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Military Images, Sep/Oct 2004

Unidentified Confederate Captain and Man Servant. This image is one of less than six known wartime images showing a slave wearing a Confederate uniform. The unidentified captain wears a double-breasted seven-button frock coat with three bars on his collar showing his rank. He also has braiding on his sleeves.

His man servant is smartly clad in an eight-button shell jacket with matching trousers. Both wear kepis. It was important for the captain to have the young boy in the image and it is interesting to note that the photographer placed him behind the captain slightly out of the focal plain which draws your eye back to the captain. My eye always travels back to the young boy with thoughts of their relationship and how his life was changed by the War. (CDV by A. J. Riddle, Macon, Georgia)