He was severely wounded at the Mexican War battle of Cerro Gordo and left for dead on the battlefield

Colonel of the 1st Minnesota Infantry

Seriously wounded at the Battle of Antietam, Maryland in 1862

(1822-1905) He was born at Fort Sullivan, in Eastport, Maine, and graduated in the West Point class of 1842, and was commissioned 2nd lieutenant in the 7th U.S. Infantry. He fought in the Mexican War at the Battle of Monterrey, was promoted to 1st lieutenant on February 16, 1847, and took part in the Siege of Vera Cruz. At the battle of Cerro Gordo he was severely wounded while storming the entrenchments on Telegraph Hill. He was left for dead until picked up by a burial detail 36 hours later. For his heroic actions at Cerro Gordo, Dana was promoted to brevet captain. Dana joined the Union army in the fall of 1861, and was appointed Colonel of the 1st Minnesota Infantry. He was then appointed brigade commander in General Charles P. Stone's Division, of the Army of the Potomac, and his men took part in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Va., on October 21st. On February 6, 1862, Dana was commissioned brigadier general, and given command of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Corps, which he led throughout the 1862 Virginia Peninsula Campaign in the spring and summer of 1862, participating in the Siege of Yorktown, the Battles of Seven Pines, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. General Dana led his brigade gallantly during the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, where he was severely wounded in his left leg, and was carried to a Union field hospital. Dana's command lost about 900 men killed, wounded, and missing at Antietam. President Lincoln submitted Dana's nomination for promotion to major general to the U.S. Senate which was confirmed on March 9, 1863. During the Gettysburg Campaign he commanded the Defenses of Philadelphia, and also led the 2nd division of General Darius N. Couch's Department of the Susquehanna. That fall, Dana was given divisional and then corps command in the Department of the Gulf. He led the department's second division, and participated in the action at Fordoche Bayou, as well as the expedition from Brazos Santiago to Laredo, Texas, and was overall Union commander during the Battle of Stirling's Plantation. He was later in command at Vicksburg, and the Department of Mississippi until May 14, 1865. In 1872, Dana began his lengthy connection with railroads serving as the superintendent of several railroads in Illinois, most notably the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, at Rock Island. He was then the commissioner in charge of Railroads at St. Louis, Missouri, from 1878 to 1881, and was president of the Montana and Union Railway Company in 1885. Dana next served as chief of the Old War and Navy Division, U.S. Pension Department, in 1893, and was promoted to 1st Deputy Commissioner of Pensions by President Grover Cleveland in 1895. While visiting Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he died on July 15, 1905, at the age of 83. He was buried in Portsmouth's Harmony Grove Cemetery.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Standing view wearing a double breasted frock coat with rank of brigadier general. He poses next to a studio table while holding his cap with insignia. He is also wearing an eagle sword belt plate, with his sash and sword attached to his belt. Back mark: E. & H.T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, From Photographic Negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Very fine. Scarce image.