Anonymous American Photographer

quarter-plate daguerreotype, hand-tinted, in a blue paper mat with gilt-detail, cased, a manuscript inscription in ink laid over the case lining, 1846

This remarkable daguerreotype of a man who saw action in the Revolutionary War is in essentially excellent condition. Much of the visual "noise" that can be seen in the catalogue illustration is actually on the underside of the cover glass. There is red hand-tinting on the subject's knit hat, as well as light pink tinting on his cheeks. The plate shows a good level of detail, and sets forth an arresting study of this formidable character. The paper on which the caption is inscribed appears to have been originally affixed to the case lining with sealing wax.
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The manuscript inscription, laid into this daguerreotype's case, records the following: 'Baltus Stone, Revolutionary Pensioner of the United States.  Born October 1744.  Signed his receipt for his Pension at the Philadelphia agency by making his mark.  March 5, 1846.  Aged about 101 1 /2 Years.'  

This striking portrait of Revolutionary War veteran Baltus Stone shows a man who, at the time of this sitting, was undoubtedly one of the country's oldest citizens, and who was among that rarefied group of people born before 1750 to have had their likeness captured by the new medium of photography.  The inscription accompanying this portrait gives Stone's birth year as 1744; his obituary, however, indicates an even earlier year, 1743.  Very few people born in the 1740s survived into the photographic era.  Maureen Taylor's The Last Muster: Images of The Revolutionary War Generation (Kent, Ohio, 2010), reproduces portraits of only two men born as early as that decade, in 1746 and circa 1749.  Also cited is a daguerreotype of the African-American slave, Caesar, in the collection of The New-York Historical Society, who was reportedly born in 1737.  Earlier-born subjects for daguerreotypes have not been located as of this writing.  

Stone died less than a year after this daguerreotype was made.  His October 1846 obituary states: 'The venerable Baltis [sic] Stone, well known in Southward [presumably Southwark, South Philadelphia] as the oldest inhabitant, & a veteran of Revolutionary times, died on Thu. last.  At an early age the dec'd entered the army as a rifleman, along with his father, who sealed his devotion for his adopted country with his life's blood.  Baltis Stone was with Washington in every campaign of the Revolutionary struggle, & witnessed the battles of Bunker Hill, Trenton, Germantown, Red Bank, & others, & yet escaped without receiving a wound.  He has received a pension from Gov't, as a reward for these services, for many years.  He was 103 years & 16 days old at his death.  He was able to walk, supported by his staff, until within a few months past' (National Intelligencer, 27 October 1846).    

Stone lived in the Philadelphia area at least from 1813, when he is listed as a laborer in the city directory.  He collected a pension for his service as a private in the Revolutionary War, and extant pension rolls list him as a recipient in 1819, 1820, 1835, and 1840.  This remarkable daguerreotype is one of the very few photographic images that shows a subject who lived in this country during colonial times, and is of an even smaller subset of photographs of those who fought for this country's independence. 

Information contained in Stone's official governmental pension file reveals that the above-quoted obituary embellished the facts of his military service.  According to the pension file, Stone enlisted as a private in the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment in 1776.  The Regiment saw action in the Battle of Long Island (fought principally in Brooklyn) in August of 1776, during which Stone was one of about 1000 soldiers of the Continental Army captured by the British.  He was exchanged out of captivity at the end of his enlistment period, and by late 1777 had reenlisted as a wagoner—possibly with Philadelphia's First Battalion, City Militia—and subsequently saw action at the Battles of Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777).  He received an unspecified wound during his service. 

Stone first applied for a veteran's pension in June of 1818, and was likely prompted to do so by Congress's passage, in March of that year, of the Act to Provide for Certain Persons Engaged in the Land and Naval Service of the United States in the Revolutionary War.  In order to be eligible to achieve a veteran's pension, Stone was required to provide a Deposition and Declaration citing the dates and circumstances of his service.  It is Stone's deposition, given before Judge Richard Peters of the District Court of the United States for Pennsylvania, that provides the fullest account of his military service.  Judge Peters affirmed Stone's formal statement and also noted, amidst the formal language of his report, 'And I further certify my belief of the poverty of the applicant.'  Judge Peters forwarded the Deposition and Declaration to the Secretary to the Department of War, and Stone was ultimately granted a pension of $8 per month. 

Stone was apparently forced to reapply for his pension in 1820, as the file contains a deposition from that year, as well.  In it, Stone makes the following statement:

'I have no property of any description, am by occupation a day labourer, but from decrepitude and general infirmity am unable to labour. I have one daughter married with whom I reside and I am in such indigent circumstances as to be unable to support myself without the assistance of my country.'

Sotheby's would like to thank Maureen Taylor for her assistance in researching this daguerreotype.