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CDV identified in modern pencil as "Thomas E. Smith / Northport, R.I." An added notation reads, "@New Orleans Apr 62/"Arletta." Brooklyn: J. Renowden, 1862. (CDV sharp with strong tones, edges of mount exhibit rather heavy wear in tandem with soft corners, near very good.) This officer wears the shoulder straps of Master under the wartime 1862 Regulations indicated by single rank bars between an anchor. Corresponding cuff rank comprised a single wide stripe. Hat insignia called for the canted anchor within wreath over three bands of braid. The Navy List includes one Thomas E. Smith who entered service as Acting Master 10/22/61; promoted Acting Volunteer Lieutenant 1/29/63; Discharged 2/28/69. In addition to several citations mentioned in the Navy O.R.'s, a sketch (but no photograph) of Lieutenant Thomas E. Smith's (1840-1890) wartime service is found on p. 223-24 of Civil War Biographies from the Western Waters. Briefly, Smith was appointed Acting Master as mentioned and serving under Comdr. Porter commanded the Mortar Schooner Arletta during the capture of New Orleans in April 1862 and during the fleet's subsequent "sojourn up the Mississippi to the vicinity of Vicksburg." Porter was aboard Arletta when she test-fired her heavy 13" mortar against Fort Jackson on April 16 and became the target of a Confederate attempt to burn her with a fire ship the next day. Following the reduction of New Orleans, Farragut employed the mortar flotilla including Arletta in a campaign of preliminary bombardment against the Vicksburg defenses while grand strategy coalesced around an infantry siege still in the making. Meanwhile, in the east a Union drive to capture Richmond had been rebuffed and the army hemmed in at Harrison's Landing protected by the gunboats of the James River Squadron. Washington ordered a large detachment of the Mortar Flotilla back east to reinforce the James River Squadron including the Arletta. During the month of August Arletta and her consorts operated on the James River "to protect General McClellan's army as it withdrew from the peninsula to return to Northern Virginia" and the Washington Defenses. Afterwards, she was assigned to the Potomac Flotilla in defense of the Capital. About this time, Acting Master Smith was reassigned to command the Brown Water Navy tinclad Linden (No. 10) and was promoted to the rank of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant. During 1863 Smith led Linden in an expedition to Lake Providence Channel and later to the Black Bayou in support of Steel's Bayou Expedition, then followed by a feint up the Yazoo River to divert Rebel attention away from the army landing at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. In May the Linden participated in the attack on Liverpool Landing and bombardment of Yazoo City. Lieutenant Smith was then detached to oversee the conversion of the tinclad Peosta (No. 36) which operated on the Tennessee River in support of army operations. Peosta happened to be at Paducah, Kentucky when N.B. Forrest attacked the post at the end of March 1864. In the fall of 1864 Smith was ordered to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and finished the war aboard the receiving ship USS Independence at the Mare Island Navy Yard in San Francisco. Awaiting orders Smith was honorably discharged in 1869 - a glut of officers and too few command billets - and became captain of a Reading Steamship Company vessel until his death in 1890 from diabetes. [With:] CDV, uncommon view of a Mississippi Marine brigade officer signed "Yours Truly/D E Wilson" beneath the vignette portrait. Vicksburg, MS: Washington Gallery, [1860s]. (A touch on the light side with bold signature, minor handling wear with lower left corner slightly bent, very good plus.) Photographer's imprint on verso together with a previous owner's penciled notes. From Lancaster, Wisconsin, Delos E. Wilson enlisted as 1st Sergeant of Co. F., 10th Wisconsin Infantry on 9/12/61. Sergeant Wilson witnessed the heavy fighting at Perryville and Stones' River before tran