behind AotW

Here’s a lovely photograph of 3 couples taken by Le Rue Lemer in Harrisburg, PA, probably in late 1866 or early 1867.

That’s Captain Marcus Albert Reno, First United States Cavalry, left front, and his wife Mary Hanna Ross (1843-1874; m. 1863), behind him. Reno commanded a detachment of the First Cavalry at Antietam at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, but is much better known for his role at Little Big Horn in 1874.

Back right is Edwin Vose Sumner, Jr. (1835-1912), also Captain in the First Cavalry. He was not at Antietam, though his father certainly was. That’s probably his wife Margaret Snodgrass Foster (1844-1910) to his right; they married in Harrisburg in January 1866.

The third man is identified as Harrisburg attorney Lyman DeHuff Gilbert (1845-1914, Yale ’65), who 13 years later, in 1879, successfully defended then-Major Reno before an Army court of inquiry into his actions at Little Big Horn. The third woman is not identified. Gilbert was unmarried and living with his wealthy parents at the 1870 US Census, so probably no wife in 1866.
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This photograph was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2007.

The Heritage cataloger identified Captain E.V. Sumner as son of Senator Charles Sumner, which is perhaps obviously incorrect. Not least because Senator Sumner didn’t marry until 1866, fathered no children, and was divorced in 1874.