Landing on James River, 1864-5

[yeoman]

Sir and ma'am, this image titled, Landing on James River, 1864-5, if you will notice the group of men on the pontoon bridge and especially the men grouped in the foreground..., any thoughts these men are Confederate prisoners?



Close up view.

[Steve Acker]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

The fellas at the bottom of the image sure look confederate to me. Interesting how the different shades of uniform are in line( unit issues impacting colors of cloth) with like colors/shades. Also, lots of darker cloth represented feels like English cloth from this distance.

Thanks for sharing.


Steve Acker

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

This is a very interesting study of the ugliness of an army operational area. A couple of things that caught my eye:

1. The horse by the shebang with a clear view of the saddle...is that a Grimsley?
2. The dark mass in the water to the left of the rotted pilings...dead horse floating off the beach?
3. To rob this post of any intellectual quality...is the man on the beach to the left of the horse doing what I think he's doing?

[Kace]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

A couple of things that I noticed:

1) A majority of the lads in line are wearing slouch hats and are in their shirt sleeves where a majority of the lads just hanging out are in in forage camps and have frocks, sacks and even a couple of greatcoats on.
2) It appears that the lads in line on the pontoons getting ready to board the boats are similarly dressed to those in line on shore.

If you run with Steve's theory that they might be CS could you postulate that they are POW's being processed and sent up or down river to a camp?

3) Counting from the shore there are lads doing their laundry on pontoons 2,3, & 4. I am not sure how clean you can get a shirt washing that close to a dead horse. Luckily it appears that the pontoons are at least up stream from it.

Kace

[oldbaldie]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

If they are prisoners, where are the guards?

[Bob McDonald]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

Given the elevated view, if those in foreground are prisoners - which I believe they are -, perhaps the guards are in line with/behind the photographer.


Cheers,

Bob McDonald

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

Ok, I agree with everything that has been commented on here. I agree - those are CS prisoners in foreground and on pontoons.

Beyond what everyone else is seeing, here is what caught my eye...

The large pile of "planks" on the left of the photo, just below the dude sitting on the large crates - I believe that is a stack of rifles! I do not believe that to simply be a stack of lumber. Those individual pieces have a reflective quality. Wood doesn't cast an "illuminated" reflection. I believe what we are seeing is the sun reflecting from hundreds of rifle barrels.

Thoughts?

[roundshot]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

This photo was not taken on the James River but rather at Port Royal Landing on the Rappahannock: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti...2003000489/PP/
It is one of a series of 5 taken by Brady on May 30, 1864 as the base was being evacuated. The stack of "things" is in fact tools (picks, shovels & such) and the men are likely Federal engineer detachments lined up to "get out of Dodge." There is none of the baggage associated with POWs. It is a wonderful photo nonetheless. Check out some of the companion photos on the LOC site. Also check Frassanito's "Grant and Lee" for additional documentation.

[yeoman]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

Sir, these are indeed a couple more images of this spot on the river. Looking through the LOC series I am yet to find the image in the first post of this thread.
The image I posted is linked to the "National Archives here" and is titled,"Landing on James River, 1864-5".
The digital copies search # is 524621/111B-B202 with the above link.
My 2cents...,the description from the National Archive and the one from the LOC are kinda like one hand not knowing what the other is doing.
Any thoughts on these or other image titles correctness...?
Bob, thanks for your thoughts and LOC links.

Bob Welch, the man on the shore indeed looks to be "passing along".

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

In the second set of images posted it's much more evident that the pile consists of tools, as several pick axe heads are plainly visible.

[wilber6150]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

Hey,
I cant seem to find this particular image, can you post a link to download please..I've found several that show the river and bridge but none that show the prisoners..

[wilber6150]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

This photo was not taken on the James River but rather at Port Royal Landing on the Rappahannock: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti...2003000489/PP/
It is one of a series of 5 taken by Brady on May 30, 1864 as the base was being evacuated. The stack of "things" is in fact tools (picks, shovels & such) and the men are likely Federal engineer detachments lined up to "get out of Dodge." There is none of the baggage associated with POWs. It is a wonderful photo nonetheless. Check out some of the companion photos on the LOC site. Also check Frassanito's "Grant and Lee" for additional documentation.

Do you have a link to the one that actually shows the prisoners like the original post in this thread? Ive found the others but not that one..

[roundshot]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

You'll have to ask Yeoman this since he was the one kind enough to share in the first place.

[yeoman]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

Sir, the photograph in the first post was found at http://www.footnote.com/. (Image # B-202)
(The site links has a free membership account which entitles free images only.)
Footnote may use the US National Archives photostream on flickr and this is the link I used to post the first image, http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnatio...es/3996123240/.
Hope this may serve your given purpose.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Landing on James River, 1864-5

I'm having some trouble seeing the group as prisoners. My immediate thought was that they were Federal soldiers with and without jackets queuing up for something, perhaps to draw from the pile of tools and go on fatigue somewhere nearby.