This very interesting public domain image shows the children of Captain (at that time, later Brigadier General) Montgomery C. Meigs. Meigs was with the Corps of Engineers, and in 1850 when this image was taken, was assigned to oversee the construction of Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan. In fact, it was Meigs who selected the site and arranged for the government to purchase the land where the fort stands, on the Detroit River. From the looks of the buildings in this photo, and the fact that there is water visible in the background, this was probably taken on the grounds of Fort Wayne, where their father was working. (Curiously enough, I was on those grounds a bit over 120 years later as an archaeology student, participating in test excavations at the site.)

A note in the case of this daguerreotype identifies the children as (left to right) Mary Montgomery Meigs (later Mrs. Taylor), Charles Meigs, Vincent Meigs, and John Rodgers Meigs. It was General Meigs who recommended that property in Arlington Virginia owned by Mary Custis Lee, the wife of the confederate General, Robert E. Lee, should be used as a burial ground for U.S. Military casualties of the then raging Civil War. Arlington National Cemetery was established there in 1864. One of those buried there during the first year of use was First Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs, the little boy leading the donkey, killed in October 1864.

The photographer for this image is unknown.