Help Please Identifying Soldier Photos

lupaglupa

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A distant cousin shared these photos with me, which were found in the trunk of an elderly relation. The portrait above was framed as you see it there. When my cousin carefully took the frame apart he found this behind it -

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Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
 
View attachment 395435

A distant cousin shared these photos with me, which were found in the trunk of an elderly relation. The portrait above was framed as you see it there. When my cousin carefully took the frame apart he found this behind it -

View attachment 395436

Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
The soldier appears to be a Southerner, the bowie does give it away a bit, I'm wondering if you can get some better resolution images of both? Early war both sides wielded fierce weapons for the camera as they went off to fight, but the soldier has all the earmarks of a Southerner.
 
Blowing both up I believe the lone soldier to be wearing a frock coat and what appears to be an old militia style dragoon helmet, would need a better resolution photo to ascertain.

The picture of the horsemen is also very intriguing, after blowing it up, I could find absolutely zero weapons, which does not mean anything. Again better resolution might help solve the riddle.
 
Great photos. I agree with @Package4 and will add that the cavalry photos does appear to be CS as the different hat styles is indicative to CS cavalry.
 
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The cousin who photographed the originals did this version which may help
Definitely a gray frock coat, though early war both sides had these since older militia units still wore them North & South. I would certainly lean Southern.

The photo of the horsemen could still be anything until more detail might be seen. They could be planters gathered to hunt down a fugitive, could be an impromptu posse, many possibilities. The one individual to the right is dressed too finely to be field wear......one would typically see an early war CS unit with all sorts of antique swords, pistols, shotguns, fowlers etc and I do not see definitive evidence of any of those weapons.

Might this be a post war reunion type picture........
 
View attachment 395435

A distant cousin shared these photos with me, which were found in the trunk of an elderly relation. The portrait above was framed as you see it there. When my cousin carefully took the frame apart he found this behind it -

View attachment 395436

Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
Looking at this again, it would appear as if at least three have white dusters loosely affixed behind the saddles.......I’ll let others draw conclusions.
 
... Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
I think it would help to have more information - which I presume you have, and maybe have even posted here before - about the units to which they belonged; obviously the mounted men make cavalry a likely possibility.
 
View attachment 395435

A distant cousin shared these photos with me, which were found in the trunk of an elderly relation. The portrait above was framed as you see it there. When my cousin carefully took the frame apart he found this behind it -

View attachment 395436

Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
What an incredible set of finds! Maybe someone with photo editing skills could clean the copies up a little bit. Maybe you can convince the cousin to let you borrow the originals for a little while :wink: best of luck.
 
View attachment 395435

A distant cousin shared these photos with me, which were found in the trunk of an elderly relation. The portrait above was framed as you see it there. When my cousin carefully took the frame apart he found this behind it -

View attachment 395436

Both images were on glass plates and no names or other notes were attached. The relation who had the images is the grandson of a man who did not fight in the Civil War but who had three brothers who did. We assume this is one of the brothers. Of the three, two fought for the CSA and one for the Union. There are brother-in-law and cousins also, mostly all CSA. Can anyone tell anything from the portrait to help us figure out who it is? Or who the group of horsemen might be?
It sounds like they are both ambrotype photos if the emulsion is on glass for both. The bottom photo if confirmed to be of Confederate soldiers is an astoundingly rare photo as I don't think any photo of a group of mounted Confederate cavalrymen has ever been found before. If one of them was really with the Union 1st Tennessee Cavalry though I bet it would be that unit and still make it very rare and pricey in the field of Civil War photo collecting.
 
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