



A note attached to this portrait holds that the freckle-faced Confederate soldier, with his hair tinted red by the photographer, was 16 years old and spent some of his service as a prisoner of war. An inscription in the emulsion appears to read F or H M Alexander. The uniform he wears appears to be specific to Tennessee, observes MI Senior Editor Rick Brown, “All identified examples I have seen, including John A. Jenkins of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry, have been early war Tennessee cavalry. An identified soldier published in Images of America Tennessee’s Confederates joined the McDonald Dragoons at the beginning of the war. This group became Company A of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. There are two other examples of soldiers wearing this uniform that I have seen that are unidentified. All are ninth-plate hard images.”

A union corporal in the foreground and four pards recreate a scene, perhaps from a patrol or other detail that put them in harm’s way. The artful arrangement of the men and their muskets is perhaps at the direction of the photographer.
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