Photography

The millions of photographs in the Museum's collections compose a vast mosaic of the nation's history. Photographs accompany most artifact collections. Thousands of images document engineering projects, for example, and more record the steel, petroleum, and railroad industries.

Some 150,000 images capture the history, art, and science of photography. Nineteenth-century photography, from its initial development by W. H. F. Talbot and Louis Daguerre, is especially well represented and includes cased images, paper photographs, and apparatus. Glass stereographs and news-service negatives by the Underwood & Underwood firm document life in America between the 1890s and the 1930s. The history of amateur photography and photojournalism are preserved here, along with the work of 20th-century masters such as Richard Avedon and Edward Weston. Thousands of cameras and other equipment represent the technical and business side of the field.

In "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy's journey from Kansas to Oz is symbolized by a shift from black and white to Technicolor.
Description
In "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy's journey from Kansas to Oz is symbolized by a shift from black and white to Technicolor. This camera was one of several used to film the Oz scenes.
Invented in 1932, the Technicolor camera recorded on three separate negatives--red, blue and green--which were then combined to develop a full-color positive print. The box encasing the camera, a "blimp," muffled the machine's sound during filming.
The Early Color Cinema Equipment Collection [COLL.PHOTOS.000039] includes equipment, media and ephemera related to color motion pictures from the birth of the cinema to the mid twentieth century. This collection is comprised of 5 motion picture cameras, 3 movie projectors, more than 34 pieces of editing and other apparatus, more than 60 pieces of early color film and two notebooks illustrating the Technicolor process.
Reproducing natural color on film had been an industry goal since the earliest days of motion picture production, but it took several decades to perfect a technology for making movies in color. Motion picture directors often toned or hand-tinted monochromatic film in the industry’s early days to add life and emotion to their productions. Though movie producers continued to use toning and tinting, these costly and inefficient processes could never produce the full range of color that movie cameras failed to record. Therefore, innovators increasingly focused on the use of color filters during capture and projection to reproduce color detail.
Danish-American inventor August Plahn built and patented a camera and projector that split motion picture images through three color lenses using 70mm film. When the film, with three images printed across its width, was projected through the same colored filters, movies’ natural color was restored. The collection includes forty five short lengths of processed film and documents related to Plahn’s work as well as one camera, three projector heads and over seventy-five pieces of apparatus used by the engineer.
While Plahn had little success marketing his inventions, the Boston-based Technicolor Corporation effectively marketed their similar technology to become the industry standard. The color cinema collection includes four Technicolor cameras as well as over twenty-five pieces of equipment related to the Technicolor process and a book of photographs illustrating Technicolor film processing in a train car.
The Society of Motion Picture Engineers, the industry’s leading trade group, donated examples of a number of other early color film technologies, including Prizma, Kelley-line screen, Krayn Screen, Naturalcolor, Multicolor and Morgana color processes.
This finding aid is one in a series documenting the PHC’s Early Cinema Collection [COLL.PHOTOS.000018]. The cinema-related objects cover the range of technological innovation and popular appeal that defined the motion picture industry during a period in which it became the premier form of mass communication in American life, roughly 1885-1930. See also finding aids for Early Sound Cinema [COLL.PHOTOS.000040], Early Cinema Equipment [COLL.PHOTOS.000037], Early Cinema Film and Ephemera [COLL.PHOTOS.000038] and the Gatewood Dunston Collection [COLL.PHOTOS.000021].
Location
Currently not on view (running boards)
date made
1937
maker
Technicolor Corporation
ID Number
PG.008166
catalog number
8166
maker number
Patent No: 2,000,058
accession number
260112
Purple Hearts" series; handwritten on verso "Pfc. Randall Clunen, 19, of the 101st Airborne Division, was wounded December 8, 2003 in Tal Afar, Iraq when a suicide car bomber broke U.S. security lines. The explosion sent shrapnel into Clunen's face, neck and body.
Description (Brief)
Purple Hearts" series; handwritten on verso "Pfc. Randall Clunen, 19, of the 101st Airborne Division, was wounded December 8, 2003 in Tal Afar, Iraq when a suicide car bomber broke U.S. security lines. The explosion sent shrapnel into Clunen's face, neck and body. / Photographed at his home in Salem, Ohio. / February 14, 2004 / From the Purple Hearts Series
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2004-02-14
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0004
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0004
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2006-08-27
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0039
catalog number
2021.0057.0039
accession number
2021.0057
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2008-02-20
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0029
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0029
Eadweard Muybridge’s cyanotypes are working proofs (contact prints) made from the more than 20,000 negatives he took at the University of Pennsylvania from 1884 to 1886.
