Captain Charles Nassau Cadwallader of the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery is depicted in this albumen CDV, produced by a New York photographer whose imprint is partially visible on the reverse. Cadwallader served from November 21, 1861 through November 24, 1864, mustering out following action at Chaffin's Farm, Virginia, and the card dates to the Civil War period consistent with that service.

He stands in a three-quarter pose with both hands tucked behind his back, wearing a dark sack coat with a single-breasted row of buttons over light-colored trousers, a knotted cravat visible at the collar. A kepi rests on a draped side table to his right, with a heavy studio curtain filling the background behind him.

Cadwallader's regiment garrisoned Washington's fortifications through March 1864 before joining Grant's Overland Campaign, seeing action at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg prior to the Chaffin's Farm engagement where his service concluded. The reverse bears two modern research labels identifying the subject, regiment, dates, and engagements, along with a partially visible ornate New York studio imprint.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer