Historical Portrait
George Washington Littlefield
Archive record
Historical portrait of George Washington Littlefield, Confederate Army officer and University of Texas regent, from 1916. Public domain photograph from Internet Archive.
About this photograph
George Washington Littlefield served as an officer in the Confederate Army and later became a regent of the University of Texas.
This portrait dates from 1916, more than fifty years after the Civil War ended. During the war itself, soldiers on both sides commonly sat for cartes de visite or tintypes before leaving for service, leaving an image with their families. Exposure times made action photographs impossible, so the photographic record of the conflict consists almost entirely of portraits, camp scenes, fortifications, and battlefield dead.
By 1916, Littlefield had built a career in business and taken on educational responsibilities as a university regent. The formal portrait reflects the conventions of early twentieth-century photography rather than the hurried wartime images that soldiers once carried into camp.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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