Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Ambrotype |
Title |
Alexander Speirs George |
Catalog Number |
0985.13.02043 |
Description |
Ninth-plate ambrotype with applied color; man seated with legs crossed, left over right, facing camera, hands resting in lap; hair cut short around ears, clean shaven; wearing slouch hat with left sided pinned up with a feather plume, double breasted uniform frock coat, 12 gilded buttons visible, 3 cuff buttons and braid on sleeves tinted gold, edging on frock coat tinted gold, trouser seam braid visible, tinted gold; cheeks tinted pink, lips, uniform and hands tinted; oval gilt mat with embossed floral motif; interior obverse cover section lined in red felt with embossed fern motif; case is leather-covered wood with floral motif embossed on both obverse and reverse exterior sections; held together at spine with black cloth tape; brass latch and latch hook intact; |
Medium |
Brass/Felt/Glass/Leather/Metal/Paint/Photographic Emulsion/Wood |
Studio |
Unknown |
Photographer |
Unknown |
Owner Regiment |
10th Virginia Cavalry, Co. A 10th Virginia Cavalry, Co. F |
Provenance |
A cadet at Virginia Military Institute, Alexander Speirs (or Spiers) George enlisted as a private in Co. A, 10th Virginia Cavalry in 1863. He soon became a courier and "special escort" for J.E.B. Stuart. At Stuart’s side during the battle of Yellow Tavern, George provided the pencil with which Stuart wrote his last dispatches. George returned to his regiment as a sergeant after Stuart’s death. Although he was wounded in December 1864, he returned to duty shortly before Appomattox. After the war, he earned a fortune in tobacco, earned a medical degree, and became a noted philanthropist. An admirer wrote in 1931 that "the Southern cause was to him ever a sacred trust – this son of Virginia, who rode by the side of the immortal Stuart." |
People |
George, Alexander Speirs |
Search Terms |
Richmond, Virginia Virginia Military Institute VMI V.M.I. Overland Campaign |
Subjects |
Ambrotypes Cased photographs Cavalry Military uniforms Photographic studios Photographs Photography Soldiers War |