Raleigh E. Colston

Raleigh Edward Colston, a former Confederate officer, poses in fez and Egyptian uniform in this portrait taken in the late nineteenth century at the D. H. Anderson photographic studio in Richmond. Colston went to Cairo in 1873 after receiving a colonel's commission from the khedive of Egypt. While serving with the Egyptian army, Colston became an explorer and helped conduct topographical, botanical, and geological expeditions. He returned to the United States in 1878 and, for a time, earned income giving lectures and writing articles about his experiences in Egypt.