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Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
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1.Van Loan (Washington)
1847
Lieutenant Colonel C.A, May

Book plate, woodcut based on a Daguerreotype
Google Books
John Frost Life of Major General Zachary Taylor; with Notices of the War in New Mexico, California, and in Southern Mexico; and Biographical Sketches of Officers who have distinguished themselves in the War with Mexico (New York: D. Appleton, 1847), p.198.
 
LL/36155
2.Van Loan (Washington)
1847
Lieutenant Colonel C.A. May

Book plate, steel engraving based on a Daguerreotype
Google Books
John Frost Life of Major General Zachary Taylor; with Notices of the War in New Mexico, California, and in Southern Mexico; and Biographical Sketches of Officers who have distinguished themselves in the War with Mexico (New York: D. Appleton, 1847), inserted before p.66.
 
LL/36152
3.J. McGuire (New Orleans)
1848
Captain McCulloch, from a Daguerreotype by J. McGuire, New Orleans

Book plate
Google Books
Samuel Chester Reid The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch`s Texas Rangers; or, The Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico - 1846 (Philadelphia: G.B. Zieber and Co., 1848), p.22
 
LL/36156
4.Van Loan (Washington)
1847
Portrait of General Shields

Book plate, steel engraving based on a Daguerreotype
Google Books
John Frost Life of Major General Zachary Taylor; with Notices of the War in New Mexico, California, and in Southern Mexico; and Biographical Sketches of Officers who have distinguished themselves in the War with Mexico (New York: D. Appleton, 1847), inserted before p.249.
 
LL/36153
5.Marcus Aurelius Root
1847
Portrait of Commodore Conner

Book plate, steel engraving based on a Daguerreotype
Google Books
John Frost Life of Major General Zachary Taylor; with Notices of the War in New Mexico, California, and in Southern Mexico; and Biographical Sketches of Officers who have distinguished themselves in the War with Mexico (New York: D. Appleton, 1847), inserted before p.225.
 
LL/36154
6.Mathew B. Brady
1847-1848 (ca)
Gen. Taylor taken during or after the Mexican War

Daguerreotype, full plate
16 x 14.3 cm
 
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Call number: GEN MSS 243, Image ID number: 1070233
 
LL/38165
7.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
Maj. Lewis Cass Jr.
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/1
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38717
8.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
Col. Hamtramck, Virginia Vol.
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate, applied color
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.86/3
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38718
9.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
Maj. Washington, Chief of Artillery
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/4
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38719
10.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
Col. Paine, N.C. Reg. in Mexican War
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/17
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38720
11.Unidentified photographer
1847, April
Two officers of the 5th U.S. Infantry taken in Vera Cruz, Mexico

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Private collection of Will Dunniway
The officer smiling on the left is Capt. William H. Chapman ( Not William W. Chapman) and the officer to the right is believed to be Capt. Moses Merrill, killed at Melino del Rey, Mexico, September 1847. 1/4 plate cased (Not original case) with original mat.
 
Background: The daguerreotype is of two officers of the 5th U.S. Infantry taken in Vera Cruz, Mexico in April, 1847. The officer smiling on the left is Capt. William H. Chapman (not William W. Chapman) and the officer to the right is believed to be Capt. Moses Merrill, killed at Melino del Rey, Mexico, September 1847. This daguerreotype has been published in the 1992 Daguerreian Annual on Mexican War daguerreotypes that John Graf edited, and has been published in three histories on the Mexican War, including a special by PBS Television.
 
The military record of Captain Wm. H. Chapman is stellar. Will Dunniway wrote a short bio on him in the Military Image Magazine called "The Fight For The City of Mexico" Issue September-October 1992. Without going over his long and gallant service in the US Army from the horrible battles leading up to the taking of Mexico City and the surrender of Mexico. He retired in the later part of the civil war having fought many battles with gallantry against his former friends and officers. This left him disheartened in his letters home to Annie. Copies of the transcribed journals are now archived at West Point.
 
Reasons this image is so significant in the history of the Military Ante-Bellum Daguerreotype:
  1. It is one of only around 50 'documented' images to have surfaced in the country of Mexico during the Mexico War of 1846-48.
  2. The condition is very good when compared to the abrades and fading of the General Wool and staff daguerreotype images in Mexico.
  3. The content, smiles, drunken? Over-shirt (Moses Merrill) made with the ribbed linen material sent for the officers to make new shirts after the Monterey Battles. This was sent to Vera Cruz in the spring of 1847. The studio 'cantina' location. The slouch hats, unbuttoned coat and pants which are totally non- regulation for these West Point grads.
  4. The ID and journals of this Captain W.H. Chapman are compelling historical documents plus the letter that accompanied the images home to Annie by a Lt. Robinson.
  5. Captain WH Chapman was on the court marshal board for the San Patricio Battn. that mutinied.
  6. Provenance. It came from Col. W.W. Chapman's family.

