Item No. 7640234

A large mounted albumen image of Company H, 44th Massachusetts Volunteers, posing with their arms and company flag upon their return to Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts, following the expiration of their enlistments. The image was made by Boston photographer James Wallace Black, who is best remembered for having taken America’s first known aerial photographs from a balloon as he hovered over Boston. The viewable area of the albumen is about 13” x 8 1/2”, framed to an overall size of about 18 1/2” x 14”.

Several of the company’s personnel are identified on the mount, including Captain William V. Smith (seated at center), Second Lieutenant Albert Richards Howe (seated to left of company flag), Sergeant Gedney K. Richardson (seated at extreme left next to drummer), and Private Everett Cephas Bumpus, standing 3rd from left). The albumen is mounted on thick paperboard. I had it framed as shown around 2020, which makes the original identifications no longer visible, but a modern label on the reverse includes the IDs.

The 44th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was a nine-month volunteer regiment raised in 1862 as part of the Union’s call for short-term troops during the Civil War. Composed largely of men from eastern Massachusetts, the regiment was mustered into service in September 1862 and assigned to the Department of North Carolina. The regiment spent the majority of its service performing garrison and expeditionary duty along the North Carolina coast, operating in and around New Bern. In December 1862, elements of the regiment participated in the expedition against Goldsboro, supporting efforts to disrupt Confederate rail lines. The unit remained on duty in North Carolina through the winter and spring of 1863. Its term of enlistment expired in June 1863, and the regiment was mustered out shortly thereafter at Camp Meigs.