This is an original Civil War-era dual-sided tintype (ferrotype) medallion, approximately 1 inch in diameter, consisting of two small circular portrait photographs mounted back to back in a single brass “donut” frame with pierced holes, retaining a cord for suspension. Each side features a portrait of Union volunteer Francis Edwin Brownell in uniform, with the printed legend “Brownell the Avenger” along the lower edge. The paired ferrotypes are housed within the same brass rim, forming a pendant-style photographic token intended for wear or display.

The medallion commemorates Brownell’s widely publicized action at the opening of the Civil War. In May 1861, Brownell served in Company A of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as Ellsworth’s Fire Zouaves. On May 24, 1861, during the Union occupation of Alexandria, Virginia, Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth was shot and killed by innkeeper James W. Jackson after removing a Confederate flag from the Marshall House. Brownell immediately retaliated, shooting and bayoneting Jackson, an act that earned him national recognition as the avenger of Ellsworth’s death. Ellsworth became the first prominent Union casualty of the war, and his killing resonated powerfully in the Northern press. Brownell’s response was celebrated in popular culture, and he was later awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.

Photographic medallions of this type were produced as patriotic souvenirs during the earliest months of the conflict, capitalizing on public interest in newly minted wartime heroes. The “Brownell the Avenger” medallion is among the most evocative of these early Civil War photographic tokens, combining portraiture, text, and wearable format to memorialize a defining incident of 1861. Original examples are scarce, and the format reflects the rapid commercialization of photographic imagery in response to Civil War events.