CDV of Private William Henry Dorsey of Co. K, 1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment – This CDV depicts Private Dorsey of Co. K 1^st Virginia Cavalry. Dorsey is wearing a sword belt with a rectangular Maryland belt plate; the soldier has a shoulder strap which appears to go under his belt, as it is perhaps a canteen strap; he is holding a saber with a sword knot hanging from the knuckle bow; Dorsey is wearing a nine-button shell jacket and dark colored slouch hat. This image, as a tinted 1/6 plate ambrotype, appears in Dave Mark’s book “Maryland Confederate Faces”, as an unidentified Maryland cavalryman; another version of this image, as a CDV, that only is a bust view of Dorsey, is in the Library of Congress collection; both this CDV we are offering and the Library of Congress bust view, CDV, have a Baltimore photographer’s back mark – ***R.D. Ridgely. The 1/6 plate ambrotype that appeared in Dave Mark’s book, is now in the Library of Congress’ collection and identified as Private William Henry Dorsey. Private Dorsey was wounded on approximately May 10, 1863 and hospitalized at Charlottesville, Virginia; he was wounded again on October 11, 1863, at Raccoon Ford, Virginia, and killed on May 9, 1864, at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. The CDV remains in overall excellent condition.

William Henry Dorsey

Residence Martinsburg, WV; 16 years old.
Enlisted on 12/28/1862 at Leesburg, VA as a Priv. On 12/28/1862, he mustered into “K” Co. Virginia 1st Cavalry.
He was Killed on 5/9/1864 at Spotsylvania Court House, VA; He was listed as:

• Wounded 5/10/1863 (place not stated) (Estimated day)
• Hospitalized 5/15/1863 Charlottesville, VA (With wound, estimated day)
• Returned 6/2/1863 (place not stated)
• Wounded 10/11/1863 Raccoon Ford, VA
• Returned 11/15/1863 (place not stated) (Estimated day)

Born in 1846 in Maryland

*** R.D. Ridgely (Richard D. Ridgely, born approx. 1829) was a 19th-century professional photographer who operated a prominent portrait studio in Baltimore, Maryland, during the American Civil War era.

Studio Location and Active Years

• Name: R.D. Ridgely’s Photograph Gallery
• Location: Northeast corner of Eutaw and Lexington Streets, Baltimore, MD.
• Active Period: Actively producing work—including popular carte de visite (CDV) albumen prints—roughly between 1862 and the late 1860s.

Notable Work and Legacy

• Civil War Portraits: Ridgely’s gallery captured numerous historic CDVs of soldiers and local citizens during the 1860s, including documented portraits of both Union and Confederate service members (such as Private William Henry Dorsey of the 1st Virginia Cavalry).
• Historical Mentions: His studio is referenced in regional photographic history archives, such as research compiled in the Photographicus Baltimorensis overview of 19th-century Maryland practitioners.

 1st Regiment, Virginia Cavalry

Overview:

1st Cavalry Regiment completed its organization at Winchester, Virginia, in July, 1861. Unlike most regiments, the 1st contained twelve companies. The men were from the counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Rockbridge, Clarke, Washington, Augusta, Jefferson, Amelia, Loudoun, Rockingham, and Gloucester. After taking part in the Battle of First Manassas, the unit was brigaded under Generals J.E.B. Stuart, F. Lee, Wickham, and Munford. It participated in more than 200 engagements of various types including the Seven Days’ Battles and Stuart’s ride around McClellan. The regiment was active in the conflicts at Gainesville, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Kelly’s Ford, Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, The Wilderness, Todd’s Tavern, Spotsylvania, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. Later it was involved in Early’s operations in the Shenandoah Valley, the defense of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. In April, 1862, it totalled 437 men, lost eight percent of the 310 engaged at Gettysburg, and had 318 fit for duty in September, 1864. The cavalry cut through the Federal lines at Appomattox and later disbanded. Only 1 man from this unit were present at the surrender. The field officers were Colonels R. Welby Carter, James H. Drake, William E. Jones, Fitzhugh Lee, William A. Morgan, and James E.B. Stuart; Lieutenant Colonels L. Tiernan Brien and Charles R. Irving; and Major Robert Swan.

1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment

***See sketch of the 1^st Va. Cavalry by noted Civil War artist Alfred Waud; in the sketch. In Waud’s sketch, a member of the 1st Virginia Cavalry carries the Confederate battle flag in this on-the-scene sketch made by Harper’s Weekly illustrator Alfred R. Waud. The Northern artist was trapped behind enemy lines in September 1862 and detained for a time by Confederate troopers encamped in Frederick, Maryland. Waud took the opportunity to create this  pencil and Chinese white drawing, the basis for an engraving that appeared in the September 27, 1862, edition of the magazine. In the accompanying Harper’s text, Waud described the 1st Virginia Cavalry as “one of the two crack regiments of the Confederate service.” According to Waud, many of the men in the unit were “of considerable social standing, that is, most of them—F.F.V.’s [First Families of Virginia] … [T]hey bragged of having their own horses, and, in many cases, of having drawn no pay from the Government, not needing the paltry remuneration of a private.”