Cabinet card of Gilbert Bates dressed in uniform, wearing two GAR badges on his coat. Anderson: New York, n.d., ca 1890. Autographed on mount below image, "Yours truly (Sergt) G.H. Bates " Photographer's imprint on mount recto and printed biographical information affixed to mount verso. Gilbert H. Bates (1836-1917) was a sergeant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War and returned to his farm in Dane County afterward. After talking with a neighbor who claimed Southerners had more hatred for the Union flag after the war than during, Bates bet him that he could walk all the way across the South carrying the flag, unarmed and without a cent in his pocket. Starting in Vicksburg, where he was given a reception by the mayor, Bates made the 1400 mile march to Washington unscathed and with great notoriety, his travels being reported in newspapers across the country. He proved not only his neighbor wrong, but also a young Mark Twain, who had written "...this fellow will get more black eyes down there among them unreconstructed rebels than he can ever carry along with him without breaking his back." Sergeant Bates made a similar bet in 1872 that he could walk the length of England in the same manner without being insulted. He won again, and returned to America to become a fixture on the lecture circuit, giving rousing patriotic speeches and displaying his famous flag. In 1886 he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as -- of course -- their standard bearer. Condition: Toning to image and mount. Some scattered spotting on print and mount. Some corner/edge wear to mount.
Cabinet card of Gilbert Bates dressed in uniform, wearing two GAR badges on his coat. Anderson: New York, n.d., ca 1890. Autographed on mount below image, "Yours truly (Sergt) G.H. Bates " Photographer's imprint on mount recto and printed biographical information affixed to mount verso. Gilbert H. Bates (1836-1917) was a sergeant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War and returned to his farm in Dane County afterward. After talking with a neighbor who claimed Southerners had more hatred for the Union flag after the war than during, Bates bet him that he could walk all the way across the South carrying the flag, unarmed and without a cent in his pocket. Starting in Vicksburg, where he was given a reception by the mayor, Bates made the 1400 mile march to Washington unscathed and with great notoriety, his travels being reported in newspapers across the country. He proved not only his neighbor wrong, but also a young Mark Twain, who had written "...this fellow will get more black eyes down there among them unreconstructed rebels than he can ever carry along with him without breaking his back." Sergeant Bates made a similar bet in 1872 that he could walk the length of England in the same manner without being insulted. He won again, and returned to America to become a fixture on the lecture circuit, giving rousing patriotic speeches and displaying his famous flag. In 1886 he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as -- of course -- their standard bearer. Condition: Toning to image and mount. Some scattered spotting on print and mount. Some corner/edge wear to mount.
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
/116007/Internet%20Image%201.jpg "Source: Dix Noonan Webb")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
