An apple amid the cornstalks.

[ThehosGendar]

Gents,

Amid the hewn cornstalks, strewn equipments, and mangled bodies in the Sunken Road at Antietam...


There lies...


An apple amid the cornstalks.

Are there any apple experts here? Perhaps we can finally put to rest the divisive issue of what would be the proper apple to carry for a September 1862 impression!

[ewtaylor]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Awfully big hole on top, are you sure that isn't a Krispy Kreme doughnut?
Just kidding, great pics. What site are these pics coming from? I have been saving the ones you post to my files but was wanting to check out others for myself.
thanks,
ewtaylor
bluegrass rifles

[Masked Battery]

I nominATE...

...winesaps.

[DougCooper]

Antietam (Sharpsburg) CS Uniform Study

Jason - great job as usual. It strikes me that nobody that I can recall has done a detailed study of the uniforms on the Antietam dead - esp the Louisianans along the Pike. Les Jensen may have something but I have never seen it in print. With the kind of resolution available now on your program...I think it's time. Up to a challenge?

...looks like a species of Apple similar to the Delicious or Hubbartson variety - not quite round but more elongated. I hope it's first soldier owner made it back through Piper's corn field and lived to a ripe old age in Alabama.

You are breathing new life back into these forums Jason - thanks!!

[Ringgold]

Perhaps not an apple . . . .

I'm not an apple expert, but I do know a bit more about mid-nineteenth century pommes than many. I've looked at this image for quite some time, but nothing came to mind that might be a candidate. It seems to lack the proper "geography and topography" to be any of the apples that I am familiar with. Especially those that would be ripe, or even near-ripe by mid-September. However, It does share many similarities to a few tomatoes of the period. Most tomatoes would be producing well in mid-September. Could it be a tomato? Something like a Tiffin, perhaps?

If it were still a bit green, it could easily withstand a beating and be in the condition that is shown in the image.

Just a thought. . .

[pfeiffer3964]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Using the color wheel from another thread, I believe that whatever it is... apple, tomato, whatever... it appears to be yellow/green. The top of the object matches the yellow section of the color wheel while the sides, which are either in the shade or do not have a sun glare, match the yellow/green and green areas of the color wheel.

An interesting tidbit from http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch39.html:

"In 1860 an Iowa apple farmer named Hesse Hiatt came upon a unique apple tree in his orchard, a tree that he hadn't planted. When the fruit was harvested, he marveled at its unusual appearance and superb flavor. It turned out to be the Golden Delicious that Mr. Hiatt then cultivated and introduced to the whole world."

Perhaps its a Golden Delicious!

--Jim

[Eric Burke]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

If it had been laying there for quite some time, wouldn't it have turned yellow/green anyway?

BTW, Jason ... how do you get that close to the photograph (zoomed in on the apple) and still maintain image clarity? Are you using the "higher resolution JPEG version" at the LOC website?

[hardtack1864]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Can anyone tell what type of haversack that is next to the apple?

[Ringgold]

Re: Perhaps not an apple . . . .

I almost forgot. It might also be a quince! :(

Boiled in water with enough sugar/sorghum/honey and a few hard crackers, it would be a meal fit for a king. ( Add some brandy and it would be fit for Rufus King! :p )

[marlin teat]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

“…..Our company was there in the thick of the fight in an apple orchard and cornfield. The ground was covered with apples where we fought, shot off the trees. I pulled some of them and tried to eat them.”
William Judkins
Co. G, 22nd Ga.
Wright’s Brigade
Anderson’s Division

Wright's Brigade marker is just to the left of the tower at the sunken road where the roadbed wasn't so deep. I don't know exactly where the picture was taken but it's probable that other troops also passed through the same orchard.

[pfeiffer3964]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

If it had been laying there for quite some time, wouldn't it have turned yellow/green anyway?

I don't think so... rotting apples that I have seen turn brown. But, who knows for sure?

--Jim

[ThehosGendar]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

ewtaylor,

The sun is shining directly at the top of the object, and it doesn't appear to have the type of glare one would expect from a mid-day sun reflecting off of a sugar glaze, which is the characteristic trait the signature Krispy Kreme donut. It is still within the realm of reason that the former owner purchased/procured a non-glazed cake donut.

Of course, if it really came to it, we could commission a wet-plate photographer to visit the sunken road, or more closely simulate the conditions by constructing a sunken road closer to the original in the image. (I'm sure the Park Service would take issue with altering the real one to simulate its Sept. 17-18, 1862 condition) Using one of each of a type of apple documented to the period under a mid-day sun (1 - 3 p.m.), strike an image and compare them. Of course, this would be time consuming and expensive, but it would shed light into the little researched world of produce during the war. Perhaps a grant could be had from the Dept. of Agriculture?

Mark,
Gotcher tomatoes right hea':


Sean,
I can't make out a haversack near the apple. It appear to be a rock that is really reflecting off sunlight, as there are other similarly shaped rocks around as well. Just out of the cropped image above the apple, there is, however, a cartidge box, a large piece of cloth which may be garment ot a groundcloth, and a squished hat.

Doug,
Thanks! I accept the challenge! I've been perusing through those images and have already found some interesting things.

[hardtack1864]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

The only reason I thought it was a haversack is because its white and seems to have a flap. It looks like the food item had fallen out of the haversack and it looks like it had not rolled more then 6 inches ,but if it is a rock then what I just said is not correct.

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

At first glance I thought it was a canvas haversack too. But now that Jason has pointed out that it's a rock, I'll have to agree.

Right below the apple, there appears to be an upside down shoe. Does anybody else see this? I could be wrong. What do you guys think?

Jim,
I disagree with your "golden delicious" statement. I used to work at a produce market when I was younger, and the shape of the apple in the image looks like something else. I also don't think it's a winesap either because winsaps are red and the apple in the image looks lighter.

I wish we had the old forum search feature working because I remember last year there was a thread about peroid apples and it would have helped out this discussion.

Anybody have any other ideas?

[hardtack1864]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

I think your right about the shoe and I still think its a haversack because you can make out the buckle mid way down also what I think is the flap is way to thin for a rock, but I really don't see a strap any were though. One more thing, I do see a rock next to the white haversack ,but if the haversack turned out to be a rock that rock is really light clored and seems more like marble.