Full-length standing studio portrait of a non-commissioned officer in a standard infantry frock coat, proudly displaying the highly coveted, regulation wartime color sergeant sleeve insignia consisting of a star embroidered above his sergeant chevrons. The reverse features a faint period pencil signature at the top margin reading "Mr. John A. Sumner, Owego / Tioga Co. / NY." Sumner served as a highly exposed regimental color bearer of the 109th New York Infantry through the stunning losses of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and the Crater; he was severely wounded in action at Poplar Spring Church during the Siege of Petersburg and discharged in October 1864.