[Unidentified Civil War veteran with Grand Army of the Republic medal, kepi with post 86 insignia, and watch fob in his button hole]

Archive record

1 photograph : albumen print on card mount ; mount 17 x 11 cm (cabinet card format)

About this photograph

The photograph shows an unidentified Union veteran, by then an old man, in civilian dress with Grand Army of the Republic insignia. His kepi bears the number of his local post, 86. A watch fob hangs from his buttonhole. The image was taken by Charles O. Lovell in 1905, forty years after the war's end.

The Grand Army of the Republic was the fraternal organisation of Union veterans, founded in 1866. Its local posts ran reunions and memorial observances for decades. Members wore distinctive badges and kepis to encampments and parades, which accounts for the regalia here rather than wartime uniform.

The cabinet card format and albumen print were standard photographic processes of the period. The mount measures 17 by 11 centimeters.

The veteran's name, regiment, and service record were not recorded with the photograph. Post 86's location is likewise unknown. Without these details, the image stands as one of thousands of similar portraits made in the early twentieth century, as aging veterans gathered to mark their shared past before the generation passed entirely.

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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