Capt. T.W. Burdick of Company D poses in this Civil War-era CDV, identified by a period ink inscription on the reverse. The albumen print presents a three-quarter length seated portrait against a plain light ground, consistent with studio portraiture of the early to mid 1860s. No photographer's imprint appears on the mount.

Burdick wears a dark Union officer's frock coat with a single row of staff buttons running from collar to waist and a shoulder strap visible on his left shoulder indicating his captain's rank. His dark hair is swept back, and he wears a trimmed goatee beard with clean-shaven cheeks. His gaze is directed slightly upward and to the subject's left, and his hands rest at his lower frame in a composed, formal pose.

Iowa furnished more than 75,000 soldiers to the Union cause across dozens of infantry, cavalry, and artillery regiments. Company D designations appear across numerous Iowa regiments, and the officer's frock coat and shoulder strap are consistent with a line infantry captain's uniform of the 1861 to 1865 period.

The reverse bears a period ink inscription reading "Capt. T.W. Burdick, Capt. Co. D" with no photographer's imprint visible on either side of the mount.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer