Carte-de-visite of an unidentified Union soldier, 1862-1884. Creator: Henry C. Cushing.

A reddish-brown photograph of an unidentified African-American Union soldier posed in a photographer’s studio. The man is standing slightly off-center and is wearing a nine-button frock coat with a high collar. The coat has contrasting piping around the collar and sleeves. He is also wearing straight trousers, heavy boots, and a slouched kepi hat with a leather band. He is standing, looking straight at the camera, in front of a colonnade railing with fluted rock supports. Though it is too faded to see, there is presumably an idyllic city or landscape behind him. His left hand is propped on a low riser next to a column topped with a hanging flag and tassels. The back of the photograph has a studio mark at center that reads “Photographed by/ CUSHING,/Woodstock, VT.” Also printed on the back at the bottom of the card is “Negatives Preserved.”