[CIVIL WAR] 7th PA Cavalry Colonel Portrait

Oversize hand-colored half-length albumen portrait of George C. Wynkoop. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: A.G. Keet, [1861]. Photographer's imprint to mount recto alongside finely inscribed "Brig. Gen. George C. Wynkoop." In very fine original wood frame.

Large framed albumen of George C. Wynkoop (1806-1882), a Union Army officer from Pottsville, Pennsylvania who commanded the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. A father of thirteen children, George parlayed his involvement in a pre-war militia into a commission as a Brigadier General of early War Pennsylvania Volunteers. Wynkoop took command of a brigade comprised of "three month" regiments that did not experience combat during their term of service. Having failed to vanquish the Confederacy during that short time, many of the men in Wynkoop’s former command (including a son) volunteered for service in the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Wynkoop received a Colonel’s commission to lead the unit.

The 7th Pennsylvania fought primarily in the Western Theater of the war in places like Tennessee and Kentucky, skirmishing with rebel raiders under Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan. In one of these fights, Wynkoop's son (mentioned above) was killed in Gallatin. Eventually discharged due to injury, Wynkoop spent the remainder of his life in Pottsville, PA with his wife and remaining family.

This albumen, made in Harrisburg, was beautifully tinted by the artist with the soldier’s name and rank in well-executed calligraphy. It likely dates to his early 1861 commission based on the “Brigadier General” reference. This historic photograph remains housed in its beautiful original wood frame.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Historic Photography, Early Photography, CDV, Carte-de-Visite, Cartes de Visite, Carte de Visite, Albumen, Albums]