These have been in a collection. Would appreciate any help identifying what unit these men were in by the uniforms. The first tintype came from Missouri & the color tinted tintype with the 2 soldiers came from Pennsylvania from what I recall if this is of any help.
Wrought iron, pretty heavy, no markings or numbers or anything like that, not even a hole.....
I've heard rumors from my grandfather of it being a cannonball when I was a kid. Because apparently that's what his father told him.
Bunch of friction primer wires(are they original?). Some broken dish with what I can read to be WILES MA(can't read the rest) ENGLAND
and some lead carvings
This early Civil War ambrotype is a quiet miracle of survival.
On a fragile sheet of glass, sometime in 1861 or early 1862, a young Union soldier sat for the camera and left us his face. He is barely more than a boy eighteen, perhaps twenty at most yet his eyes already carry the gravity of the storm that had just broken over the country.
He wears the dark wool jacket and distinctive Hardee hat of a Federal soldier, the wide brim framing his serious expression and the front adorned with his branch insignia. Brass buttons march down his jacket, and the belt plate at his waist catches what little studio light remained. His right hand rests near the hilt of his sword, not in bravado but in simple acknowledgment of the duty he had
accepted.
The painted backdrop behind him tries to suggest permanence and order, but nothing about this moment was permanent.
What moves me most is the expression.
There is no smile, no attempt to perform courage for the lens. There is only a steady, clear-eyed gaze that seems to look straight through the photographer and into the years ahead he could not yet know. In that gaze I see every farm boy who left home thinking he would be home by Christmas, every clerk who believed one battle would settle everything, every son who promised his mother he would write often and then stepped into a war that swallowed letters, names, and futures alike.
Time has not been gentle with this little glass treasure.
The iridescent bloom of deterioration along the edges, the scattered spots and faint scratches across the surface these are the ambrotype’s own battle scars. Yet through every mark the young man’s face remains, as if the silver and glass refused to let him be forgotten. The ornate frame that now holds one version of the image feels almost like a later generation’s apology, an attempt to give him the honor and protection he may never have received in life.
Holding this ambrotype is like holding a heartbeat that stopped more than a century and a half ago. We do not know his name, his regiment, or whether he made it home. But we know he was here. We know he stood still long enough for the light to fix his image, and that someone perhaps a mother, a sweetheart, a sister once treasured this fragile portrait the way we treasure it now.
Thank you for letting me look at him with you. Pieces like this are why we keep collecting: not for the objects themselves, but for the chance to stand, however briefly, in the presence of someone who once believed the future was still worth fighting for.
(Last image digitally restored)
Twin Sixth-Plate Tintypes of the Same Unidentified Union Cavalryman With Greatcoat & Shell Jacket Variants!
Check out this striking double-cased pair of sixth-plate tintypes. Both images show the exact same unidentified cavalryman, taken during the same studio session in the 1860s.
In the first image he stands wearing his greatcoat over the uniform.
The pose, expression, lighting, and studio setting are identical to the second photo, and both have been hand-tinted in gold and blue.
The second image shows him without the greatcoat, instead wearing his cavalry shell jacket and enlistedman’s trousers.
This is an eleven-button jacket without piping a documented variation of the U.S. enlisted cavalry shell jacket. On his head is a forage hat with the Cavalry branch insignia (drags pointing down). A regulation cavalry belt plate sits at his waist, with two revolvers tucked into the belt. In his right hand he holds a cavalry saber. He sports a distinctive chin beard.
Both photos live in a classic gutta-percha case with brass oval mats.
Tintypes (also called ferrotypes) were the affordable, durable “selfies” of the Civil War era. Made on thin iron plates using the wet-plate collodion process, they were cheap (often pennies to a quarter), quick to produce, and tough enough to survive a soldier’s pocket or the mail home unlike fragile glass ambrotypes or expensive daguerreotypes.
The sixth-plate size (roughly 2¾ × 3¼ inches) was one of the most popular formats for these cased soldier portraits. Gutta-percha cases, molded from a natural latex material, were the standard protective housing and frequently featured patriotic motifs.
This twin set is uncommon because it shows the same man in two different presentations of his uniform: one layered for cold weather or a more formal studio look (greatcoat) and one in “light” field dress (shell jacket). It gives us a fuller sense of what a cavalry trooper actually wore and carried.
The details point strongly to a Union cavalryman the specific 11-button untrimmed shell jacket style, cavalry insignia on the hat, and standard U.S. cavalry belt plate are classic Federal patterns (though some Confederate troopers used captured or similar equipment).
Yet he remains completely unidentified. No name, no unit markings visible, no photographer’s backmark. Just a face and a uniform staring back at us from more than 160 years ago.
Uniform and insignia experts: Do the exact 11-button jacket configuration, the orientation of the hat insignia, revolver placement, or any other detail suggest a particular regiment, company, theater, or time frame? Has anyone seen other examples of true “twin” or double-cased tintypes of the same soldier wearing different layers of his kit like this? Any thoughts on how these might have been used one for the soldier to keep, one to send home? Or simply the photographer offering two options?
These images are a direct, personal link to the past. I’d love any identifications, historical context, or just your thoughts on this mystery trooper. Let’s see if we can give him a little more of his story back.
(Last two images digitally enhanced to show better clarity and detail.)
Albert Symington Chalker was born August 9, 1843 in Horry County, South Carolina. When he was just 9 years old, he moved with his parents and siblings to Clay County, Florida. On May 16, 1863, at the age of 19, Chalker was mustered into the Confederate Army at Callahan under Captain Robert Harrison in Company H of the Second Florida Cavalry. He spent much of his time at Baldwin, Florida, and served as a courier for General Joseph Finegan. Albert Chalker was honorably paroled on May 17, 1865 after Florida's Confederate forces formally surrendered to General Edward M. McCook of the United States.
After his parole, Chalker returned to Clay County and married Martha Ann Bardin in December 1865. Martha's father, William Sims Bardin, gave his Middleburg residence to the couple as a wedding gift. Albert and Martha Chalker settled and remained there for the rest of their lives. Albert Chalker served for 17 years as Middleburg's postmaster, and as tax collector for Clay County from 1881 to 1885. He was also a prominent businessman, and operated both a private ferry on the south prong of Black Creek and a general store in Middleburg. Today their home is on the National Register of Historic Places.
This video features a letter he sent to his then-sweetheart Martha (Maddie) Bardin, where he responds to her inquiry regarding whether or not he'd ever desert the Confederate Army. I hope you enjoy.
Was giving this gun recently in show of good faith a load would be paid. Upon paying it was just giving to me. Friend said it was used in the civil war and was his grandpappy or another . Not sure. Anyways . I guess it may be the first gun smith and Wesson made . Not first model but yeah. Should I go shooting it or should I consider , I don't know.... Museum piece? Old guns aren't really my thing .
It still has dirt on it and I’m curious how I should go about cleaning it,