Raynors HCA 2017-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/7/2017
A fascinating piece of Florida Confederate history: a rare carte de visite photograph of a Confederate naval officer shown in uniform in a bust portrait. The young man has added his signature at bottom, which appears to be "Ben Albert". The image, now faded, is set upon a yellow mount. The reverse bears either a presentation or ownership notation: "Mr. & Mrs. B. F. Wardlaw Madison Fla.". Prominent Madison County citizen Benjamin F. Wardlaw's home in inland Madison served as a temporary hospital for Confederate and Union wounded following the Battle of Olustee in February 1864. And it was in Madison - and most likely at Wardlaw's home - that in May 1865, Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckenridge plotted his flight from the country. Breckinridge met with Confederate Navy Captain John Taylor Wood, nephew of Jefferson Davis, who had escaped when Davis was captured. Capt. Wood and a few others, including almost certainly the officer in this photograph, then escorted Breckinridge south and eventually to Cuba.
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