Stereoview of African American Soldiers of the 7th USCT Outside Fort Burnham During the Civil War

BRADY, Mathew, photographer. Stereoview of African American soldiers of the 7th USCT outside Fort Burnham (formerly CSA Fort Harrison), near Richmond, VA. New York: E. & H.T. Anthony, n.d. 6 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. stereoview on cardstock mount (light edge wear to mount). Mount recto with series title, "The War for the Union." Verso with publisher's imprint and applied paper label with printed caption, "View from the Breastworks outside Fort Burnham, late Rebel Fort Harrison. Rebel pickets in the woods; a Rebel Fort in the middle distance." Several African American soldiers of the 7th US Colored Troops are shown standing around a cabin, with tents from a forward field camp lining fortified breastworks in the distance. Union soldiers can be seen in dugout positions near the camp, watching for Confederate activity in the distance. Fort Harrison, later renamed Fort Burnham, was an important component of the Confederate defenses of Richmond during the Civil War. It was the largest in a series of fortifications that extended from New Market Road to the James River. On 29 September 1864, 2,500 Union soldiers from Major General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James overran Major Richard Cornelius Taylor's 200-man Confederate garrison and captured the fort in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm. Fort Burnham remained in Union hands until the end of the war. Provenance: Sergeant Henry J. Bardwell, 27th Massachusetts Infantry (signed and numbered on verso). He joined Burnside's North Carolina Expedition of 1862 and performed signal duty at the Battle of Fredericksburg that December. The following year, Bardwell participated in the siege of Knoxville in November. Very good condition.