Item Summary

Descriptive Information

Title
Caesar, an officer's servant near Washington.
Call Number
HSV/South 15/GC137/Box 01/Early Photography GA 2021.00012
Identifier
ark:/88435/dch702qm12k
Publisher
1862.
Language
No linguistic content
Date Created
1862
Extent
1 photograph : ambrotype, hand coloring ; in case 9.3 x 8.3 x 1 cm.
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Notes
Formal studio photograph of a seated African American man, wearing jacket and checkered scarf, hands resting on lap, gazing out at viewer.
Unknown artist.
Princeton copy 1: "Hand-tinted sixth-plate ambrotype, 3 x 2 inches; lacking top case cover, hairline crack in image not crossing near face, professionally stabilized. With period identification slip, 1 x 1 1/2 inches, reading 'W DeW Pringle body servant Caesar while serving in the Civil War, 1862." Np, 1862.' A sharp and striking portrait of an Army servant, very likely a freedman, taken during the early period of the war. Contrabands escaping to freedom did not yet have the option of military service before 1863, but often found employment as personal servants for army officers. Caesar’s employer Lieutenant William DeWolf Pringle (1840-1930) of Lockport, NY, was chosen as an officer for the 22nd New York Light Artillery Battery in September of 1862, which became part of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment in early 1863; he served there through October 1864. His unit served on the defenses of Washington through May 1864, and then went out on the Overland and Shenandoah Valley campaigns. His father Benjamin Pringle (1807-1887) has served two terms as a United States Congressman, and in 1863 was appointed by President Lincoln to serve as a judge in South Africa on a special court for prosecuting the international slave trade. After the war, Lieutenant Pringle was a lawyer in Hastings, Minnesota, near where this ambrotype was found." -- Dealer's description
ACCESS: By permission of curator only. This fragile material is light sensitive. A complete index to the album and digital images are available.

Discovery Information

Subject
Pringle, William DeWolf 1840-1930—Friends and associates—Portraits
African Americans—19th century—Portraits
Black people—United States—19th century—Portraits
Portraits, American—19th century
United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Portraits
Portraits

Physical Characteristics

File Count
2

Institutional Information

Collection
Omega Project
Selections from the Graphic Arts Collection
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/d0044a3f-075c-4325-a45f-585d5ebf17e8/manifest