Original Civil War CDV identified to Benjamin A. Hart of the 24th New York Infantry, exuding the rugged, pragmatic demeanor of a veteran campaigner. Hart is posed standing in his four-button sack coat, with his trousers tucked practically into tall marching boots. He holds field glasses in his right hand, as if to scan the horizon for Rebels. Tucked casually into his belt, just above his US oval buckle is a Whitney revolver, while a cap box rests on his hip. The image bears the highly desirable field gallery imprint of the Army Photograph and Ambrotype Gallery at Upton's Hill, Virginia, placing the sitting directly in the winter encampments of the Army of the Potomac.
 
The pencil notation on the reverse grounds this striking portrait in one of the Eastern Theater's most brutal engagements. Benjamin Hart and the 24th New York Infantry (the Oswego County Regiment) were part of the famed "Iron Brigade of the East" under General John P. Hatch. They fought desperately at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) on 30 August 1862. The regiment was heavily engaged during the Union assaults against Stonewall Jackson's entrenched lines along the unfinished railroad grade, suffering devastating casualties in a matter of minutes. Hart was among those wounded in action during this bloody tactical defeat