Between the Covers

Unbound. Small carte de visite photograph, approximately 2.5" x 4". Fine in original printed envelope which adds additional biographical information. The envelope is lightly soiled, but otherwise near fine. Letterpress printed below the photo is the publication information. The envelope includes information about Bakeman's birth on the Van Rensselaer Patent in Albany County, New York on October 10, 1759, his service under Capt. Van Aernam and Col. Willet during the last four years of the Revolution, and his then current residency in Cattaraugus, N.Y. In 1864 Reverend Elias Brewster Hilliard (the maternal grandfather of poet Archibald MacLeish) compiled his book *The Last Men of the Revolution: A Photograph of Each from Life*, now one of the most eagerly sought after early photography books. Bakeman was not among the six veterans pictured, however there is much reason to believe that Bakeman was indeed the last survivor of the Revolution, and one of very few to live through the Civil War as well. A rare photograph, and excessively so with the printed envelope.

Item #78549