[CIVIL WAR]. COOLEY, Sam A., photographer. Exceptionally rare stereoview of photographer Sam A. Cooley and his staff in the field. 

6 x 3 in. stereoview on cardstock mount (superb condition). Applied paper label to verso, which reads, "Sam A. Cooley, Photographer Tenth Army Corps. Galleries at Beaufort, Folly Island, Hilton Head, SC, and Jacksonville, Florida." 

A view of Sam A. Cooley and his staff standing next to wagons labeled "Sam A. Cooley US Photographer Department of the South," with two African American men employed as drivers. 

RARE: One of the most iconic Civil War images of photographers "in the field." 

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At the outbreak of the Civil War Samuel Cooley operated a photography studio in Beaufort, SC. When that city was captured by Federal forces during the Battle of Port Royal, Cooley began taking images of the War,  becoming the the U.S. Army's official photographer of the X (Tenth) Corps, and later stying himself as, "Official Photographer of the Department of the South. "