Civil War Formal Photograph Portrait?

skb8721

Corporal
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Location
New Iberia, Louisiana, on Bayou Teche
I scanned this from a glass-negative I found in a box of other glass-negatives pertaining to a totally unrelated subject. I suspect the negative of this portrait was included in the box either by mistake or perhaps to keep the box from bending during shipping (as all but one of the other glass-plate negatives are smaller than the box, and the box is somewhat flimsy). But I don't know.

Regardless, is this a Civil War photo? Is that man in a Confederate or Union uniform? (For all I know, that's a trolley conductor uniform, or maybe he worked on a steamboat, or--!)

I can tell you this: the other glass-plate images in the box were from around 1900 and all the images appear to have been shipped to Louisiana from a photographic studio in Philadelphia. The name "Charles L. McKeehan" is written on a paper sleeve, and a fragment of another envelope, now fallen apart, says "C. E. McKee— [torn]". This McKeehan may or may not be the person in the image; he could be the photographer or a customer or who-knows.

Any idea who this person is and whether or not he's military? Thanks!

Officer 217 small.jpg
 
Great image! Those tables with rope hanging off of them were popular in photography studios in the 1860’s.

The texture of the image makes me think it could be a copy negative of an albumen print, but I am nowhere near sure about that.
 
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I scanned this from a glass-negative I found in a box of other glass-negatives pertaining to a totally unrelated subject. I suspect the negative of this portrait was included in the box either by mistake or perhaps to keep the box from bending during shipping (as all but one of the other glass-plate negatives are smaller than the box, and the box is somewhat flimsy). But I don't know.

Regardless, is this a Civil War photo? Is that man in a Confederate or Union uniform? (For all I know, that's a trolley conductor uniform, or maybe he worked on a steamboat, or--!)

I can tell you this: the other glass-plate images in the box were from around 1900 and all the images appear to have been shipped to Louisiana from a photographic studio in Philadelphia. The name "Charles L. McKeehan" is written on a paper sleeve, and a fragment of another envelope, now fallen apart, says "C. E. McKee— [torn]". This McKeehan may or may not be the person in the image; he could be the photographer or a customer or who-knows.

Any idea who this person is and whether or not he's military? Thanks!

View attachment 184432

Looks familiar, Civil War Navies ???
 
Just guessing and I can't say why but it has a nautical looking uniform to me too. I googled Charles L McKeehan and he was a lawyer in Philadelphia in the early 1900s. Didn't have a photo. Maybe C. E. was his father and the man in the picture? If so could have been in some kind of service about the time of the Civil War.
 
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