Item No. 8427752

A scarce CDV portrait of Union General John P. Hatch, best known for his action at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862, where he was wounded, and for which he later received the Medal of Honor. It was part of a family album assembled by Bernard J. D. Irwin, the noted army surgeon, naturalist, and fellow Medal of Honor recipient (the two likely met in their prewar service in New Mexico). The image is uncredited and has been trimmed down to about 2 1/4” x 3 1/2”.

Hatch was a career Army officer who served extensively on the antebellum frontier in the years immediately preceding the Civil War. During the war he rose to brigadier general, seeing action in the Eastern Theater and later commanding forces in the Department of the South. He was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862 and remained an active field commander thereafter.