One of the saddest Civil War photos I’ve ever seen, simply because it illustrates as no other the worst of the master-slave relationship. The cocky young seated aristo, one Lt. J. Wallace Comer of the 57th Alabama Regiment. The standing slave, Burrell, lately touted as a Confederate soldier because of the private’s tunic he wears, is curiously unarmed. Not so curious, really. Their expressions say it all. Burrell is a slave, not Comer’s comrade in arms.
Via Civil War Memory.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Yep, that’s what is expected rather than tall tales from nowhere.
It may be what is expected, but I’ve never seen such an arrogant young aristo posed seated with a standing slave. Burrell apparently was owned by Comer’s father as J. Wallace is not listed as a slave owner in the 1860 federal slave schedules census at ancestry.com
Dick, I agree with you. Have not seen anybody look quite so arrogant as Lt. Comer either or anybody quite so intimidated as Burrell. Any idea as to what happened to them? Did Lt. Comer get his arrogant self killed in the War?
Did Burrell live to be free?
I don’t know, David. I ran a quick ancestry.com search on Comer and came up dry. Burrell, if he lived, would not have been free after emancipation except in the narrowest sense. Segregation and discrimination were everywhere in the country in those days. Although I do know of some economically- successful former slaves and he may have been so.
Thanks Dick. Former house slaves, including body servants usually had advantges that helped them out after emancipation, so perhaps Burrell made out okay compared to the majority of freed blacks.
When I googled up Comer’s unit, the 57th Alabama, found out they took heavy casualities at Peachtree Creek during the Atlanta Campaign, at Franklin and Nashville and finally at the last battle, Bentonville in March 1865. So with any luck, Lt. Comer made the supreme sacrifice for the Confederacy or, as my Dad would put it, got his da–ed fool self killed!