CDV shows Payne standing in a slight left profile in the classic Napoleonic pose. He wears a double-breasted light-colored frock coat with matching trousers. The insignia of a general is clearly visible on his collar.

Contrast and clarity are excellent. Mount and paper are the same.

Reverse is blank but for a period pencil ID at top that reads “GEN. PAYNE.” There is also some collector information at bottom.

William Henry Fitzhugh Payne was born January 27, 1830 in Fauquier County, Virginia.

He attended the Virginia Military Institute in 1846-47, but left school after only one year. He was declared an honorary graduate by the Board of Visitors in 1873.

Payne studied law at the University of Virginia and established a law practice in Warrenton, in 1851. The following year, he married his cousin, Mary Elizabeth Winston Payne, the couple would have ten children. He served as the Commonwealth's Attorney for Fauquier County for several years.

Payne enrolled in the Confederate Army in early 1861 as a private and participated in the occupation of Harpers Ferry in April. Later in the year, he became a captain in the famed Black Horse Cavalry, serving under J.E.B. Stuart. He was promoted to major of the 4th Virginia Cavalry and commanded the regiment at the Battle of Williamsburg during the Peninsula Campaign where he was severely wounded and captured by Union forces.

After being exchanged, he returned to duty as the lieutenant colonel of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry and fought in the Chancellorsville Campaign. During the subsequent Gettysburg Campaign, he was captured at the Battle of Hanover in 1863 after being unhorsed and falling into an open vat of tanning liquid.

After being imprisoned at Johnson's Island, Ohio, he was promoted to brigadier general in November 1864 and led a brigade in Early's Valley Campaigns of 1864, where he fought in the battles of Opequon, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. He was badly wounded at the Battle of Five Forks. During the final operations in early 1865 around Richmond, he commanded a cavalry brigade under Fitzhugh Lee.

After the war, Payne returned to his Virginia law practice. He was the general counsel for the Southern Railway Company and served in the legislature of Virginia in the session of 1879–80.

He died in Washington, D.C. on March 29, 1904 and is buried in Warrenton Cemetery, Warrenton, Virginia.  [ad] [ph:L]

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