Carte de visite albumen photograph presenting a vignette portrait of General George A. Custer, shown in Union uniform in a closely cropped bust view. The image isolates Custer against a plain background, emphasizing his youthful features, long hair, and distinctive mustache, with the soft vignette edge typical of copied or reworked studio portraits. The photograph corresponds to an unpublished CDV view cataloged as Katz K-21.

The image is understood to derive from the well-known October 8, 1863 photograph of Custer taken by Mathew Brady, here reissued in vignette form. This practice was common during the Civil War, particularly for celebrated officers, with regional photographers producing locally branded cartes from famous negatives or engravings. The presentation aligns with mid-war interest in Custer following his rapid rise to brigadier general and his growing public profile.

The verso bears the photographer’s imprint of W. H. Bowlsby, Monroe, Michigan. Bowlsby was active in Custer’s hometown, and the backmark situates this example as a locally issued adaptation rather than a direct Brady studio CDV. The combination of an unpublished vignette format and a Monroe, Michigan imprint distinguishes this card within the broad corpus of Custer imagery and reflects the dissemination of iconic Civil War portraits through regional photographic studios.