Description
Eadweard Muybridge’s cyanotypes are working proofs (contact prints) made from the more than 20,000 negatives he took at the University of Pennsylvania from 1884 to 1886. There Muybridge photographed human and animal subjects in motion from lateral (parallel), front and rear positions. For the lateral views he used up to 36 lenses in 12 to 24 cameras placed at 90-degree angles to his subjects, and he added more cameras, each holding up to 12 lenses and placed at 60-degree angles, for the front and rear “foreshortening” views.
Since the original negatives no longer exist, the cyanotypes record full images before Muybridge edited and cropped them for publication. Over 800 sets of proofs exist in the unique collection found in the Photographic History Collection of the National Museum of American History. Comparisons between Muybridge’s working cyanotype proofs and his final collotype prints prove that he freely reprinted, cropped, deleted or substituted negatives to make the assemblage of 781 collotypes in the portfolio Animal Locomotion.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0378
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0378
maker number
776
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0314
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0314
maker number
764
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
Signal Corps' Army Pictorial Service and Army Communications Service
ID Number
2013.0327.0219
catalog number
2013.0327.0219
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0684
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0684
maker number
1209
From the photographer, handwritten on verso of the photographer: "Spc. Robert Acosta, 20, an ammunitions specialists with the 1st Armored Division, was wounded July 13, 2003 near Baghdad International Airport when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle and exploded.
Description (Brief)
From the photographer, handwritten on verso of the photographer: "Spc. Robert Acosta, 20, an ammunitions specialists with the 1st Armored Division, was wounded July 13, 2003 near Baghdad International Airport when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle and exploded. He lost his right hand and the use of his left leg. / Photographed at his home in Santa Ana, California April 12, 2004 / From the Purple Hearts series"
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2004-04-12
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0001
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0001
From the photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Spc. Sam Ross, 21, a combat engineer with the 82nd Airborne Division, was wounded May 18, 2003 while disposing of munitions near Baghdad.
Description (Brief)
From the photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Spc. Sam Ross, 21, a combat engineer with the 82nd Airborne Division, was wounded May 18, 2003 while disposing of munitions near Baghdad. He lost much of his eyesight, his left leg, and some of his hearing in the blast. / Photographed in the woods near his trailer in Dunbar Township, Pennsylvania / October 19, 2003 / From the Purple Hearts Series"
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2003-10-19
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0006
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0006
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0691
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0691
maker number
1227
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
maker
Powers, Mark James
ID Number
2013.0222.32
catalog number
2013.0222.32
accession number
2013.0222
From the Photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Purple Hearts" series; handwritten on verso "Sgt. Jeremy Feldbusch, 24, an Army Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment, was wounded by an incoming artillery round on April 3, 2003, near the Haditha Dam in Iraq.
Description (Brief)
From the Photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Purple Hearts" series; handwritten on verso "Sgt. Jeremy Feldbusch, 24, an Army Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment, was wounded by an incoming artillery round on April 3, 2003, near the Haditha Dam in Iraq. He lost his eye sight and suffered a tramatic brain injury. / Photographed at home in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. / October 18, 2003 / From the Purple Hearts Series"
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2003-10-18
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0008
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0008
From the photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Spc. Jose Martinez, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division, was wounded April 5, 2003 in Karbala, Iraq when the humvee he was driving hit a roadside bomb. He suffered massive burns to his face, body and head.
Description (Brief)
From the photographer, handwritten on the verso of the photograph: "Spc. Jose Martinez, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division, was wounded April 5, 2003 in Karbala, Iraq when the humvee he was driving hit a roadside bomb. He suffered massive burns to his face, body and head. / Photographed at his home in Dalton, Georgia April 3, 2004 / From the Purple Hearts Series"
Location
Currently not on view
date printed
2021
date made
2004-04-03
maker
Berman, Nina
ID Number
2021.0057.0003
accession number
2021.0057
catalog number
2021.0057.0003
Text and photograph fromGardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by James Gardner, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.When this picture was made, the Third Corps was yet an independent organization, under the command of Gen.
