James R. Clark, attributed to

half-plate daguerreotype, cased, circa 1845; accompanied by a contemporary copy half-plate daguerreotype, volumes 1 and 2 of An Account of the Organization of the Army of the United States, and related ephemera (2 daguerreotypes, 2 volumes, and papers)

This impressive portrait of Colonel Trueman Cross is nearly flawless. Cross is pictured here in a single-breasted coat with the high collar and eagle-embroidered shoulder straps. An uneven border of tarnish follows the mat's octagonal shape, and there are 2 very small rust-colored areas in the lower portion of the plate. This does not detract from the daguerreotype's fine appearance. The contemporary copy half-plate exhibits a great deal of detail for a copy plate. There are several small rust-colored areas, primarily in the left portion of the plate. Uneven tarnishing is visible along the right edge of the plate, and there are scratches at the periphery of the image where the plate may have shifted in its mat. The leather case is of the same design as that of the original plate, and it is worn and scratched overall. Volumes 1 and 2 of 'The Army of the United States' are in good condition and the binding remains intact and strong. There are losses to the spine on each volume. Foxing is pervasive throughout the volumes and some of the pages are creased or folded. A bookplate from the library of John W. Andrews is on the front paste-down end-paper of each volume.
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The half-plate daguerreotype offered here shows Colonel Trueman Cross (1796-1846), whose abduction and murder in the weeks leading up to the Mexican War caused a sensation.  An Assistant Quartermaster General with Zachary Taylor’s Army of Occupation, Cross disappeared in April 1846 while on patrol along the Rio Grande.   It was later discovered that he had been captured by Mexican bandits and savagely killed.  His death was commemorated in one of the popular songs from the war, Strike for your Rights! Avenge Your Wrongs!, with the lines ‘Remember gallant Cross, laid low/ Assassinated by the foe/ Then strike the bold avenging blow/ Upon the Rio Grande.’  One of the first Americans to be killed in the conflict with Mexico, Cross was later re-interred in Washington’s Congressional Cemetery with full pomp and circumstance. 

A native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Cross began his military career in 1814 as an ensign of the 42^nd Infantry, rising to Colonel of Cavalry in 1838. Cross is pictured here in a single-breasted coat with high collar and the eagle-embroidered shoulder straps that denote an officer’s ranking.   Although the authorship of the present daguerreotype is not confirmed, it is likely the work of James R. Clark, whose daguerreotypes were used for engraved portraits in the 1848 Account of the Organization of the Army of the United States, where an engraving based on the present image appears.  It is believed that Cross, prior to his dispatch to Texas, was stationed in New York, where Clark was an operator for both Anthony, Edwards, & Co. and the National Miniature Daguerreian Gallery in the 1840s (Craig’s Daguerreian Registry, Vol. 2, p. 113).