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EXCEPTIONAL SIXTH PLATE TINTYPE OF CAPT., LATER COLONEL, C. R. FONTAINE, 57th VIRGINIA, ARMISTEAD’S BRIGADE – THE ONLY SURVIVING FIELD OFFICER OF PICKETT’S CHARGE

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This crystal clear sixth plate tintype features a waist-up view of the eventual Colonel Fontaine as a captain. He wears a double-breasted frock coat with captain's bars clearly visible on his collar. The collar insignia and his buttons have been gilded; his rosy cheeks lightly tinted.

This tintype comes housed in half of a leatherette case with mat, glass, and keeper. The case is clean and free of markings.

This image is in very good condition with the exception of some scratches to the emulsion at the upper left. These do not affect the soldier’s figure in the image. There is some solarization around the mat. Otherwise, this image of Fontaine is strikingly clear – a true gem.

This image has been positively identified as Colonel Fontaine by direct comparison of other known images of him.

Fontaine mustered into Company F of the 20^th Virginia as first lieutenant in May of 1861. This company was then transferred to the 57^th Virginia where it was redesignated as Company A of the 57th regiment. Fontaine was promoted to Captain in April 1862 and was again promoted to Major in February 1863. As captain, Fontaine saw fighting at Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Harper’s Ferry & Antietam, and at Fredericksburg. The regiment’s next and most grueling fight was yet to come.

Major Fontaine was the only surviving field officer in the regiment in Pickett’s Charge, taking command of the regiment when Col. Magruder and Lt. Col. Wade were mortally wounded in the same close fighting and melee at the stone wall that claimed the life of General Lewis Armistead. The regiment entered the fight 476 strong and suffered an immense 73% casualties. Fontaine was promoted to Colonel of the regiment to date July 5, 1863, to replace his fellow field officers, a post he held to the end of the war.  The regiment saw further action at Drewry’s Bluff, Cold Harbor, the Siege of Petersburg, Five Forks, Sayler’s Creek, and finally, at Appomattox.

Clement Royster Fontaine was born in Buckingham County, Virginia on August 2, 1831, to Walter & Margaret Fontaine, who made their living by farming. Clement was the youngest of nine children born to his mother, Margaret, who died in 1833. Walter remarried Georgianna Fry, Margaret’s older sister. Clement’s younger half-sister was born in 1837.

Before the war, Fontaine worked as a farmer alongside his father until his enlistment in 1861. In 1866, Colonel Fontaine married Mary Strange, and the two had twelve children together. The family was quite active in the Presbyterian Church in Wytheville, where they lived. Col. Fontaine served as a ruling elder of the church, as well as a delegate to the Presbytery. One of his children, Lena, even served as a missionary of the church in Japan. Sometime after the war, Colonel Fontaine wrote a short booklet detailing the experience of the 57^th Virginia in which he gives all the credit to the men of his regiment. In the Spring of 1906, Colonel Fontaine came down with pneumonia, and he passed away two days later on April 8, 1906. He is buried at the East End Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia.

A binder including Fontaine’s records, his post-war booklet of the 57^th Virginia’s history, and some modern correspondence regarding the image is included.  [CLA][ph:L]

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