Apr 15, 2021 - Sale 2564

Sale 2564 - Lot 187

Price Realized: $ 4,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Clarence Mackenzie, Drummer Boy of the 13th Regiment of Brooklyn. Salt print with applied color, 7 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches oval, on original plain mount; not examined out of period gilt frame, 14 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches. [Annapolis, MD?], [1861]

Additional Details

Clarence David Mackenzie (1849-1861) of Brooklyn enlisted in the 13th New York Infantry as a drummer at the tender age of 12. While the regiment was still in training in Annapolis, MD, he was killed in his tent by a stray practice bullet--Brooklyn's first casualty of the war. A poignant zinc sculptural monument of him can still be seen in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, bearing the title "Our Drummer Boy."

This studio photograph shows Mackenzie beside his "13th" drum, in uniform with his Company D belt buckle. At least two period engravings were made from this photograph, including as a frontispiece to an 1861 chapbook, "The Little Drummer Boy, Clarence D. McKenzie"; an undated magazine clipping of the other engraving is included with the lot.

Provenance: Estate of Michael J. McAfee.