Item No. 4106163

A vignette CDV portrait of Major General William Hoffman, who is best known for serving as the Union Army’s Commissary General of Prisoners. On the reverse is the imprint of photographer Alexander Gardner of Washington, D.C. The image was part of a family album assembled by Bernard J. D. Irwin, the noted army surgeon, naturalist, and Medal of Honor recipient (it is likely that Hoffman and Irwin knew each other from their prewar service on the frontier). Hoffman was also godfather to Irwin’s daughter Ida, perhaps explaining why the Irwin family had three of Hoffman’s portraits. The image measures about 2 3/8” x 4 1/4”.

Hoffman was a career Army officer whose service spanned from the antebellum period through the Civil War. A West Point graduate of 1829, he served in the Black Hawk War, Seminole conflicts, and the Mexican War before rising to prominence during the Civil War as Commissary General of Prisoners. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing Union prison camps and the administration of captured Confederate soldiers. He was brevetted major general for his wartime service.