Description
Text and photograph fromGardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by James Gardner, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
When this picture was made, the Third Corps was yet an independent organization, under the command of Gen. French, whose Chief Quartermaster was Lieut. Col. J. B. Howard. The distinguishing flag of the Colonel's command, which adorns the side of his dwelling, carried the historical diamond of the Corps, in red, white, and blue, with the words "Chief Quartermaster." The adjoining canvased-roofed but was the Colonel's business office, the patched addition in front, warmed by a stove, serving the purpose of an ante-room where orderlies could wait in comfort. In the first but there was a fireplace worthy of a New England mansion house. Oak logs, supported on camp-made fire dogs, gave a cheery blaze, and spread a genial warmth through the apartment. The floor was of plank, and the ceiling of canvass. On the walls, partly covered with hanging blankets of various colors, and partly papered with illustrated weeklies, there hung maps, field glasses, arms, &c. Pine chairs of the simplest pattern, a desk full of pigeon holes, crammed with papers bound with red tape, and an iron safe, completed the list of furniture, The adjoining room was gorgeous with the luxury of a carpet, while a comfortable bed and toilet arrangements gave a homelike air to the apartment. In these quarters the Colonel's wife and little daughter found sufficient attraction to detain them several weeks; and round the blazing hearth, on many a sullen winter night, the ennui of camp were forgotten in pleasant re-unions of the General's staff.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1863-12
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.02
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0664
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0664
maker number
1157
A photomontage of daguerreotypes including 4 portrait prints, and images of 2 pitchers, 2 books, pieces of glassware, funnel from the Dr. John W. Draper Collection. Dr. Draper worked at New York University in 1840 when he was associated with Samuel F. B.
Description
A photomontage of daguerreotypes including 4 portrait prints, and images of 2 pitchers, 2 books, pieces of glassware, funnel from the Dr. John W. Draper Collection. Dr. Draper worked at New York University in 1840 when he was associated with Samuel F. B. Morse and the earliest photographic experiments in the United States. Draper produced the first portrait photograph in America, a portrait of his sister Dorothy Catherine, as well as scientific photomicrograph daguerreotypes of spectrum and frog's blood photographed through a microscope. With the assistance of his sons, he captured early photographs of the moon. Our collection also includes Draper's equipment and a large variety of photographs, both daguerreotype, albumen, and cyanotype (blue) prints from the 1840s to the 1860s donated by the photographer's family. This image is matted, not cased.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840
photographer
Draper, John William
maker
Draper, John William
ID Number
PG.72.72.B154
catalog number
72.72.B154
accession number
304826
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by David Knox, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.The monotony of camp life was relieved by every variety of amusement that was known, or could be devised.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by David Knox, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
The monotony of camp life was relieved by every variety of amusement that was known, or could be devised. During the periods of inactivity, base ball, cricket, gymnastics, foot races, &c., were indulged in to a great extent, and on holidays horse races, foot races, and other games were allowed. Sometimes the men would put up a greased pole, with a prize on the top, for anyone who succeeded in climbing up to it, and not unfrequently a pig would be turned loose with a shaved and greased tail, for the men to catch. Any grip but a "tail hold" was illegitimate, but he who seized and held the pig by this appendage, carried it off in triumph to his mess.
Cock fighting, however, was quite unusual, and seldom permitted, except when some of the contrabands incited their captured Shanghais, or more ignoble fowls, to combat. Such displays were always ludicrous, and were generally exhibited for the amusement of the mess for whom the feathered bipeds were intended. Horses and mules perished by hundreds from ill-usage, but with thin exception it would be exceedingly difficult to cite an instance of cruelty to animals in the army. Fowls, dogs, kittens, and even wild animals, were made pets of, and were cared for most tenderly. Sometimes a regiment would adopt a dog, and woe to the individual who ventured to maltreat it. Several of the Western regiments carried pet bears with them, and one regiment was accompanied by a tame eagle in all its campaigns.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864-08
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.26
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.26
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by John Reekie, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.The Dutch Gap Canal was cut across a narrow neck of land on the James River, eight miles in a direct line from Richmond.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by John Reekie, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
The Dutch Gap Canal was cut across a narrow neck of land on the James River, eight miles in a direct line from Richmond. The object of this work was to save about seven miles of river navigation, by uniting two different points of the river, which here made a great bend flowing around a bluff, and forming an isthmus of only five hundred feet wide. The work of excavation commenced on the 9th of August, 1864. The rebels opened their formidable batteries on the laborers, on the 13th, and with few intervals maintained a fire from mortars and rifled guns until the conclusion of the enterprise. The regiments employed on the work were the 116th and 169th New York volunteers, and the 4th, 6th, 10th, 36th, 38th, and 100th United States colored regiments. From the commencement of the work, the labors of these troops averaged one hundred and twenty men for a period of ten hours each day, working eighteen days in August, twenty-five days in September, and twenty-six days in October. From the first of November until the time of completion, the average consisted of one hundred and thirty men, working eleven and a half hours each day. On the 8th of December the middle dam or partition holding back the water from the portion excavated by manual labor, and the use of carts, was blown out, five hundred pounds of powder being used. At this time fifteen feet of water was admitted into the entire Canal, except that portion at the upper end, comprising about fifty feet, remaining to be excavated.
