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Seventeen Men
Portraits of African American Civil War Soldiers
Coming to the USCT Interpretive Center this fall!
Background
Shayne Davidson is a professional artist and illustrator and also a genealogist. She was working on a family tree for a friend when she was shown the images from a miniature photo album that had belonged to her great-grandfather, William A. Prickitt, a white man who was captain of the 25th Infantry Regiment, USCT, Company G, during the American Civil War. The photos were made during the war and showed 17 of the 113 enlisted men under Prickitt’s command.
Seventeen Men
Portraits of African American Civil War Soldiers
Coming to the USCT Interpretive Center this fall!
Most of the men photographed for the album were from the Mid-Atlantic region, including one man from Baltimore, but several were from the South. Some of the men were free before the war and some of them were enslaved at the time of enlistment. The 25th USCT trained at Camp William Penn, outside of Philadelphia and were then sent to Fort Barrancas, near Pensacola, Florida for their service. The men in the album all survived the war and mustered out in December 1865.
Background
Shayne Davidson is a professional artist and illustrator and also a genealogist. She was working on a family tree for a friend when she was shown the images from a miniature photo album that had belonged to her great-grandfather, William A. Prickitt, a white man who was captain of the 25th Infantry Regiment, USCT, Company G, during the American Civil War. The photos were made during the war and showed 17 of the 113 enlisted men under Prickitt’s command.
The photo album was donated by the Prickitt family to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington DC, where it is currently on display.
The Artwork & Biographies
Most of the men photographed for the album were from the Mid-Atlantic region, including one man from Baltimore, but several were from the South. Some of the men were free before the war and some of them were enslaved at the time of enlistment. The 25th USCT trained at Camp William Penn, outside of Philadelphia and were then sent to Fort Barrancas, near Pensacola, Florida for their service. The men in the album all survived the war and mustered out in December 1865.
The finished size of each unframed drawings is 20 x 27.5 inches. Each man was drawn at approximately life size. The drawings were primarily made with Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils on pale gray Pastelmat card. Accompanying each portrait is a short biography of the man, along with a copy of his photo from Captain Prickitt’s album.
The photo album was donated by the Prickitt family to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington DC, where it is currently on display.
The Artwork & Biographies
The finished size of each unframed drawings is 20 x 27.5 inches. Each man was drawn at approximately life size. The drawings were primarily made with Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils on pale gray Pastelmat card. Accompanying each portrait is a short biography of the man, along with a copy of his photo from Captain Prickitt’s album.
