This CDV is of the uncommon West Virginia variety – one of the names and faces of the US volunteers from the only state born of the Civil War.  Colonel William Curtis is featured in a bust view with subtle vignette, wearing his double-breasted frock with shoulder boards.  The image is mounted to a standard card with fine double-gold bordering and both sharp edges and corners.  The paper image shows a few localized and minor spots of foxing or staining, but nothing enough to detract from the overall presentation.  The reverse is stamped with a photography studio logo reading, “PHOTOGRAPHED BY EWING & CO. CUMBERLAND, MD.”  A used 2-cent stamp is affixed with a small ink line drawn over President Washington.  Save for a pinpoint foxing mark, the reverse is clean. Overall measurements are 3.9” x 2.34”.

William Baker Curtis (son of Josiah Curtis and Hester Ernsparger) enlisted on 8/20/1862 as a Captain and was commissioned into Company “D” West Virginia 12th Infantry.  He was promoted to Major and transferred to Field and Staff on 7/27/1863 and was made Colonel on 1/26/1864. He was mustered out on 6/16/1865 at Burkesville, VA.

The 12th West Virginia Infantry Regiment was organized at Wheeling in West(ern) Virginia on August 30, 1862, and was assigned to duty in the Shenandoah Valley as part of the VIII Army Corps' Middle Department until January 1863.

For much of the first half of 1863, the regiment served at Winchester, Virginia, under Maj. Gen. Robert H. Milroy, and were defeated in their first significant combat action during the Second Battle of Winchester, being pushed off a wooded ridgeline near Kernstown, Virginia, by elements of the Confederate brigade of John B. Gordon on June 13. Two days later, they were scattered by Robert E. Rodes' attack and reassembled at Bloody Run, Pennsylvania. The 12th then served in Col. Andrew T. McReynolds' command at Martinsburg, West Virginia, until December 1863.

The regiment was a part of the Department of West Virginia until December 1864, and it saw action in several fights during the Valley Campaigns of 1864, including the Battle of Opequon, or Third Winchester, not far from the scene of its first combat.

At the end of the year, the 12th West Virginia joined the Army of the James's 2nd Brigade, Independent Division, XXIV Army Corps. The regiment served in the Siege of Petersburg, and on April 2, 1865, distinguished itself for gallantry in a desperate hand-to-hand conflict that resulted in the seizure of Confederate-held Fort Gregg. Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, commanding the XXIV Corps, presented the regiment an engraved golden eagle for their flagstaff, with the inscription "Presented by Maj.-Gen'l John Gibbon to the 12th W. Va. Volunteer Infantry, for Gallant Conduct in the Assault upon Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865." Corporal Andrew O. Apple of Company I was also later awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the regiment's flag that day.

A very desirable and rare photograph for the discerning collector. West Virginia US Senior Officer photographs and general memorabilia are quite uncommon.  [cm][ph:L]

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