Private Henry Kahler, an Iowa Civil War soldier, is portrayed in this albumen CDV dating to the 1860s. The subject's youth is striking, his boyish face and slight build suggesting he may have enlisted in his teens, a circumstance not uncommon among Union volunteers. No photographer's imprint appears on the reverse.

Kahler wears a dark sack-style jacket with a standing collar and a row of three visible buttons down the front, consistent with civilian or early-war dress rather than a formal issued uniform. His dark hair is parted to one side and falls across his forehead, and his expression is direct and composed. The image is set within an elaborately printed oval cartouche featuring scrollwork, pendant tassels, and fleur-de-lis ornament printed in sepia on the card stock.

Iowa furnished more than 76,000 soldiers to the Union cause during the Civil War, and boy soldiers as young as sixteen served in its infantry regiments, many lying about their age at enlistment.

The reverse bears a period ink inscription reading "Private Henry Kahler" followed by a partially legible line that appears to reference a company designation, with the letter "C" visible.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer