Finding a Portrait of My Civil War Ancestor

I've been actively collecting Civil War portrait photography since my teens. Early on, I became fascinated by images of identified soldiers. Someday, I hoped, an image of an ancestor might come up for sale or auction. It happened last week. This image, which I recently won on eBay, is a simple vignette showing the head and shoulders of 2nd Lt. Thomas Vincent Coddington. Here's the story.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Civil War Trails, with more than 1,000 interpretive markers in several states. Learn more at civilwartrails.org

Image: Ronald S. Coddington Collection.

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