A mounted 9 x 6.75 photo of a group of Union surgeons, affixed to a 11.25 x 9.25 mount, identified in the lower border: “Surgeon Jackson in Charge of the 4th Division 9AC [9th Army Corps] Hospital of the Army of the Potomac. And the Operating Staff July 30/64 Petersburg Va. There was 1500 Wounded this day at the Burnside Mine Explosion in this Hospital, Hancock Station. Petersburg, Va.” Handsomely cloth-matted and framed with the two epaulets of Jackson’s major’s uniform and his hand-carved insignia to an overall size of 23.5 x 17. Scattered soiling to mount and the caption apparently originally done in pencil and traced over in bold black ink, otherwise fine condition. A label affixed to the backing of the frame noted that these items were found in the home of the granddaughters of Eben Jackson (seated on the right) in 1948, with a note that read: ‘Eben Jackson was made Surgeon of the Colored Troops on Feb. 3, 1864 by Sec. of War.’ On July 30, 1864, in the Battle of the Crater and the day this photograph was taken, the Union Army exploded a mine, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg, Virginia. An ill-prepared division led the assault and charged into the crater, where they became trapped; Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered his forces to go along the rim of the crater and open fire on the Union troops below. The disaster at the Battle of the Crater cost the Union 3,798 killed, wounded, and captured; the Union wounded went to Eben Jackson’s hospital.
