https://historical.ha.com/itm/photography/cdvs/-hubbard-pryor-samuel-pryor-pair-of-cartes-de-visite-of-a-black-union-soldier/a/6216-47104.s?ctrack=3924918&type=collectora-10-hist--news-rem-tem102319
Samuel Pryor: Pair of Cartes de Visite of a Black Union Soldier. Two cards, 2.5" x 4", both with A.S. Morse imprints on verso. The images show Pryor before and after his enlistment in Co. "H" of the 44th United States Colored Troops. In the first, he is sitting in a chair, clad in rags and a slouch hat. Below the image is an inscription in pencil, reading: "Saml Pryor, prior to Enlistment." On verso is the Negative No. 3801. The second features Pryor, this time dressed in a Union uniform, standing at attention with a musket held in his right hand. A similar inscription, also in pencil, is seen below the image and reads: "Saml Pryor, after Enlistment ." Negative No. 3800 on verso. Both images were taken by Department of the Cumberland photographer A. S. Morse, and records from the National Archive date the photographs to circa 1864. According to the National Parks Service, the man in these photographs is Hubbard Pryor, though the inscription here suggests he used a different name.

Pryor escaped from his master in Tennessee at the age of 22 and promptly enlisted in the Union's black infantry regiment. These photographs were sent to the war department in December 1864, included in a report on the black regiment. The 44th USCT fought at the Battle of Dalton, where the Confederates captured Pryor. African-Americans were not taken prisoner, and instead were forced into hard labor. Pryor survived the ordeal, and eventually moved back to Georgia, where he married and settled down. In 1890, he wrote to the government to receive his military pension, but passed away a few months later before receiving any of the money due him. From the Bret J. Formichi American Civil War Rarities Collection.

America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war/?fa=online-format:image%7Csubject:cartes+de+visite%7Cpartof:gladstone+collection+of+african+american+photographs


America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."

One of my favorite Frederick Douglass quotes and one that helped me grapple with my own military service.

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"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled, and less than that no man shall have." - TR