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Civil War SUBSTITUTE Union Soldier CDV Nashville, TN. Photographers Imprint

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:240.00 USD Estimated At:350.00 - 450.00 USD
Civil War SUBSTITUTE Union Soldier CDV Nashville, TN. Photographers Imprint
Civil War CDVs
“SUBSTITUTE” Union Soldier CDV ID’d to be Pvt. Levi Connor Co. F, 57th Illinois Infantry for Another Soldier!
c. 1864 Civil War Period, Carte de Visite of a Rare “SUBSTITUTE” Union Soldier ID’d and Naming the Soldier He Replaced on the verso, Nashville, Tenn. Photographers Imprint, Choice Very Fine.
This Civil War Period Carte de Visite measures 2.5” x 4” and shows a handsome looking Union soldier in uniform with what appears to be a patriotic kerchief about his neck and identification of unit on his hat. A later handwritten pencil identification on its verso identifies him as: “Levi Connor, Pvt. Co. F, 57th Illinois Infantry, SUBSTITUTE for P.A. Hemmerer. Age: 18 - Occupation: Farmer - Muster In: Dec. 10, 1864 - Muster Out: July, 1865.” Back stamp reads, “T.M. Schleier’s Carte de Visite Photograph Gallery, Corner Square and Deaderick Street, Nashville, Tenn.” Until the Act of 24 February 1864, the conscript could choose between hiring a substitute or paying the government $300 as Commutation of service or replacement from service with a Substitute. An exceptionally rare CDV image of a fully identified “SUBSTITUTE” Union Soldier.
In the North a draftee soldier could always hire a “substitute” if he could afford it. The government allowed this escape from military service on the theory that, so long as each name drawn produced a man, it made no difference whether the drafted person or one hired to take his place appeared for duty This method of draft evasion was legalized with the Conscription Act of 3 March 1863. Until the Act of 24 February 1864, the conscript could choose between hiring a substitute or paying the government $300 as Commutation of service.