by Barry McGhan

Retiring from a career in education freed me to work on a long-time hobby – genealogy.  In 2007 I uncovered the story of great-great-great-grandpa Charles A. Smith, a Civil War soldier who gave his life for the Union.  The drama in his story was visible in the National Archive’s dry service and survivor’s pension records.

He served in three regiments (Fig. 1), taking part in the first land campaign of the war (chasing Confederates out of the western counties of Virginia), and captured during the battle of Salem Church on May 3, 1863, where another brother, Edmond, serving next to him was killed.  He died the following spring in that wild charge by Upton’s Regulars (the 121^st NY) on the first day at the Bloody Angle – Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Curious to know more, I began to delve into the history of these events.  Thus, late in life, I became a bit of a Civil War buff.

Eventually, my research located Grandpa Charlie in the 16^th NY Infantry, part of the Army of the Potomac, from the fall of 1862 to the spring of 1863.  That spring, the Army of the Potomac was stationed in and around Falmouth, Virginia on the Rappahannock River.  Just across the river was Fredericksburg, where General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia had been encamped all winter.  General Joseph Hooker, commander of the federal force, began to move against Lee in late April, leading to the Battle of Chancellorsville.  Hooker’s Sixth Army Corps, which included the 16^th NY, was ordered to keep Lee’s attention focused east toward Falmouth by feigning an attack, while the balance of Hooker’s army slipped around behind Lee and attacked him from the rear.

Sixth Corps commander General John Sedgwick ordered his First Division (including the 16^th NY) to cross the Rappahannock on pontoon bridges on the morning of April 29 and establish a bridgehead in rebel territory at Franklin’s Crossing.[1] They held that bridgehead until the early morning of May 3, when they were ordered to attack Confederate positions in Fredericksburg and beyond.

Philip Parsons’s book,[2] I was told, had the best account of the battle of Salem Church.  In Parsons I found a photo with caption indicating the soldiers depicted were members of the New Jersey Brigade of Brig. General Wm. “Bully” Brooks’s First Division of the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac.[3] “Wow,” I thought, “These men marched down the north side of the Orange Plank Road – opposite Grandpa Charlie and his brother and the rest of Bartlett’s Second Brigade – straight into a Rebel ambush at Salem Church.”  The photo (Fig. 8) seemed to be the closest visual representation of Charlie’s service I was likely to find.

I wanted to use it in a monograph about him for my family.  However, as my research continued I found the same photo, referencing Petersburg, not Fredericksburg.

Worse, the credibility of the Petersburg story was reinforced by both the Library of Congress (LC) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). What should an inexperienced amateur historian do?  More research seemed necessary.

In 2009 I tackled this photo puzzle.  Early clues came when a friend, a Civil War buff and re-enactor, recommended Earl Hess’s The Union Soldier in Battle[4] to gain a sense of Charlie’s life during the war.  It contained the Fredericksburg/Petersburg (F/P) photo, with a caption similar to Parsons’s.  Hess considered it “... one of the best group photographs of Civil War soldiers ever taken....”  He said that for more than a century after the war the F/P photo was thought to depict soldiers near Petersburg, but that recent [unspecified] research had revealed the Fredericksburg story.  That placed the “recent” research between 1965 and 1997 when his book came out.  He also said the photo was taken by Union Army photographer Andrew J. Russell.

Armed with these clues I set out to learn more.  The first big break came – although unrealized at first – when I contacted photo historian Susan E. Williams,[5] who has been studying the life of A. J. Russell for many years.  She knew exactly the photo I was talking about and sent me a copy of her article on Russell, along with photocopies of other photos she thought were related to my interest.  She strongly advised that I visit the WRHS and see these photos for myself.  It turned out to be excellent advice.  More about that shortly.

