Brady, Mathew B. (ca. 1823-1896) [Portrait of Major Sidell]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05111.01.0054 Author/Creator: Brady, Mathew B. (ca. 1823-1896) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Photograph Date: 1861-1863 Pagination: 1 salt print ; 21 x 25.4 cm Order a Copy
A salt print of a photographic portrait of a man identified as Maj. Sidell. Heavily touched-up by Brady studio artists. Posibly an original painting and not a photograph. Research brings up a William Henry Sidell, born 1810 in New York, NY. Sidell graduated from West Point in 1833, and was comissioned Major and put in charge of the 15th Infantry Regiment upon the start of the Civil War in 1861. Promoted to Liutenant Colonel at some point, then full bird in 1863. As shoulder straps of Maj. and Lt. Col. are the same except for coloration, photograph can be placed between 1861 and 1863. Sidell was brevetted to Brigadier General in 1865 just before the war's end, and lived until 1873. Buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY. Written in graphite on recto: "1 Negative" and on verso: "Major Sidell, U.S.A." and "a Salt print touched up in Brady's gallery for reproduction [illegible signature]." Brady's studio was in Washington, D.C. and was presumably taken there.
See https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5955933 for biographical information, as well as Hunt, R. D. & Brown, J. R., Brevet Brigadier Generals in blue (Gaithersburg, MD: Olde Soldier Books, 1990), 558.
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