Interesting Photo

[thad gallagher]

Found this one the LOC site. Hopefully it has not been posted already. At first glance, it looked like a group of reenactors. The photo only had 'Gettysburg?' as a description. What are others thought on it.

I was zooming in and noticed that the cartridge boxes do not appear to have slings.
Does the fell on the right have his trousers bloused, and a white haversack?
And look at how their blanket rolls look.
Not to mention the dark blue trousers.

This photo could be a mainstreamers dream.:D

[JacobReichwein]

Re: Interesting Photo

That is one crazy picture. So much going one. And is that fire even lit?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Interesting Photo

In other discussions on the photo, probably lost in a crash, there's been speculation it's a posed post-war photo of veterans, due to things like the man on the right wearing a greatcoat in what appears to be the height of summer. However, I don't recall if any definitive evidence came forth.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[WoodenNutmeg]

Re: Interesting Photo

Ha, heating your coffee up without fire is something I'll have to try next time.

Aside, the photo looks very much like a modern day reproduction.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Interesting Photo

Look in the deep background...is that a 4th soldier on picket or something? Looks like he's wearing a greatcoat as well. He's either on guard or charging up the hill. I don't think it looks period at all to me.

[thad gallagher]

Re: Interesting Photo

I missed the guy in the background completely. Like I said, it just really threw me off seeing it in the Library of Congress collection. I wonder if the box shape in the tent is a blanket covering a cooler!

[Dignann]

Re: Interesting Photo

This photo was discussed a few months ago in the following thread:

Civil War photos plus more..

Eric

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Interesting Photo

Fire is impossible to capture with period photography. Several conversations I've had with Collodian artists suggest that if a fire was lit all you get is the blur of smoke, and sometimes evergreens were lit (to smolder) to simply produce make for an otherwise fireless scene, and (like this photo) may staged scenes are just a set stage to capture the "image" the photographer wanted.

So, from what I gather, the lack of "seeing" the fire is from our perception of 21st century living and the "lack" of a viewable fire was not suspect from the mid-nineteenth century.

[Mike Willey]

Re: Interesting Photo

Interesting photo, Thad.

It looks like a staged post to me. quick-rigged shelter, a coffee fire, 4 guys taking turns on duty.


Mike Willey
late of the 49th Ohio and Coffee-coolers

[JLHurst]

Re: Interesting Photo

Look close enough. . .
There is a fellow in that tent leaning on his right elbow. You can spot his face in the crook of the elbow of the fellow standing. Also I'd be willing to bet it's the same bunch that staged this photo. http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ighlight=photo

Socks give it away, as the fellow kneeling in the current thread. Terrain and great coats.

Call me crazy but I wouldn't date this as a period photo. Could even be current. . .

[thad gallagher]

Re: Interesting Photo

Could it be possible that some of the centennial reenactors, some how got the photo into the LOC? All the search said was Civil War, not original Civil War pics.

[Dignann]

Re: Interesting Photo

Could it be possible that some of the centennial reenactors, some how got the photo into the LOC? All the search said was Civil War, not original Civil War pics.

Very doubtful, since the image apparently appeared on a wartime produced stereoscopic view. See Jason Wickersty's post in the thread entitled Civil War photos plus more.. Photo historian William Frasanito discussed these photos in his 1978 book Antietam: The Photographic Legacy of America's Bloodiest Day. As much as we may want them to be 20th century photos, they just don't seem to be. Wartime? Yes.

Eric

[Hank Trent]

Re: Interesting Photo

Not sure if this has been addressed in any of the several threads on these photos, both the men cooking and the "dead" men supposedly from Bull Run, but...

It's been pointed out they're wearing greatcoats in the summer, which seems unrealistic for real soldiers. True. But, they're still wearing greatcoats in the summer! Reenactors, period soldiers used to pose, photographers' models, whatever, that's still strange!

Any speculation why? Why not just dress them in summer uniforms, or have them wear what they'd already be wearing, rather than go find greatcoats for them to put on?

I can think of a couple speculative reasons, probably neither very likely, and there are probably more and better ones.

First, how common was it for artists to use photographs instead of live models in the glass-plate period? I'm guessing not very common, but today, an artist might ask for a picture of someone dressed in winter clothes for a winter painting, even though it happened to be summer, and he'd use the model while ignoring the background. I don't think that's nearly as likely, though, for a glass plate.

So here's another thought. If a photographer in the period wanted to pose civilian men as soldiers, would it be easier to find greatcoats in the summer than uniform blouses? More blouses would be in use, but greatcoats would be stored away. If the photographer was short of blouses for his models to wear, could he have found some unused greatcoats easier?

Or, similarly, would soldiers post-war who were "reenacting" their wartime poses for a photographer, have been more apt to have greatcoats? Greatcoats were practical garments for warmth, and were probably worn out less than blouses--would some soldiers have chosen to keep a greatcoat as a practical garment while turning most of the rest of their stuff back in? And thus when asked to pose, it might be the closest they had to a uniform?

Or, possibly, the weather was much colder than it appeared from the foliage, so greatcoats really were appropriate. But it sure looks warm, full summer, not even fall or spring.

Don't know. But even if they weren't real soldiers, models and civilians get too hot in greatcoats in the leafy green summertime, so there had to have been some explanation.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[lukegilly13]

Re: Interesting Photo

Here's a strange twist.....what if it's spring? How many of us have slept on or under our greatcoat at night and/or put it on when you get up to cook breakfast in April? Could be soldier or reenactor. I'm still thinking about the guy in the background....sort of strange that he shows up in a period photo if he is indeed running as it looks. That much motion...he would look ghostly.

[Dreamer42]

Re: Interesting Photo

My take is that this is a stagged or modern image. A few questions I have are 1) No fire, as has already been pointed out. 2) Also, they are far enough to the rear to pitch a shelter, but a picket is just at the edge of the bivouac area? We have all cooked over a fire - how many of you keep on your gear while bending, kneeling, etc?
3) They have time to cook rations, but still have their accoutrements on? If orders are given to stay accoutred in case of a need to respond to a threat, then why are they cooking? Some of the clothing looks too clean or new, even the tent fly. My reenactor gear and uniforms look dirtier that what they are wearing. It looks too suspicious to me.

- Jay Reid
Dreamer42
9th Texas