Colonel 7th Massachusetts Infantry

Killed at the battle of Winchester, Va. in 1864

(1820-64) Born in Salem, New York, he graduated in the West Point class of 1845, and served in the 1st and 4th U.S. Infantry. He fought in the Mexican War and was brevetted for gallantry at the Battles of Paso Ovejas and Cerro Gordo. In 1861, he served in the 4th U.S. Infantry in the defenses of Washington, D.C. He was commissioned colonel of the 7th Massachusetts Infantry, on January 31, 1862, and fought in the 1862 Virginia Peninsular campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and the Battle of Antietam. Promoted to brigadier general on November 29, 1862, he directed a brigade at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and his brigade lost 368 casualties while storming Marye's Heights in May 1863 during the Chancellorsville campaign. He served at Gettysburg, and greatly distinguished himself in command of a division at Rappahannock Station by personally leading a charge. He later fought with distinction from the Wilderness to Petersburg, Va. At the Battle of Winchester, Va., on September 19, 1864, while leading one of his brigades, General Russell was killed instantly by a shell fragment which tore through his heart. He was 43 years old at the time of his death. On May 3, 1867, President Andrew Johnson nominated Russell for the grade of brevet major general in the regular army, to rank from the date of his death in the field, September 19, 1864. He is buried in Salem, New York, in Evergreen Cemetery.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Half view in uniform with rank of brigadier general. Back mark: E. & H.T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York, From Photographic Negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Very fine. Scarce.