American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

2 CDVs on cardstock mounts, including: Portrait of George Barnard with period identification on mount verso, "G.W. Barnard, Govt. Photographer, Mil[itary] Div[ision] Miss[issippi], Eng[ineering] Dept." -- Portrait of D.O. Adams, "Assistant Photographer, Mil[itary] Div[ision] Miss[issippi], as identified in lower margin. Signed on mount verso by Adams. Although uncredited, the portraits may have been taken by Barnard or his assistant, ca 1864.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, George Barnard, whose long career began as a daguerreotypist in Oswego, New York, found himself in Washington, DC, working variously for Mathew Brady and the New York firm of E. and H.T. Anthony. It was as an employee of Brady that he received his first assignments to cover troops and events around Washington, DC. Like most of the celebrated War photographers in Brady's employ, Barnard eventually left, and in 1864 became an official employee of the Topographical Branch of the Department of Engineers of the Union Army. In this capacity, Barnard was initially posted in Nashville, in the Western Theatre. From Nashville, his work took him to Chattanooga, then to Resaca and Atlanta, Georgia. When General Sherman left Nashville in 1864, Barnard went along as official photographer for the Military Division of Mississippi, and his large photographs made on this campaign are among the rarest and most famous of the Civil War period. The CDV of Barnard offered here was almost certainly taken during this time based on the period inscription.

A rare, war-date CDV of celebrated Civil War photographer, George Barnard.