Notes prepared with the assistance of Will Dunniway, Matt Isenburg, Dr.William (Bill) Schulz, John McWilliams and Henry Mace.
[March 2011]
 
LL/43483
12.Unidentified photographer
1846 (ca)
Exeter, N.H. [Exeter, New Hampshire, volunteers leaving for the Mexican War]
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1979.33
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38724
13.Unidentified photographer
1846
Exeter, New Hampshire [Volunteers]

Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate
Amon Carter Museum
This Daguerreotype may be the first showing troops in a parade ready to go to the Mexican War.
 
LL/37650
14.Unidentified photographer
1847-1848 (ca)
Gen. Wool & Staff, Calle Real to South

Daguerreotype
8 x 10 cm
 
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Call number: WA Photos 26, Image ID Number: 1005283
 
Taken during the Mexican War, 1846-1848.
 
LL/38171
15.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
General Wool and Staff, Calle Real, Saltillo, Mexico

Daguerreotype
Amon Carter Museum
A scan of this image is included on Wikipedia (June 2010) with a Creative Commons license as it is out of copyright. The original Daguerreotype is in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/36236
16.Unidentified photographer
1847-1848 (ca)
Virginia Regiment, Calle Real

Daguerreotype
8 x 10 cm
 
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Call number: WA Photos 26, Image ID Number: 1005277
 
Taken during the Mexican War, 1846-1848.
 
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/62_14.htm [Accessed 20 June 2010] for the PBS program "New Perspectives on The West" gave the following caption:
 
A daguerreotype showing Major Lucien B. Webster's battery in the mountains north of Buena Vista, Mexico, following an important American victory in the Mexican War.
 
LL/38170
17.Unidentified photographer
1847-1848 (ca)
Plaza, Saltillo, Mexico, to N.E.

Daguerreotype
8 x 10 cm
 
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Call number: WA Photos 26, Image ID number: 1005274
 
LL/38164
18.Unidentified photographer
1847-1848 (ca)
Calle Real & P. Church to N.

Daguerreotype
8 x 10 cm
 
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Call number: WA Photos 26, Image ID Number: 1005278
 
Taken during the Mexican War, 1846-1848.
 
LL/38172
19.Unidentified photographer
1847 (ca)
General Wool and staff at Calle Real, Saltillo
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/6 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/22
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38721
20.N. Currier (lithographer and publisher)
1847
Death of Lieut. Col. Henry Clay Jr

Lithograph
Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
LL/43017
21.Unidentified photographer
1847
Burial Place of the son of Henry Clay in Mexico
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/6 plate
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/40
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38722
22.Unidentified photographer
1847
[Burial site of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay, Jr.]
[Mexican-American War]

Daguerreotype, 1/6 plate, applied color
Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, P1981.65/41
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/38723
23.Unidentified photographer
1847
Amputation, Mexican-American War, Cerro Gordo

Daguerreotype
Amon Carter Museum
A scan of this image is included on Wikipedia (June 2010) with a Creative Commons license as it is out of copyright. The original Daguerreotype is in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
 
Sandweiss, Martha A.; Rick Steward and Ben W. Huseman Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Washington, D,C.: Smithson Institution Press, 1989) [There was an exhibition of the same name held at the Amon Carter Museum.]
 
LL/36237
24.W.L. Marcy (Secretary of War)
1846, 5 October
Letter from W.L. Marcy, Secretary of War, to Major General Z. Taylor, Commanding Army of Occupation, Monterey, Mexico

Book page
Google Books
Letter from W.L. Marcy, Secretary of War, to Major General Z. Taylor, Commanding Army of Occupation, Monterey, Mexico (5 October 1846). This letter is published in Message of the President of the United States, p.113-114.
 
Major General Z. Taylor.
 
War Department, October 5, 1846.
 
Sir: By a joint resolution of Congress, approved July 16th, the President is authorized and requested to have a medal of gold procured, with appropriate devices and inscriptions thereon presented to you in the name of the republic, as a tribute due to your good conduct, valor, and generosity to the vanquished. Preparations are being made to carry this resolution into effect, and the only difficulty that seems to present itself is the want of a faithful bust likeness of yourself, in order to enable the artist to prepare the die. It is possible that you may have a faithful miniature likeness of yourself, which could be made use of for this purpose: if so, and you will direct it to be sent to this department, it shall be taken good care of and safely returned to you. If you have no such likeness, it is suggested that one may be taken by a competent artist and forwarded to the department the expense of which will be defrayed by the government. It is believed that a daguerreotype likeness would answer every purpose. and insure a faithful resemblance.
 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. L. MARCY,
Secretary of War.
 
Major General Z. Taylor, Commanding Army of Occupation, Monterey, Mexico.
 
LL/36162
   
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