He commanded the Union army at the 1st battle of Bull Run, Virginia in July 1861

1862 Mathew Brady imprint on the front mount

RETAIL PRICE $150.00

(1818-1885) He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated in the West Point class of 1838 where one of his classmates was future Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, his future adversary at the Battle of First Bull Run, Va. He was later assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery. From 1841 to 1845 he taught tactics at the United States Military Academy, and many of the students he taught went on to become Confederate generals who haunted him on the battlefields of the Civil War. He was awarded the rank of brevet captain for gallantry at the battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican War. Between 1848 and 1861, McDowell served as a staff officer to high ranking military leaders, and developed experience in logistics and supply. He developed a close friendship with General Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, while serving on his staff. He also served under future Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular U.S. Army on May 14, 1861, and was given command of the Army of Northeastern Virginia. By July, political pressure demanded an advance by his half trained mainly volunteer army on the Rebels under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard, at Manassas Junction, Va., where the railroad from Richmond to Alexandria, Va., met the line from the Shenandoah Valley. The resulting Union disaster at the 1st battle of Bull Run stemmed as much from misfortune as ineptitude although on paper General McDowell had a good and ambitious plan, but wasn't able to inspire his inexperienced officers and troops to execute it properly. He later commanded a corps of the Army of the Potomac which was detached to protect Washington, and in the 2nd battle of Bull Run he commanded the 3rd Corps. On July 1, 1864, he was assigned to command the Department of the Pacific, and in 1865 he was appointed commander of the Department of California. He then was appointed to be the commander of the Department of the East, from 1868-72, and he was promoted to major general, U.S. Army, on November 25, 1872. McDowell succeeded General George G. Meade as commander of the Military Division of the South, on December 16, 1872, and remained in command until June 30, 1876. On July 1, 1876, he served as commander of the Division of the Pacific, and in 1882, Congress imposed a mandatory retirement age of 64 for military officers, and McDowell retired on October 14th of that year. After his retirement from the army, General McDowell exercised his fondness for landscape gardening, serving as Park Commissioner of San Francisco, California, until his death from a heart attack, on May 4, 1885. In this capacity he constructed a park in the neglected reservation of the Presidio, laying out drives that commanded views of the Golden Gate. He is buried in San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio of San Francisco, Ca.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph mounted to 2 1/2 x 4 card. Vignetted bust view of McDowell in uniform with rank of major general. Imprint on the front mount, Major Gen. I. McDowell. Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1862, by M.B. Brady, in the Clerk's Office in the District Court of the District of Columbia. Brady-Washington is imprinted on the reverse. Excellent and desirable early war image of General McDowell.