(MILITARY CIVIL WAR) [Moore Henry P; photographer] [The Ban

Sale 2503 - Lot 316

Price Realized: $ 1,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) [Moore, Henry P.; photographer.] [The Band-Master's Tent.] Albumen photograph, 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches on plain card mount, with caption and inscription on verso: "Card pictures of the ones I have checked on the list for $2.00 pr dozen sent by mail on receipt"; minimal wear. Inserted into contemporary paper mount with manuscript caption. Hilton Head, SC, circa 1862-63

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This photograph depicts the headquarters of the regimental band for the 3rd New Hampshire Infantry at Hilton Head, SC. Band master Gustavus Ingalls sits at a table reading with two of his white musicians. An African-American servant named Billy Seabrook sits apart from the group on a stump, polishing a boot. "In this carefully staged photograph, Moore clearly chose to perpetuate the assumption that Black Americans, whether slave or free, would serve white Americans"--Bolster and Anderson, "Soldiers, Sailors, Slaves, and Ships: The Civil War Photographs of Henry P. Moore," pages 44-45. A member of the regiment noted at the time that Seabrook was "a bright, intelligent Negro, and has already learned to spell and read many words correctly. He has been provided with a uniform and carries the bass drum"--quoted in Kelly and Snell, "Bugle Resounding: Music and Musicians of the Civil War Era," page 77. This photograph is from the early part of the war; soon, African-Americans would be carrying rifles rather than polishing boots.
with--another photograph by Moore in the same format, captioned with a printed label on verso "Mansion of John E. Seabrook, from the Garden, Edisto Island, S.C." Billy Seabrook had been liberated from this plantation shortly before joining the New Hampshire regiment as a servant.