The second big break came from an article by National Park Service historian Noel Harrison.[6] His article, on matching the photographic and non-photographic history of the battle of Second Fredericksburg (earlier on the same day as Salem Church ), mentioned a photo “... misidentified as an image of Federal troops outside Petersburg ....”  Harrison’s essay provided the tip I needed.[7]

The photo seems to have been first published in 1911 by Francis T. Miller,[8] where it was captioned as a Petersburg scene taken in the winter of 1864-65.  This designation appears to have arisen within the NARA archives,[9] and persisted (albeit with some uncertainty among a few photo historians) until the early 1980s.  Then, Time-Life Books decided to publish a series on the Civil War.  According to librarian Dean DeBolt, “Between 1981 and 1987, Time-Life researchers scoured hundreds of American archives looking for materials to include ....”[10]

One of these researchers, Ohioan Larry Strayer (an expert on photographs from the western campaigns of the war) traveled to Cleveland and found the F/P photo (Fig. 8) along with several related photos in the WRHS archives.  Working as a stringer for Time-Life, he passed his finds on to their image bank, where they came to the attention of staff researchers Brian Pohanka and Harris Andrews.[11] Together, the three conducted more research to satisfy themselves that the Fredericksburg story was true for the photo in question.[12] The formerly-Petersburg-now-Fredericksburg photo and some of its companions then found their way into the Time-Life series, in both Rebels Resurgent and Tenting Tonight.[13] The first two publications announcing the reassignment of the origin of the photo from Petersburg 1864-65 to Fredericksburg 1863 were by William Frassanito and the late Brian Pohanka.[14] Since then, a number of authors (though not all[15]) have accepted the Fredericksburg designation in their publications, some even featuring the F/P photo prominently on their covers.

Overall, I found the willingness of Civil War photography experts to help out an unknown novice researcher to be a remarkable thing.[16]

The most significant part of the story of the F/P photo for me came from visiting the WRHS in September, 2010 to see it and its companions.  It was an eye-opening experience.  I was able to make a few small additional discoveries – ones not seen so far in the literature about the F/P photo and its companions.

In advance of my WRHS appointment I expressed interest in all their Fredericksburg-related photos.  I wanted to see any that might be related to the area where my ancestor and his regiment crossed the Rappahannock River before the Battle of Chancellorsville.  When I arrived, everything was ready, including the white cotton gloves required to handle the original prints.  Very cool.

The area along the Rappahannock where the F/P photo was thought to have been taken is called, variously, “Franklin’s Crossing,” “The Bend,” or the “Deep Run area.”  Figure 2 is a map of the area, based on an LC map of the time by a Confederate cartographer.[17] It is a simplified excerpt of that LC map, with features from some other maps added.  Think of it as a useful approximation.

Five WRHS photo prints were clearly related to the area of Franklin’s Crossing – three that appeared in the Time-Life books mentioned above, and two others I had only seen as darkened photocopies from Susan Williams.[18]

I found all five prints mounted on material similar to bristol board, with an aged ivory color and some mottling or staining.  The photos were trimmed and well glued to the matting.  Their dimensions were about 9.5" X 7.5"each (with a variation of no more than .25" in a couple of cases).

Three mats were 14" X 12"; the other two smaller, perhaps trimmed down from the larger size.  Each mat contained a light handwritten pencil caption describing the photo.  These captions seemed to be written by the same person, with the exception of one photo.  Photo #4 (one of the trimmed-mat photos), had a partial caption resembling the handwriting on the other four.  It appeared the trimming caused most of the original caption to be lost.  Whoever trimmed the mat apparently copied the words of the original caption along the newly-trimmed edge (Fig. 3).[19]

The physical appearance of these five prints was strikingly similar.  It seemed they were created by the same person at the same time using the same techniques and materials.

But, as important as this physical similarity is, there is a more important connection among them.  One of them is the visual linchpin for the whole set (see Fig. 4).

Looking at the Deep Run map (inverted), if we imagine ourselves standing on Stafford Heights east of the Rappahannock just a bit south of the mouth of Deep Run [at the x near the pontoon symbols], looking south-southwest, the image in Photo #1 is just what we would see.  It seems clear that Photo #1 shows a section of the Rappahannock River called The Bend, below Deep Run, taken from the east side perhaps 30 to 40 feet above the river which is at sea level at Fredericksburg.[21]

In other words, Photo #1 depicts Franklin’s Crossing just prior to the battle of Second Fredericksburg.

