CDV on cardstock mount centrally featuring a structure identified as a "slave pen." Verso bears imprint of Bowdoin, Taylor & Co., Alexandria, VA, along with period ink inscription from John A. Bowman, reading, in full: "Slave-Pen. Alexandria, Va. Now used for a Guard House for U.S. Soldiers. / June 1862 / To my much esteemed friend, Dr. Reynolds, Pittsford, N.Y. / Rev. John A. Bowman Chaplain U.S. Hospital, Alexandria Va."

John A. Bowman enlisted as a chaplain on 18 September 1861, at the age of 47. He was commissioned into the 13 New York Infantry Regiment that same day, resigning only three months later, before being commissioned as a hospital chaplain in May of 1862. He served in that capacity for the remainder of the war, mustering out in August of 1865.