Civil War Ambrotype. Rare I.D.\'d Confederate States Marine Corps Officer. CSMC.
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Civil War Ambrotype. Rare I.D.\'d Confederate States Marine Corps Officer. CSMC.:
$1000.00
This is actually a super rare nineth plate ruby ambrotype of Lieutenant Beckett K. Howell. One of only 58 appointed officers in the Confederate States Marine Corps, and holy cow, Brother in Law to President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis. Also included in the sale is a small envelope and calling card belonging to LT. Howell. Much of the ink on the card appears to have \"flaked\" off, but you can make out then impression of what looks like \"LT. B.\" just before the last name, which is partly flaked off too but clearly says \"Howell\".
I still have several boxes of papers and letters from this same family to go through and hope more collectables like this will appear.
I have several pages of research material, too much to detail here. Marshall University in West Virginia has a virtual display on the CSS Alabama online and there is a photo of him and short Bio on that site. He served first on the CSS Sumter as a Lieutenant in charge of the marine detachment. He served with the same commander, Raphael Semmes, on Semmes next vessel, which was the Alabama.
Both the case and image are in very good condition. The image is sharp and clear. Most of the uniform buttons are either blurred or have flash glare, but a couple are turned away from the camera slightly and under magnification you can just make out a portion of the top half of a large block letter \"M\" which Confederate Marine buttons were so marked. I believe he was initially appointed a second lieutenant, thus no sleeve braid, but under the brass frame can be seen the three cuff buttons. They also wore no collar insignia, but he should have had shoulder boards. They would have been blank though. In researching CSMC uniforms, I found nearly any type form or fashion you can think. Some with shoulder boards, some without.
One very interesting distinguishing feature of LT. Howell is his ears. In the online photo his right ear isn\'t entirely visible, but you can see that it extends further down than the left. His left ear appears to have been either injured or deformed, with hardly any earlobe. These same features can be more easily seen in the ambrotype photo. Feel free to ask question.
Civil War Ambrotype. Rare I.D.\'d Confederate States Marine Corps Officer. CSMC.:
$1000.00