The relation of Photo #3 (Fig. 6) to Photo #1 is a bit more complex.  In both photos we see a cluster of four or five trees – at the near end of the left bridge in Photo #3, and (under magnification) a similar cluster of trees (reversed, right to left) at the far end of the right bridge in Photo #1 (see Fig. 4 Detail A).  This cluster of trees (two shorter and branching, two tall and straight) appears to be the same in both photos.  Further, observe a stack of unused materials near the river between the two bridges on the far side of the river in #3 (see Fig 6 Detail E) and a similar stack of materials between the pontoons on the near side of the river in #1.  Also note an X-shaped structure seen on the opposite side of the river in #3 (Detail E, right side), but on the near side of the river in #1. As well, this X-shaped structure appears on the right of the stack of materials in Photo #3, and on the left of the stack of materials in #1.

The simple interpretation of these features common to both photos is that #3 and #1 show the same river crossing from opposite sides of the river.[22]

It’s clear that these three photos of pontoons, taken from different positions along the river, all depict Franklin’s Crossing in late April or early May 1863, as their original captions indicate.  It follows that the remaining two photos from the set of five could also depict scenes at Franklin’s Crossing at the same time, just as their captions suggest.

How do these latter two photos connect to Photo #1's linchpin image?

Photos #4 and #5 do not show pontoon bridges.  They do show relatively large numbers of soldiers clustered along higher ground on the right, suggesting they have taken cover from Confederate fire further to the right, which would be west at Franklin’s Crossing.  Where were the photos taken?

If we examine the right horizon in Photo #1 (Fig. 4) we can see groups of soldiers in two locations: (1) some are bivouacked near the foot of the bluff (Fig. 4 Detail A); (2) others are encamped near the upper edge of the bluff and men can be seen standing along the bluff edge (Fig.4 Detail B).

Photo #4 (Fig. 7) shows troops located at a bluff’s foot close to a flood plain, with a river in the background.  The two barn-like buildings on the horizon are clearly on the heights on the opposite side of the river.

Photo #5 (Fig. 8, aka F/P) seems easily placed along the upper edge of the bluff.  The researchers who made the original Fredericksburg identification note the image of a building on the left horizon that may be part of Pollock’s Mill (Fig. 8 Detail F).  According to some maps, this mill was located on the east side of the Rappahannock south of Franklin’s Crossing (see Fig. 2).  It appears that men in the left middle ground block any view of a river.  However, the camera location seems high enough to see objects on the heights on the opposite side of a river valley over the heads of the troops that partially block the view.  The building in #5 (Fig. 8 Detail F) may be one of the two barns seen in #4 (probably the rightmost).  Further, the two trees on the left horizon of #5 (Detail G) are similar to trees (reversed left to right) near the top of the bluff in #2 (Fig. 5 Detail D).  Also, the clump of trees on the right horizon in #5 appears generally similar to the trees at the center horizon of #1.  Finally, based on my estimation of the altitude angle of the sun in #5, the photo appears to have been taken in the late afternoon, perhaps about 4 p.m.

Using the foregoing descriptions, we can estimate a location where each of these five photos was taken.  See the symbols X1 through X5, representing camera positions for the five WRHS photos, respectively, in the Deep Run Closeup map (Fig. 9).[23]

To sum up, the similarities in the physical appearance of the WRHS prints and the similarities among their five images make a compelling case for concluding that they depict what their original captions say they do.  In other words, as Strayer and his colleagues believed, they were taken near Fredericksburg, Virginia just before the Battle of Second Fredericksburg.

Together, these five WRHS prints present a unique view of the Sixth Army Corps’s early activities as Hooker began to engage Lee at Chancellorsville.

