Anonymous American Photographer

half-plate daguerreotype, with hand-tinting and gilt detail, with identification and publication information annotated in an old hand in ink on the reverse, sealed, in a half-case, 1849

The sitter to his sister, Emily Warren Roebling, wife of Washington Roebling, Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge

By descent to Siegfried Roebling

To his wife, Mary G. Roebling, first female president of an American bank and female Governor of the American Stock Exchange

Emily Warren Roebling, The Journal of the Reverend Silas Constant (Philadelphia, 1903), p. 451 (this plate)

This impressive portrait conveys a remarkable level of detail about its subject. The features of Warren’s face and hair; the textures of his uniform and accessories; and the studio’s table, chair, and patterned curtain are all vividly rendered. The exposure is bold and crisp, and the plate possesses a sense of three-dimensionality. Elements of Warren’s uniform have been expertly accented with gilt and vibrant hand-coloring. His pants, gloves, and shoulder belt are slightly solarized. High magnification reveals light rouge tinting on the sitter’s cheeks. The plate is in generally excellent condition. As is visible in the catalogue illustration, minor tarnishing and faint rust-colored discoloration follow the contours of the arch-topped brass mat along the upper, left, and lower right edges. This does not intrude into the image in a significant way. When the plate is looked at in raking light, tiny, translucent, matte areas are visible, which appear to be on the glass rather than features of the plate. In the area of the sitter’s legs, there appears to be a tiny fibrous adhesion on the underside of the glass. Upon extremely close examination, 2 very small scratches are visible: near the lower left edge of the plate and to the immediate right of the sitter’s hat. The plate is sealed with what appears to be two layers of paper tape. The intact seals are old and possibly original. The inscriptions in an old hand in ink on the reverse of the plate read: ‘Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren As a cadet at West Point (He was born Jan. 8, 1830) See Journal of Rev. Silas Constant pp. 446 of Seq.)’
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This commanding half-plate daguerreotype of Civil War hero, and ‘Savior of Little Round Top,’ Gouverneur Kemble Warren (1830-1882) shows him as a young cadet of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Upon graduating second in his class in 1850, Warren was commissioned into the Corps of Topographical Engineers, where his surveying west of the Mississippi River was crucial to preparations for the transcontinental railroad.  As Topographical Engineer during the dangerous Dacota Explorations of 1855-1857, Warren witnessed the brutal massacre of Native American women and children at the Battle of Ash Hollow.

Warren is often described as the ‘Savior of Little Round Top’ for his quick and decisive actions on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg (1863).  Upon finding this low mountain south of Gettysburg unguarded moments before a Confederate assault, Warren commandeered a regiment of troops to successfully defend this crucial Union position.  The victory at Gettysburg was a watershed moment in the Civil War, one from which the defeated Confederate forces never recovered.  A bronze statue of Warren, surveying the battlefield with binoculars in hand, stands atop Little Round Top, erected in 1888 by veterans of his first infantry command. 

Warren was brevetted four times throughout the Civil War, ultimately achieving rank of Major General.  Warren’s rise in the military came to an end at the Battle of Five Forks, when he was unceremoniously relieved of his command by Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan.  An 1879 court of inquiry ultimately found his dismissal to have been unjust. 

Warren is pictured here in full West Point cadet dress: the collar folded down one inch; the cotton sword shoulder belt hanging from right to left; the distinctive red silk sash with tassels; and the tall cylindrical dress hat, with gilt accents.  Warren originally gave this daguerreotype to his sister Emily.  This plate is illustrated in her 1903 genealogical survey, The Journal of the of the Reverend Silas Constant, and is often referenced for its depiction of the model cadet uniform of the day.  Daguerreotypes of West Point cadets are rare.