General Ambrose E. Burnside is depicted in this albumen CDV produced from a negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery, New York, and published by E. & H.T. Anthony, 501 Broadway. The front mount carries the "Brady, New York" imprint in script, situating the portrait firmly within Mathew Brady's celebrated series of Union military leaders made during the Civil War era.

Burnside appears in a dark double-breasted officer's coat with a double row of buttons and a shoulder strap bearing two stars, confirming his rank of Major General. He wears a full beard trimmed short at the chin with a heavier mustache, his gaze directed slightly off-axis, and his thick dark hair receding at the temples.

Ambrose Everett Burnside commanded the Army of the Potomac and led Union forces at Fredericksburg in December 1862, later serving as commander of the Department of the Ohio and the IX Corps. He subsequently served as Governor of Rhode Island and United States Senator, remaining one of the most recognizable figures of the war.

The reverse bears the E. & H.T. Anthony publisher's imprint with the Brady's National Portrait Gallery credit, a pencil inscription reading "Burnside," and a catalog notation "JM25."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer