Civil War Ambrotypes

 

Union and Confederate Civil War ambrotypes are prized because of their unique subject matter and delicate case-enclosed glass negatives. The backs of the images are painted black or are backed with a dark cloth to make the image appear.

Civil War ambrotypes, as opposed to Civil War tintypes, are negative images on glass instead of negative images on black japanned (painted) iron. CW ambrotypes, or ambros, will be found in beautiful wooden or usually hard plastic cases (Union cases), sealed and protected from air. Often tintypes are in envelopes, albums, CDV sleeves, Union cases, lockets and jewelry, but often are just by themselves. Both CW ambrotyes and tintypes are made from the wet plate collodion process. The collodion process is given multiple credits of invention to Ezekiel Hawkins, Frederick Scott Archer and Gustave Le Gray. See ambrotypes for more information.

 

Ambrotypes usually only had five to ten minutes to coat, expose, and develop before the chemical emulsions will dry; however, as Matthew Brady experienced during the winter of 1862 while winter camping with Union troops, the collodion coated plates did not deteriorate as quickly because the cold weather slowed down the chemical reaction times.

 

Both Union and Confederate ambrotype descriptions can be broken down into different categories. The branches of the northern and southern armed forces during the Civil War included Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Navy, Engineers, Signal Corp., Staff, Ordnance, Quartermaster, and Medical Corp. The majority of Union and Confederate forces were in the Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery and many of the Civil War ambrotypes you see will be in those branches.

 

The branches on both sides were color coordinated. Typically Infantry was blue. Blue piping would be on uniforms, jackets, trousers, kepis, forage caps. Artillery was red and cavalry was yellow. Determining branch by colors is obviously not always possible in black and white Civil War photos, nor is it always accurate.

 

Ornate cloth braiding on kepis, hats, or uniform sleeves usually indicates it is of an enlisted officer. This braiding on a jacket sleeve, known as "chicken guts" indicates it is a Conderate officer.

 

Not all of the following are hard-and-fast rules in identifying civil war photographs, but they should be a good start. Note that not all ambrotypes will be of soldiers fully uniformed with their accoutrements.

 

 

To determine a Union ambrotype, tintype, or daguerreotype from a Confederate is usually possible by looking at the uniform and accoutrements. A Union soldier will usually be wearing a dark blue jacket, or sack coat, which lengthwise falls to about his wrist while he’s standing up (typically the middle of the jacket is as long as the sleeve). He could also wear a dark blue frock coat, which is longer. His trousers will be a lighter sky blue. Both Union and Confederate soldiers can have leather cartridge box straps that cross from their waist to the opposite shoulder; however, only Union soldiers had a brass metal "US" buckle positioned in the center of the strap.

 

Union units also had varying size and shape corp. and unit badges on their kepis, caps, forage caps, or uniforms. Badges were either metal or they were sown on. Artillery badges had crossed cannons, cavalry badges had crossed sabres, and infantry badges were of a single bugle. The number above the metal badge indicated the units regiment. A 39 could indicate the 39th Pennsylvania Infantry. Note that not all units or soldiers wasted their time on badges, especially towards the end of the war. Often you will see just plain caps, forage caps, or kepis.

Confederate Ambrotypes