American Historical Ephemera & Photography

3 7/8 x 2 3/4 in. albumen photograph on cardstock mount featuring General Stoneman, center, and 5 members of his staff gathered outside of a tent (light toning, wear to edges and corners of mount, discoloration/dampstaining to verso). Verso with applied paper label with image title, gallery number ("No. 436"), and copyright notice stating, "The Photographs of this series were taken directly from nature, at considerable cost" and warning that "legal proceedings will be at once instituted against any party infringing the copyright."

An experienced military man, George Stoneman, Jr. (1822-1894) refused to surrender to Confederate authorities in Texas, where he was in command of Fort Brown, escaping north to be assigned a new post at the outset of the Civil War. He served in a number of capacities, including eventually as commander of the nascent cavalry corps which he led in an ill-fated raid at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Later, Stoneman was imprisoned at Andersonville after a failed raid on the notorious southern prison camp, making him the highest-ranking Union prisoner of war. After the war, Stoneman served as the Governor of California from 1883-1887.