A young Union officer stands in full-length pose before a painted studio backdrop, the albumen print made by I. G. Owen of Newton, New Jersey, almost certainly during the Civil War years of the 1860s. The Newton imprint, featuring a patriotic spread-eagle vignette above the motto "E Pluribus Unum," is consistent with wartime studio production, and the style of the officer's uniform reinforces that dating. Owen operated in Newton, the Sussex County seat, serving a region that sent men into both New Jersey infantry and cavalry regiments throughout the conflict.

The subject wears a dark frock coat with a single row of nine large buttons running to the waist, a standing collar, and a shoulder strap on the left shoulder indicating officer rank. His trousers show a light lateral stripe, and he rests his right hand atop a fluted column prop while his left arm hangs at his side, a sword or scabbard barely visible along his left leg.

The reverse carries the I. G. Owen imprint framed in a cartouche beneath the spread-eagle device, with the motto "Negatives preserved" and a partially cropped line reading "al Copies from the plate from which this" at the lower edge, indicating Owen offered reorders from the original negative.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer