In 1861, the illustrated journal Harper’s Weekly hired Winslow Homer to accompany the Union Army as an“artist correspondent.” His portrait of Albert Kintzing Post (1843–1872), a second lieutenant in the 45th Regiment of the Massachusetts Infantry, was based on a tintype—a metal plate bearing a photographic image. Commercial photography flourished during the Civil War due to public demand for photographic images of the conflict and for portraits of soldiers who might never return to their families.