Beschreibung:

Albumen photograph, 6.25 x 8.25 in., mounted, 8 x 10 in., framed, 13.5 x 15.5 in. overall. The photograph shows four officers of the 45th Illinois Infantry, dubbed the "Lead Mine Regiment," namely (l to r): Melancthon Smith, Jasper Adalmorn Maltby, John Eugene Smith, and Edward Dominicus Kittoe. John E. Smith and Jasper A. Maltby were commissioned colonel and lieutenant colonel respectively when the regiment entered service the day after Christmas, 1861. Smith (1816-1897) was made brigadier general in late November of the following year, and commanded divisions in XVI, XVII, and XV Corps. He was brevetted major general in the omnibus promotions of March 1865, and after the war was given a regular army commission as colonel of the 27th US Infantry with two brevets to major general for gallant and meritorious service at Vicksburg and the capture of Savannah. Maltby (1826-1867), who had been seriously wounded in the Mexican War, succeeded Smith as colonel of the 45th, and sustained wounds at Fort Donelson and Vicksburg while in command of the regiment. He was promoted to brigadier general in August 1863 and served in the Army of Tennessee through the end of the war, after which he was appointed military mayor of Vicksburg, and died in that position in 1867. Melancthon Smith was commissioned into the 45th as a captain of Co. G, and eventually rose to lieutenant colonel. He is listed as having died of wounds, but no date or location is given. Edward D. Kittoe began his service as surgeon of the Lead Mine Regiment, and eventually became lieutenant colonel and medical inspector on the US Volunteers general medical staff, with a brevet to colonel.