Photo taken by Timothy H. O’Sullivan in the vicinity of Bull Run, July 1862.
From Wikipedia:
Alfred Napoléon Alexander Duffié (May 18, 1833 – November 8, 1880) was a French-American soldier and diplomat who served in the Crimean War and the American Civil War.
When the American Civil War broke out, Duffié enlisted in the Union Army. He first joined the 2nd New York Cavalry (also known as the Harris Light Cavalry), on August 9, 1861, and was soon promoted to the rank of captain. The somewhat quarrelsome Duffié was placed under arrest several times for confrontations with other officers; in one incident, he challenged General Fitz John Porter to a duel. In July 1862 Duffié was appointed to command the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, with the rank of colonel, by that state’s governor, William Sprague IV. Though the 1st Rhode Island’s officers initially refused to serve under a foreign-born leader, Duffié soon won them over and reorganized the 1st into a fine fighting unit. Assigned to the command of General William Averell, they saw action against Confederate troops under Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson in August 1862, in fighting near Cedar Mountain, Virginia.
From Library of Congress:
One of two images of Duffié in the Library of Congress online catalog.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Record pages for images: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005510/PP/ and http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005564/PP/
