An apple amid the cornstalks.

[NY Pvt]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Someone already posted that many of these troops came through the Piper orchard. That is the most likely place it came from. I am not sure when apple season is in Maryland, the color my be a result of it still being too early for them...Might not.

Has anyone tried contacting the NPS about what type of apple trees were located in the Piper orchard? If they could tell you that, then it should narrow the options down if not give you the answer and would be a heck of a lot cheaper then the period photographer.

[va-yank]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Jason, Nice job.

To those curious about the resolution. The LOC has uncompressed TIFF images available for many of the indexed items. And some that are not in the index of any online "collection".

The Antietam visitors center has a large image in the lobby of the dead by the Dunker Church (the one with the wrecked caison). Anyway, standing there looking at the picture, it was the first time I noticed the pair of shoes sitting in the foreground. Amazing, the detail that is possible from the old wetplates, that we assumed was not there.

[ThehosGendar]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

The Antietam visitors center has a large image in the lobby of the dead by the Dunker Church (the one with the wrecked caison). Anyway, standing there looking at the picture, it was the first time I noticed the pair of shoes sitting in the foreground.

Amazing, the detail that is possible from the old wetplates, that we assumed was not there.

I'll certainly second that. The clarity in some images is so amazing that you can see freckles on soldiers' faces and wrinkles in leather belts.

[Jimmayo]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Letter written by a private in the 15th Alabama has this to say about the women feeding the boys during the march to Antietam.

"When we reached Frederick City they met our ragged, dirty boys in the streets and carried them to their houses and fed them with nice things, and even carried FRUIT into the streets to every Southern soldier they could find."

September is very close to apple time in MD. Especially if you are very hungry.

[Bill Shea]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Corn stalks or grapevines in the cropped image? Not that it matters to the occasion.

They seem to thin and flexable to be corn stalks surrounding the apple. Could there have been vines left in the road after the troops were through?

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

I can see it now...... Everyone will have an apple in their haversack at the next Antietam event. :D mmmmm apples...

[hardtack1864]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Since a shoe is next to the food item in questions and that let us just say the shoe is a size 9-10 "since that was the average size of the time", I have concluded that since the food item is wider than the sole and it being to early "mid-Sept." for a apple of the time "1862" to be that big is impossible, I have to say that is a Tomato. Case closed.

[CJSchumacher]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Since a shoe is next to the food item in questions and that let us just say the shoe is a size 9-10 "since that was the average size of the time", I have concluded that since the food item is wider than the sole and it being to early "mid-Sept." for a apple of the time "1862" to be that big is impossible, I have to say that is a Tomato. Case closed.

Sean,

Who ever said that was a "definitive" shoe?? How can you say with certainty its a 9-10? Have you look at many original shoes and boots? In real life...not in books??

One needs to compare the "shoe" with the catridge box above the cropped image to even start to make a size comparison.

I still agree with Jason's original assessment. When you walk into that photograph and take a bite out of the object in question...then I'll accept "case closed."

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Sean,

That apples huge!!!! If it's an apple that is.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Maybe it is a rock apple from the rock haversack.

[1stMaine]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Comrade,
In response to your query vis-a-vis corn stalks or vines, I would venture the latter. I've walked that stretch many times, and especially the roads leading towards Antitam Creek from the Piper farm, and the wooden fences and areas along the various trails are thick with vines in places.
respects,

[Michael Comer]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

What I think:

It's an apple. The hole at the top resembles where the stem is connected and the body has that tapered, elongated look to the bottom. It would certainly not be a Golden Delicious. If that variety was only discovered in 1860 in Iowa it is hard for me to believe there would be trees of fruit bearing size in Maryland a scant 2 years later.

I think that is a haversack. It's mighty white for a rock that has sunlight on it and the other rocks right next to it are dull. That's a mighty small beam of light if it is only hitting that one rock. And it looks like there is a fastener device on the object.

I wonder about those being cornstalks too. It looks like tall grass that might have been growing in the rows or at the edge of the field that was torn out and wrapped around the legs of soldiers as they passed through.

I think the "shoes" that someone wondered about near the apple are actually rocks. But, we would have to see more of that area in the photo to determine.

Well, it's all speculation on our parts but it certainly is an interesting exercise in studying a period photo.

[ThehosGendar]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Sean,

That apples huge!!!! If it it's an apple that is.

You should see the apples at the orchards at the Monmouth Battlefield here in Jersey in October. They're monstrous!

I'm working an another detailed study of this image. Tune in again this evening for more!

[acwillen]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Maybe it is a rock apple from the rock haversack.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that "rock haversack" looks like a chunk of log - maybe from a fence post?

[hardtack1864]

Re: An apple amid the cornstalks.

Now Thehos, you said the apples are that big in Oct and not in mid Sept Maryland. Also that haversack maybe something else I DON'T @#$%^&8 KNOW!!!! One more thing, if that is not a shoe sole next to the food item in question then what is it and that was a GUESS on the shoe size because it could very well be size 6-13!!!!!! It was a GUESS since that was the average shoe size of the TIME!!!