*     *     *

Some additional  information about the origin of Photo #5 and its companions comes from the Western Reserve Historical Society itself.  A WRHS librarian provided the following information about the F/P photo:

WRHS Collection:  Civil War Oversize II: Folder 74, Places: Virginia, Fredericksburg:  Brooks Division and General Lee.  “A light pencil reference appearing on the image matting reads: ‘[?] Line of Brooks Division At Fredericksburg, May 2/63 Rebels charged here 20 minutes After Picture was taken but Were repulsed and driven back.’ It’s difficult to determine when the pencil notations were made or by whom.  I suspect these notations were not made by WRHS staff, and instead, were part of the collection when accessioned.  I suspect this image was acquired by William P. Palmer and given to WRHS along with his substantial Civil War collection sometime in the 1920's/1930's.”[24]

Given this statement, we cannot say who wrote the captions for the F/P photo and the others discussed here, or when they were written.

WRHS also has biographical information on the photos’ donor, William Palmer.  William Pendleton Palmer, born two months after the beginning of the Civil War, was the son of a captain in the 155^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, raised in September 1862.  His father served until November 1863 when he was discharged (probably James S. Palmer, a captain in Company C of the 155^th PA).  William rose from draftsman through sales and other positions in several companies to become President of American Steel and Wire in 1899 at age 38.  He was an avid student of history, especially the Civil War, becoming President of the Western Reserve Historical Society in 1913, and continuing until his death at 66 in 1928.  Shortly before becoming president of WRHS, “he had presented to this society an unique collection on the Civil War, as large as any in existence at that time, covering the period as a whole.”[25]

From this brief biography we can assume these photos could have come into the WRHS archives as early as 1913.[26] There seem to be no records of where or how Mr. Palmer acquired his photo collection.  It may have been accumulated over many years, purchased a batch at a time from individuals, dealers, or through the contacts of friends and relatives.

*     *     *     *

A final note about the F/P photo and its origin has to do with Civil War photographer Egbert Fowx, a long-time associate of the famous Matthew Brady.  Although A. J. Russell is generally thought to be the photographer of the F/P photo, Susan Williams’s view is that it and the others were taken by the more experienced Fowx – Russell’s hired mentor for the latter’s first two months on the job, just before Chancellorsville.[27]

We know from General Haupt’s Reminiscences[28] that he and Russell (and probably Fowx) traveled to the Falmouth area across from Fredericksburg while General Hooker and the Army of the Potomac were in the early stages of moving against Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.  According to Williams, Fowx photographed Brig. General Henry Benham’s pontoon bridges at Franklin’s Crossing.[29] Perhaps because Fowx’s contracted relationship to Russell and Haupt was near an end Haupt felt he could do Benham a favor by “loaning” him one of his photographers. And so, an arrangement to memorialize the work of Benham’s men seems to have drawn Fowx to the Franklin’s Crossing area to document their work.

It’s easy to imagine Fowx traveling the short distance south from Falmouth down the east side of the Rappahannock to Franklin’s Crossing on the relatively quiet days between April 29 and May 3 – stopping to take Photo #1 as a panoramic view, and #2 as a closeup, as he approached the pontoons.  He then crossed to the west side of the river on one of the bridges and took Photo #3 of more pontoon engineers.  Moving up the escarpment (closer to enemy lines), he stopped to take Photo #4 part way up, and Photo #5 a little higher on, just below the top of the bluff.

Thereafter, Fowx kept his glass negative of the F/P photo for some time, making prints from it, and eventually sold or otherwise transferred it to the Brady Studio.  This would explain how it came into possession of the National Archives as part of the Brady collection the government purchased beginning in the mid-1870s.  Such a scenario might also explain the image differences between the print in the WRHS archives and NARA’s archives (version #157): someone in the Brady organization later altered it (for a reason either aesthetic or otherwise).  If samples of Fowx’s (or an assistant’s) handwriting exist they might even match the original captions on the five WRHS prints.[30]

*     *     *

For me, this photo research and analysis project has been an enjoyable learning experience, resulting in a satisfactory answer to my puzzlement about the true origin of a great Civil War photo.  In the early spring of 2011, I provided a small collection of proofs related to the 1983 discovery of the Fredericksburg origin to archivists at both the LC and NARA, in the hope they would reconsider their descriptions of the photo.  Later that same spring both archives changed their descriptions to acknowledge the Fredericksburg 1863 origin of Photo #5.

