General John Ellis Wool stands in three-quarter view wearing his full dress U.S. Army uniform coat, the double-breasted front bearing two rows of brass buttons and a decorated officer's belt at the waist. Heavy bullion epaulettes rest on both shoulders, and his right hand grips the ivory or bone hilt of a sword whose blade extends downward to the floor. The albumen print was published by E. Anthony of 501 Broadway, New York, from a photographic negative held in Brady's National Portrait Gallery, placing the image in the Civil War era.

Wool served the United States Army across three consecutive conflicts: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. At the time of the Civil War he was the oldest general on active duty on either side and carried more accumulated field experience than any other officer in the war.

The reverse bears the printed publisher's imprint of E. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, noting the source as Brady's National Portrait Gallery. The recto mount is inscribed "Wool" in ink below the image, and the verso carries the pencil inscription "Genl Wool" in a period hand.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer