CDV PHOTO OF UNIDENTIFIED(?) CONFEDERATE COLONEL – BY FAMOUS LEXINGTON PHOTOGRAPHER

CDV PHOTO OF UNIDENTIFIED(?) CONFEDERATE COLONEL – BY FAMOUS LEXINGTON PHOTOGRAPHER

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$500.00

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Item Code: 1138-1137

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The photograph here is a carte de visite (CDV) photograph. This one is a second-generation image, a photo of a photo, duplicated after the Civil War. A post-1870 backmark, the weaker resolution, and trimmed corners visible on the original are typical clues to this. The image is a waist-up view and shows a Confederate colonel in uniform. The man wears a double-breasted frock coat with two stars on the collar. The image remains fairly clear but is light in contrast. Image is pasted to a typical ruled mount. The photographer’s backmark is “Stonewall Art Gallery / Boude & Miley / Lexington / Virginia”.

The Stonewall Art Gallery was a 19th-century photography studio in Lexington, Virginia, founded through a partnership between Michael Miley and John C. Boude.

Michael Miley (1841–1918), probably most famous for his portraits of Robert E. Lee, was a Rockbridge County native who contributed greatly to the burgeoning field of photography. After serving under General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in the Civil War, Miley moved to Staunton to study photography under J. H. Burdett, where he learned to print positive images using the albumen wet-plate process. He returned to Rockbridge County a year later and joined forces with Andrew Plecker, a traveling photographer from Lynchburg, which led to his most famous photograph: Robert E. Lee with his horse Traveller at the Rockbridge Baths.

In 1866, Miley partnered with businessman John C. Boude to open a photography studio at the corner of Main and Nelson Streets in Lexington. He purchased Boude's half of the business in 1870, named the studio the Stonewall Art Gallery, and found his niche as a portrait photographer. Miley also photographed classes and athletic teams at Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. He died 5/23/1918 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Lexington, VA.

This cdv photo is unidentified, but strangely, closely resembles a post-war view of Michael Miley himself (see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15189588/michael-miley#view-photo=157367015). He did serve in the 27th Virginia Infantry starting in April 1862. He was captured twice (6/5/1862 at Middletown, VA, and 5/12/1864 at Spotsylvania). Unfortunately, he was never a Colonel!

From the Bill Turner / Ray Richie collections.  [jet]

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