and there are cracks and stains visible at the upper and right edge, but there do not appear to be any significant details lost to damage or concealed by the mat.

The photocopy of the back of the image shows some of the cracks and makes clear an upper  corner was missing. More importantly, it shows a period inscription on the back of the image itself reading, “Lt. Warner Lewis Comma[….]  /[ n.c.] Volunteers 1861 / Halifax Co. Virginia.” What appears to be “n.c.,” however, is crossed out, and one person has suggested it is actually “v.a.,.” and there are some notations below that appear to have been done by the photographer. (Please see our photos.)

What appears to be ”Comma…” could be the beginning of a last name, but we have found no satisfactory candidates, trying for instance “Conn..” for Connelly, and other variations. More likely it is part of “Commanding,” indicating he led a group of volunteers in 1861. “Warner,” however, seems to have often been used in branches of the Lewis family, however, is sometimes recorded as “Warren” in records, and may also be an example of a familiarly used middle name that made its way into official records. This also leaves open the question of the crossed-out letters and the significance of Virginia’s Halifax County, so there considerable research yet to be done.

We note that one possible candidate is the Warner Lewis who served as volunteer aide to General Winder and thus might have ranked as a Second Lieutenant, and who applied for a regular post as Captain in the CS Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office of the War Department in 1863. A December 1863 letter of recommendation in his CMSR file from T. S. Bocock, Speaker of the (CS) House, to CS Secretary of War Sedden, however, reveals he was from Brunswick County, VA, leaving the reference to Halifax County unexplained, and though he seems to have graduated from UNC in 1852 (as “Joseph Warner Lewis,”) there seems no other connection with that state. The Warner Lewis who served on Winder’s staff, however, apparently had prior service, referred to by Bocock, from which he resigned or was discharged for physical debility, making it possible the rank in the photo is from that prior service and explaining the 1861 reference. For what it’s worth, he was born about 1834, died Dec. 19, 1900, and is referred to as Captain in an obituary, making it possible he obtained that A&IG post, though we do not find him in the roster of CS staff officers. He was later a Mayor of Lewisville, and in the 1880 census is listed as a newspaper editor. Another obituary calls him an “ex-Confederate,” so he was clearly proud of his service and the paint decorated mat, though not old, seems appropriate.  [sr][ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!