July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
A wonderful pair of gem albumens recently discovered in a Civil War era CDV album. First, a Louis Wigfall albumen image, who briefly served as a Confederate Brigadier General of the Texas Brigade at the outset of the American Civil War before taking his seat in the Confederate Senate, and secondly another gem size albumen of Union Major General Robert Anderson, who commanded Fort Sumter until its surrender on April 14, 1861. In the days leading up to the start of hostilities, Wigfall advocated an attack on Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens in Florida to prompt Virginia and other upper southern states to join the Confederacy. Wigfall arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, as the siege of Fort Sumter commenced. According to diarist Mary Chesnut, he was the only "thoroughly happy person I see." While serving as an aide to General Beauregard during the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and without authorization, he rowed a skiff out to the island fort and demanded its surrender from Major Robert Anderson. The incident was widely reported in the newspapers furthering his celebrity. A superb pair of gem albumen images set in ornate brass preservers attached to CDV size mounts.
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