2905953 Carte de Visite, Lieutenant Stephen A. Swails, c.1863 (b/w photo) by American Photographer, (19th century); Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, USA; (add.info.: Stephen Atkins Swails (23 February 1832 ??17 May 1900) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although originally enlisting as a private, he was the first African-American soldier promoted to commissioned rank, as a line officer, in that conflict, as evidenced by the U.S. War Department\'s initial refusal of that promotion due to his "African descent." From the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment photographs); 穢 Massachusetts Historical Society ; American, out of copyright.