On the night of the 30th of December the mines were laid under the bulkhead, which divided the water in the Canal from the river above, and on the afternoon of the 1st of January were exploded in the presence of Major General Butler and Staff, General Ludlow, who had charge of the work, General Collis, and Senator Clarks, of New Hampshire. The chief correspondent of the New York Herald, who also witnessed the affair, says in his account: "The result of the explosion was hardly what was expected of it. The mass of dirt was heaved up by the powder, but fell back substantially in the same position. A crater was formed, into which the water ran slowly from the Canal below. This extended about two thirds of the distance from the head of the water in the Canal to the edge of the water in the James. No connection between the Canal and the River was established." Since that time, however, the Canal has been opened, and a few vessels of light draught have ventured to run through. The entire length of the Canal is five hundred and twenty-two feet, and the greatest width at the top of the excavation one hundred and twenty-two feet. The bed of the Canal is sixty feet wide and at high water sixteen feet deep, except at the upper end, where it is still obstructed to a considerable degree by the dirt which felt back after the explosion.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-03
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.37
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.37
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by James Gardner, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.Here is represented the deserted quarters of Gen.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by James Gardner, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
Here is represented the deserted quarters of Gen. Sharp, Chief of the Secret Service of the Army of the Potomac, at Brandy Station, Virginia. The tents have been removed, and the sketch depicts the scene when the camping ground, which had been occupied by headquarters during the winter, is being abandoned for the spring campaign. In the back-ground are the stalls for the staff horses, and the stockade or "bull pen" for prisoners arrested by the Provost Marshal General. The photograph possesses interest only as an illustration of the mode of life of the army in winter. No sooner is it known in camp that the quarters are likely to be permanent, than every man commences the erection of substantial quarters, which, in the winter season are made as comfortable as any village. Floors are laid in the tents, log huts are built, and their inner walls neatly covered with illustrated papers, and chimneys with capacious fire-places erected, rendering the winter home of the soldier, if not desirable, at least a very pleasant residence. Storms and frost are unheeded, and the long evenings pass in mirth, with no care for to-morrow's hardship or future perils.
What sad reflections crowd upon the mind in visiting these relics of the past! All through the South in many a lonely waste such columns stand as mournful monuments of forgotten joys and aspirations; sealed volumes, whose unwritten lore none can interpret save those who made the record. Fragments of a sorrowful era, and witnesses of events which the world may pray shall never be re-enacted, the visitor beside each wreck will ask:
"Why standest thou, lone mark?
Gray ruins, mist and mould
Are dripping where thy spark
Glimmered in the times of old.
Within thy bosom now
The snake hath made his home:
The owl, from 'neath thy brow
Hoots [sic] in nightly gloom."
"The chirping cricket's song has ceased,
The silent spider spreads his feast;
Here did thy winter welcome shine,
Where darkly creeps the poison vine.
So hopes too bright forsake the breast,
And canker comes a constant guest.
Old fragment! perish with thy lore,
Nor longer memory implore."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864-05
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.13
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.13
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
Soon after the breaking out of the war, a company of Zouaves, formed upon the French model, was organized in Philadelphia, with Capt. Collis as commander. They became body guard to General Banks, and did good service. Subsequently, Capt. Collis obtained authority to increase his small command to a Regiment, altering the costume from the old red Zouave bags–not at all suited for service in the woods of Virginia–to trousers of the same color. The affection of the soldiers for color is extraordinary; no statistics, showing the large increase of casualties to showy uniforms, could induce the Zouzous to part with theirs, and in this dress the 114th--attached to the Third Corps–participated in some of the bloodiest battles. At Gettysburg, their gallant Lieutenant Colonel (Cavada) was taken prisoner; with a number of the Regiment, fighting bravely against odds.
When the army lay in winter quarters around Culpepper [sic], they relieved the 93d New York, in the duties of "Headquarters Guard" to General Meade, near Brandy Station. The photograph represents morning guard mount in front of the picturesque camp, a good specimen of the soldiers' architecture; the huts, with the barrel chimneys on the slope of the hill, are the quarters of the men; the larger ones on the ridge belong to the officers, while on the extreme right the tent in which the Sutler keeps store, is pitched. The entire space was a portion of a dense wood, almost impassable when first chosen for headquarters, and filled with rabbits, quail, hawks, owls, and other game. Soon all was cut down save the little grove on the top of the hill, reserved by Capt. Sleeper, of the 10th Massachusetts Battery, who had pitched his tents there, on what was once the rebel General Stuart's headquarters.
