Figure 1.--Here we have a portrait taken at the M. J. Brady, eisert's block, Petersburg, Ind. It is undated, but we would guess it was taken in the 1890s, although I am not sure about that. The boys name was Horace Benjamin. Horace looks to be about 5 yeatrs old. He wears a collar buttoning jacket with a wide white collar, but no bow. What is interesting about the portrait is Horace's toy drum. We susperct that this is in part a reflection of the legendary status of Civil War drummer boys. Perhaps his grandfather was a Civil War soldier, or even a drummer boy himself.

Here we have a portrait taken at the M. J. Brady, eisert's block, Petersburg, Ind. It is undated, but we would guess it was taken in the 1890s, although I am not sure about that. The boys name was Horace Benjamin. Along the right hand edge was written "etta Boy". I'm not sure what that means. Horace looks to be about 5 yeatrs old. He wears a collar buttoning jacket, perhaps with a little Norfolk styling, with a wide white collar, but no bow. What is interesting about the portrait is Horace's toy drum. We susperct that this is in part a reflection of the legendary status of Civil War drummer boys. Perhaps his grandfather was a Civil War soldier, or even a drummer boy. We wonder about the social class connotations here. We suspect that this was an inexpesive portriat, given the jerry-rigged tarpeulin platform. And the boys rather plain suit, given the fancy outfits popular at the time, as wwll as the short hair suggests to us a modest income family, but certainly not poor. Of course, the Civil War was fought primarily by youths from low-income or modest income families. Here there was an exception for the officers. Thus we think that the boy very likely had a Civil War grandfather. Of course the drum could be a studio prop, but does not mean there was not a Civil War grandfather.

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Created: 8:51 PM 2/24/2006
Last edited: 8:51 PM 2/24/2006