Frances Clalin Clayton
The role of the camera during the American Civil War endures as one of the most studied and exciting subjects in American cultural history. This pair of carte-de-visite format portraits of the same individual, one presenting herself as a woman, the other as a man, illustrates the point. Frances Clalin Clayton, a woman, served in the Union army as a soldier by disguising herself as a man. In these cartes de visite, an affordable type of photograph collected by soldiers and civilians during and immediately after the the war's end, Clayton poses as herself and also as "Jack Williams." As a soldier, she suggestively holds the handle of a cavalry sword between her crossed legs. The facts of Clayton's life story and military service are difficult to confirm, but it is believed that she served in the Missouri cavalry (or infantry) beside her husband, who died at the Battle of Stones River in late December 1862.
Artwork Details
- Title: Frances Clalin Clayton
- Artist: Samuel Masury (American, 1818–1874)
- Date: 1864
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: Image: 3 11/16 × 2 1/4 in. (9.3 × 5.7 cm)
Mount: 4 in. × 2 7/16 in. (10.2 × 6.2 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, by exchange, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.160
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Samuel Masury
ca. 1856
Samuel Masury
1864
On loan to The Met
Multiple artists/makers
1868
Carleton E. Watkins
1863
Carleton E. Watkins
1867
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