The Last Men of the Revolution. A Photograph of Each From Life, Together with Views of Their Homes Printed in Colors. Accompanied by Brief Biographical Sketches of the Men.

Hartford: Published by N.A. & R.A. Moore, 1864. 12mo, recent half brown morocco with original black cloth, gilt rules at spine, gilt-stamped title on front cover. [2], 64pp., 6 original mounted carte-de-visite photographs, 6 chromolithographic plates.

A remarkable volume illustrated with original photographs of the six surviving veterans of the Revolutionary War the author was able to locate.

According to The Truthful Lens, "Hillard, the maternal grandfather of Archibald MacLeish who writes about Hillard’s colorful character and his love of photographs as documents, was conceivably also the photographer. The photographs were made uniformly under makeshift circumstances as would have been required if the photographs were made IN SITU while Hillard visited each for a personal interview." Conversely, it has been suggested that the photographs were taken by the publishers, N.A. & R.A. Moore, who were also photographers. Each photograph is accompanied by text based on Hillard’s interviews with each survivor, including Samuel Downing, Daniel Waldo, Lemuel Cook, Alexander Millener, William Hutchings, and Adam Link. Also noted, but not pictured, is James Barham, "of whom it is not known whether he is living or dead." As it turns out, the last surviving veteran of the Revolution, Daniel Frederick Bakeman (1759-1869), is not included, as he was not on the pension rolls until 1867. The scarce facsimile letter of Edward Everett is not present here, as is often the case.

REFERENCES: The Truthful Lens, p. 206.

CONDITION: Good, sympathetically rebacked, extremities rubbed, contents clean, discoloration to last two photographs.