Gents,
While candid shots of soldiers milling about and lounging are common, candid shots of actual operational maneuvers in progress are not. A fantastic example of the latter is an image of "Grant's troops crossing Germanna Ford" (LC-B811- 702[P&P]) on 4 May 1864.
When taking a magnified look at the image, many wonderful details come up - particularly the column moving across the pontoon and the awaiting soldiers on the shoreline wearing knapsacks.
But within this image is caught, I believe, an officer in the act of actually commanding his men in the midst of an moving, relevant-to-the-war operation, and not in a posed or staged manner.
Here, you can see the officer pointing to the right, directing the column towards the pontoon bridge. The sun is out, which is reflecting off of the finish of the knapsacks and steel barrels of the firearms. There is also a reflection at the officer's hip, which could possibly be the hilt of his sword.
Whether he is or isn't an officer, this is still an amazing image of an actual Civil War operation in motion.
What do you fellows think?
While candid shots of soldiers milling about and lounging are common, candid shots of actual operational maneuvers in progress are not. A fantastic example of the latter is an image of "Grant's troops crossing Germanna Ford" (LC-B811- 702[P&P]) on 4 May 1864.
When taking a magnified look at the image, many wonderful details come up - particularly the column moving across the pontoon and the awaiting soldiers on the shoreline wearing knapsacks.
But within this image is caught, I believe, an officer in the act of actually commanding his men in the midst of an moving, relevant-to-the-war operation, and not in a posed or staged manner.
Here, you can see the officer pointing to the right, directing the column towards the pontoon bridge. The sun is out, which is reflecting off of the finish of the knapsacks and steel barrels of the firearms. There is also a reflection at the officer's hip, which could possibly be the hilt of his sword.
Whether he is or isn't an officer, this is still an amazing image of an actual Civil War operation in motion.
What do you fellows think?
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