Thus, at the beginning of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War, the soldiers seen in this great photo – and the Time-Life researchers who made the original discovery – will be appropriately recognized in America’s two most well-known archives.

[1].  Named after Maj. General William B. Franklin, who first established pontoon crossings there in December 1862, just before the first Battle of Fredericksburg.

[2].  Parsons, Philip W.  Union Sixth Army Corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign: A Study of the Engagements of Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church and Bank’s Ford.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2006, p. 32.

[3].  Parsons’s source for the photo was the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS).

[4].  Hess, Earl J.  The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat.  Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1997.

[5].  Williams, Susan E.  “Richmond Again Taken: Reappraising the Brady Legend Through Photographs by Andrew J. Russell.”  The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 110, No. 4, 2002.

[6].  Harrison, Noel G.  “A Spotlight for Second Fredericksburg?: Integrating a Neglected Battle’s Photographic and Non-Photographic History.” Fredericksburg History and Biography, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. vol 7, 2008: pp. 74 -100.

[7].  Harrison identified the F/P photo as appearing in Rebels Resurgent ... by William Goolrick.  I rushed off to the library for a copy, saw the photo there and immediately contacted Goolrick.  He referred me to William Frassanito, who in turn referred me to his book Grant and Lee ..., which contained notes on the discovery of the F/P photo’s Fredericksburg origin.  Only later, upon a more careful rereading of Harrison’s essay, did I find his footnote with the same information as provided in Frassanito’s 1983 book.

[8].  Miller, Francis Trevelyan, ed., The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes,  New York: The Review of Reviews Co. (The Trow Press), 1911: vol. 3, pp. 272-273.

[9].  NARA’s photo archives contain two versions of the F/P photo.  Both carry the Petersburg designation.  The first NARA version is number 111-B-157, seen on pg. 1 of this essay.  A second NARA version is number 111-B-768 (not included in this essay).  This version is much closer in appearance to the WRHS version (Fig. 8).  For example, a small tree on the right horizon near the two officers appears fully formed in the WRHS and NARA #768 versions, but appears as a stump in NARA #157.  Several other apparent erasures are apparent in #157.  The NARA #157 version seems to be the most popular, perhaps because NARA does not restrict its use.  The #157 version is the one featured in the very early Miller history.

[10].  DeBolt, Dean.  “Time-Life Civil War Series.” Pace Library. Pensacola, Florida: University of West Florida, February 9, 2000 <www.ibiblio.org/archives-archivists/msg00988.html>

[11].  I was able to conduct telephone interviews with both Larry Strayer and Harris Andrews.

[12].  Pohanka, Brian.  “The Famous ‘Petersburg’ Photo.”  Military Images, vol 5, #4 (January-February, 1984), p. 5. [Larry Strayer sent me a copy of this article after our phone conversation. To my knowledge this is the only article published with details of the discovery of the non-Petersburg origin of the photo.]

[13].  Goolrick, William K. Rebels Resurgent: Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville.  Time-Life Books, 1985, pp. 166-169.  Robertson, James.  Tenting Tonight: The Soldier’s Life.  Time-Life Books, 1984, pp. 160-161.

[14].  Frassanito, William.  Grant and Lee: The Campaigns of 1864 -1865 .  New York: Scribner. 1983: pg. 422.  See also endnote #12.

[15]. The following two recent publications both cite Petersburg as the origin story for the photo in question.  In each case they cite archives that have themselves apparently followed the early NARA and/or Miller “Petersburg” designations. [1]  Bowman, John S. (ed.)  The Civil War: The Definitive Reference Including a Chronology of Events, An Encyclopedia, and the Memoirs of Grant and Lee. East Bridgewater, MA: J. G. Press-World Publications Group, Inc., 2006: p. 162 (credited to Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library). [2]  Wright, John D.  The Timeline of the Civil War.  London: Amber Books, 2007: p. 163.   (credited to Defense Visual Information Center).