The duties of the guard of headquarters, which also formed part of the provost brigade under Gen. Patrick, included, besides furnishing the regular camp guards for the protection of the officers' quarters, the care of the valuable wagon train of army headquarters, both in park and on the march, and the custody of rebel prisoners and deserters, detained for a time at the Provost Marshal's. In summer time, when the tents were shaded and embowered in branches of the green pine, a highly dramatic picture would be presented by the Regiment, marching out from the trees to evening dress parade, their muskets glittering brightly in the setting sun, white turbans and blue and scarlet uniforms contrasting strongly against the dusky background, while the officers of camp grouped around, smoking their pipes in the pleasant coolness of the evening air, listened to the "Faust March," by the Zouave band.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.05
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.05
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
In September, 1864, the necessity of closing the port of Wilmington against blockade-runners, by capturing the city, became a subject of serious consideration to the Government. A fleet of naval vessels, surpassing in numbers and equipments any which had assembled during the war, was collected at Hampton Roads. Various causes intervened to delay the movement, and it was not until the early part of December that the expedition departed for Beaufort, N.C., the place of rendezvous. Some further necessary preparations were there made, which, together with unfavorable weather and other incidents, delayed the attack until the 24th of December.
On that day Rear-Admiral Porter, with a bombarding force of thirty-seven vessels, five of which were iron-clads, and a reserved force of nineteen vessels, attacked the forts at the mouth of Cape Fear river, and silenced them in one hour and a quarter; but there being no troops to make an assault or attempt to possess them, nothing beyond the injury inflicted on the works and the garrison was accomplished by the bombardment. A renewed attack was made the succeeding day, but with scarcely better results. The fleet shelled the forts during the day, and silenced them, but no assault was made or attempted by the troops which had been disembarked for that purpose. Major General Butler, who commanded the co-operating force, after a reconnoissance [sic], came to the conclusion that the place could not be carried by an assault. He therefore ordered a re-embarkation, and informing Rear-Admiral Porter of his intention, returned with his command to Hampton Roads.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-01
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.28
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.28
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Barnard & Gibson, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
Manassas, the junction of the Orange and Alexandria and Manassas Gap Railroads, twenty-seven miles from Alexandria, strikes the attention of the visitor at once by its remarkable strength as a military position. High table land, flanked by dense woods, and bounded on all sides by deep, treacherous streams, or precipitous bluffs, no better place could have been selected by the Confederates for a permanent camp from which to harrass an enemy or repel attack, To this point the Southern levies were hastened immediately after the fall of Sumter, and the village of half a dozen houses soon became the centre of a vast came, which, though nearly overwhelmed by the attack of July 21, 1861, remained increasing in strength until March, 1862, when the movements of General McClellan compelled its abandonment. The scene of devastation after the evacuation was terrible.
Of the pleasant village only tottering chimneys were left, surrounded by blackened ruins, and the debris of half-burned cars and storehouses. The forts were dismantled, broken wagons were strewn over the fields, and quartermaster and commissary stores smoked in all directions, presenting one wide area of desolation, but a small portion of which can be represented in a single photograph.
Such material as had not been wholly destroyed by the fire was speedily removed by the Government. Federal camps were established, and with the return of spring much of that which disfigured the landscape utterly disappeared. The view of the adjacent country from this point is very fine, and the historic fields of Bull Run, Gainesville, and Groveton, within a few minutes drive, will forever attract the tourist to this spot.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1862-03
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0334.10
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0334.10
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by John Reekie, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.Gaines' Mill is the place from which the battle of June 27th, 1862, takes its name.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by John Reekie, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
Gaines' Mill is the place from which the battle of June 27th, 1862, takes its name. Situated near the centre of our line, it was the scene of severe fighting, and at the close of that bloody day, the building was used as a hospital. All of the structure that would burn, was destroyed in one of the raids around Richmond, leaving only the brick superstructure, above which, scorched by the fire, the dead trees spread their blackened branches. In front, the partially exposed skeleton illustrates the hasty manner of the soldier's burial, it being by no means uncommon for the rains to wash away the shallow covering, and bring to view the remains of the dead. The owner of the mill did not have a creditable reputation in the army. Returned prisoners, captured at his house, state that when our troops left the neighborhood, he turned out the sick and wounded from his barns and outbuildings, and held high carnival, with his friends of the rebel army, digging up his buried wine for their delectation. If this is true, he suffered no more than his deserts, in the destruction of his property. It is more than probable that his house would have fared no better than the mill, if our advance at Cold Harbor, in June, 1864, had been successful in forcing its way to the positions formerly occupied by our army.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-04
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.43
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.43

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