1860 CIVIL WAR & IWAKURA MISSION. Autograph & Photo Album of the "Normal School Company" of the Civil War.

An attractive album containing dozens of albumen and salted paper oval vignette portraits of the New York State Normal School faculty and students, nearly all inscribed or signed below the images, including professors Rodney Kimball and Albert N. Husted [images only], who organized Company E, (44th New York Vols.), also known as the “Normal School Company,” as it was made up from a cadre of professors and students from the school.

Also included is a portrait of the school’s principal David Cochran, other instructors, and several students who later enlisted in the Union Army [and one who paid someone to go fight for him]. 

The 44th NY Vols. formed in the summer and fall of 1861, in response to the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth in Alexandria, the first officer to die in the war, and the regiment thus became known as the “Ellsworth Avengers”. Rodney Kimball served as Captain, and Albert Husted as Lieutenant of Company E which participated in seventeen battles of the Civil War. Other notable recruits pictured in album include Thompson Barrick [picture only], who served as first lieutenant of the U.S. Colored Troops (he suffered a bullet wound in the neck).

Kimball commanded the Company at the battle of Fredericksburg and up through February, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability; Husted participated in all seventeen engagements and was slightly wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville. He also was honorably discharged in October, 1864. An uncommon early autograph album notable for its many original photographs, including several images of young men who enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Several of our unsigned photographs appear to be signed in the similar edition offered by Between the Covers here. Ours also seems to have a few their album lacks. 

Our example also includes a sequence of Japanese autographs, likely related to the Iwakura Mission of 1871. These not present in the linked similar example. 

Contents as follows. 

To Mary Hoag from Louise and Libbie. Albany, Christmas, 1860. 

Angie Hover. Schodack, Rensselaer County, New York. December 29, 1861. With photo.

Dr. D. H. Cochran, July 15, 1861. With Photo, President of the New York State Normal School [1856-1864], and later President of the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn. Cochran served as Principal of Fredonia Academy before being appointed Principal of the New York State Normal School. Cochran’s tenure was marked by the Civil War. The Normal School Company E was comprised of 100 faculty and students and engaged in 17 battles, including Gettysburg, under the leadership of Capt. Albert N. Husted, a mathematics professor and a member of the class of 1855.

Your attached friend. E. T. Warren. January 1st, 1862. With photo. 

Albert Smith. Harts Village. New York. With photo. 

Frances Smith. Harts Village. New York. With photo. 

Harriet Mink. Hudson, Columbia Co. New York. With photo. 

Dora H. Bostwick. Sandy Hill, New York. Photo absent. 

Libbie M. Griffin. Quaker Springs, New York. With Photo.

Jams P. Harrington, Rushville, Yates Co. New York. January 31, 1861. With photo.

A. H. Green. So. Berlin, Rensselaer Co. New York. S. A. S. January 31, 1861. With photo. 

David Lown. Barrytown, Dutchess County, New York. With photo. 

Carrie V. Haff, Albany. With photo.

Pernina C. Haff. Albany. July 24th, 1861. With photo.

Lizzie Haff. Albany. Photo lacking. 

Anna Whitney. Albany, 1860. With photo.

Emma Jones. Albany, 1860. With photo.

Edgard Bellows. Albany, 1860. With photo.

Edward B. Wooster. Albany, January 1861. With photo.

Maria L. Shepherd. Bemis Heights, New York. With photo. 

E. W. Griffen. Albany, New York. With photo. 

Ever your friend. Elisabeth Griffen. Albany. New York. 

A. W. Russell. Nd. With photo. 

Julia A. Smith. 1862. No photo. 

Mary H. Barker. With photo. 

J. H. Huckleberry. Vernon, Indiana. February 27th, 1866. With photo. 

George P. Peck. Cassopolis, Michigan. With photo. [Used sub in Civil War]

Susie Schultz. Schutzs Ville, New York. With photo. 

Earnestly Yours. O. L. F. Browne. Skaneateles, New York. Albany. May 16, 1866. With photo.

George B. Wolcott. Penn Yan, Yates County, New York. N. Y. S. N. S. [New York State Normal School]. January 30, 1862. With photo. KIA, 1862. 

George A. Hover. Albany. 1861. With Photo. 

Julia A. Wolcott. Penn Yan, Yates County, New York. State Normal School. January 30, 1862. With photo.

Yours Truly, Lottie W. Arkels. Albany. April 18, 1862. With photo.

Clara A. Arkels. Albany. April 18, 1862. With photo [damaged].

Sarah Jane Arkels. New York. December 23, 1861. With photo. 

Probably connected to the Iwakura Mission or YMCA Mission from Japan. 

K. Hayashi. Albany, 1871. [of Japan]. No photo. 

S. Mucachi. Saga, Japan. Signed in English and Japanese.

K. Katszki, Japan. Signed in English and Japanese.

H. Ghina. Japan. Signed in English and Japanese.

K. Taku. Japan. Signed in English and Japanese. 

K. Shugio. Saga, Japan. 

Seven additional male photographs without autographs. One female. One clergy. 

In very good condition, bound in leather, generally solid, with generally bright pages.