1862 dated Mathew Brady photograph

Colonel 9th Indiana Infantry in 1861

(1816-90) Born on a farm near Canton, Indiana, he graduated from the Norwich Academy in Vermont in 1843. He served in the Mexican War as captain of a company of the 1st Indiana Volunteers. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed colonel of the 9th Indiana Infantry. After taking part in General George B. McClellan's 1861 western Virginia campaign, he was promoted to brigadier general on September 3, 1861. He then commanded the Cheat Mountain district, and was engaged in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign against Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. He later commanded an "Independent Brigade," attached to General Franz Sigel's Corps, at the battle of 2nd Bull Run. He was promoted to major general to rank from November 29, 1862. In June 1863, Milroy in command of some 7,000 men at Winchester, was outmaneuvered, outfought, and badly defeated by General Richard S. Ewell's 2nd Corps of General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia while they were enroute to Gettysburg, Pa. He lost 3,400 prisoners, all 23 pieces of his artillery, 300 supply wagons, and many dead and wounded were left on the battlefield. During the Winchester attack, Milroy's horse was hit by an exploding artillery shell, he was thrown from the saddle and seriously bruised his left hip in the process, but did not seek any medical attention, and instead just mounted another horse and carried on. General Milroy himself, with 200 cavalry, made good his escape to Harpers Ferry, Va. In the spring of 1864, he was transferred to the Western Theater, where he recruited troops for General George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland in Nashville. Known for his harsh treatment of civilians, General Milroy oftentimes banished people, and held public executions of folks who expressed pro-Confederate sympathies. He also commanded the Defenses of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad in the Department of the Cumberland until the end of the war. Milroy resigned from the Union army on July 26, 1865. After the war, he was a trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal Company and from 1872-75, he was the superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Washington Territory, and an Indian agent for the following ten years. Milroy suffered for years from the hip injury that he received at the battle of Winchester, and he died from heart failure in Olympia, Washington on May 29, 1890, at the age of 73, and is buried in the Masonic Memorial Park at Tumwater, Washington.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Beautiful half view pose wearing a double breasted frock coat with rank of brigadier general, gauntlets, and a rectangular U.S. eagle belt plate. 1862 M.B. Brady, District of Columbia imprint on the front mount. Back mark: E. & H.T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, From a Photographic Negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Minor age toning, and 2 very tiny surface pin pricks to the lower part of the mount, not affecting the image or the imprint in any way. Very sharp and extremely desirable image. Uncommon.