[16].  Thanks to Harris Andrews, William Frassanito, William Goolrick, Larry Strayer, and especially, to Susan Williams.

[17].  Blackford, Wm. W., Capt. Corps. Engrs., C. S. P. A.  Sketch of the Battle of Fredericksburg[Map], Library of Congress (digital ID # cwh00123), Dezember (sic) 13^th, 1862.  [Interestingly, a modern Google terrain view of the area is very similar to the Blackford map.]

[18]. Since beginning this research I have seen the other two photos in use elsewhere.  Photo #2 appeared in the Ken Burns Civil War series.  Photo #1 appeared in an article by John Kelley [“Hidden in Plain Sight.”  Center for Civil War Photography Newsletter, May, 2007.]

[19].  The photos’ original captions are as follows – Photo #1: Pontoons| Fredericksburg| May 2/63 - ; Photo #2: same as Photo #1; Photo #3: Pontoons -| May 3/63 -| Fredericksburg (partially trimmed); Photo #4: Second Line of (partially trimmed - recopied as “Second line of Brooks’ Division in Bivouac| Fredericksburg May 2/63"); Photo #5: First Line of Brooks’ Division| at Fredericksburg May 2/63-| Rebels charged here 20 minutes| after picture was taken but| were repulsed & driven back

[20].  Bean, H.A., et.al.  Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania Battlefield National Monument [Map].  Surveyed in 1931-1934 in part in cooperation with the War Department and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial Commission: U.S. Geological Survey, 1934.

[21].  Detail C on Photo #1 shows a building near the center horizon of the photo.  Judging from Figure 2, this is a building on the estate identified as “Bernard’s Mansfield.” According to Parsons, this estate belonged to Arthur Bernard.  The other Bernard home, “The Bend,” belonged to his brother Alfred.  Arthur’s home was used as General Franklin’s headquarters in December, 1862.  It was in ruins by April, 1863.

[22].  I am indebted to Susan Williams for this observation.  In addition to her article, she sent me copies of these two photos with the suggestion that they seemed related.

[23].  Photo #5 may have been taken at several points along the bluff edge above the flood plain.

[24].  Ann K. Sindelar, Reference Supervisor, Library/Archives and Genealogy Center, Western Reserve Historical Society, from an email dated 1/22/2010.

[25].  Unknown author, Transactions (Publication #110).  Cleveland, OH: The Western Reserve Historical Society, 1929, pg 29.

[26].  However, Palmer could have continued to acquire and donate materials up to his death.

[27].  Williams, pp. 440-448.  Andrew J. Russell was a portrait and landscape painter before the war.  Another Russell researcher found documentation that showed that in 1866 Russell sought reimbursement from the Army’s Quartermaster Department in the amount of $300 he paid to Fowx for his services during the war. [Gladstone, William. “Captain Andrew J. Russell: First Army Photographer,”  Photographica, vol 10 February, 1978, pp. 7-9.]

[28].  Haupt, Herman.  Reminiscences of General Herman Haupt.  Reprint.  Arno Press, 1981.  [Also, Harrison (see endnote #6) on p. 76 notes that J. B. Clough, a construction engineer with the U.S. Military Railroad, wrote to his supervisor on April 20 & 22, 1863 that a party of photographers was visiting Potomac Creek Bridge (four miles northeast of Union headquarters at Falmouth).  This visit, just five days before Hooker put his Chancellorsville plan in motion, could well have included A. J. Russell and E. G. Fowx.]

[29].  Williams, pp. 446,447

[30].  Zeller, Bob.  The Blue and Gray in Black and White: a History of Civil War Photography.  Westport CT:  Praeger Publishers, 2005.  Zeller (p. 191) notes that in 1897 the War Department Library published a catalog of all its images that combined nearly 6000 Brady negatives with more than 1000 that “represented the core of Russell’s images and those of other contract photographers.” Zeller’s view suggests an alternate route for this photo’s journey into the current NARA collection.