Burying the dead at Antietam I

[RyanBWeddle]

TITLE: Antietam, Maryland. Burying the dead Confederate soldiers
CALL NUMBER: LC-B811- 561[P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-cwpb-03562 (b&w copy scan of left half)
LC-DIG-cwpb-01098 (b&w copy scan of right half)
No known restrictions on publication.
MEDIUM: 1 negative (2 plates) : glass, stereograph, wet collodion.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 Sept.
CREATOR:Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882, photographer.

Not sure if this one has been posted before, an interesting view of Antietam dead/burial parties on often seen.

A very telling view of the burial party attached, note all the details. Amazing...

[JimConley]

Awesome pic, Ryan. I haven't come across that one before. It's interesting to note the attitude being displayed by the, I'm sure, exhausted detail of troops there. They certainly had their work cut out for 'em after Antietam.

[leupus]

check out the gear hanging from the stacked rifles..and the blanket rolls..sweet
Tom Leupold

[hardtack1864]

All the spades on the shovels seem to be a one peice and not a two peice, though I could be wrong. Great close up Ryan.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

The look on this guys face says it all.

[roundshot]

Interesting is right. Some of these men may be from Baxter's Fire Zouaves, 72nd Pennsylvania Vols. Note the guy in the vest, which looks an awful lot like the long, red trimmed sky blue vest worn by the 72nd. Also, the fellow to the left of the guy pointing appears to be wearing the distinctive Zouave jacket with ball buttons on both sides. Plus, the sleeve cut looks similar. Additionally, the 72nd fought very close to the spot where this photo was taken. Many thanks for sharing.

Bob Williams

[roundshot]

. . . And the guy kneeling to the right of the pointer has on leggings!

Bob Williams

[JACKSONVC]

The guy sitting with the shovel over his shoulder has his pants tucked into his socks (I hate the term bloused). Check out the blanket roll on the guy with the pickax, he is wearing it tied almost at the armpit! Anyone dare a guess as to where on the battlefield these guys are?

[NY Pvt]

The fellow with the pick has on two canteens, neither one with a cover. One of the canteens also appears to have a pretty big dent in it. I am sure how the canteen received the dent is probably an interesting story in itself.

[CJSchumacher]

The fellow with the pick has on two canteens, neither one with a cover. One of the canteens also appears to have a pretty big dent in it. I am sure how the canteen received the dent is probably an interesting story in itself.

Where's the second canteen?? :confused_ All I see is the haversack, canteen, and the ends of what is probably a shelter half rolled up.

Chris

[FC Barlow]

As for the location of the shot, Frassanito did a study of the Antietam photos, but I want to say that this shot was not in the book. I could be wrong.

In any case, the terrain and photos of other burial teams near the Cornfield seem to be very similar to this photo. My guess would be this photo was taken in the area of the Cornfield/Smoketown Road.

[FC Barlow]

What barn is that in the background? We could easily figure out the location that way.

[Dshoaf]

This pic is included in William J. Frassanito's pathbreaking _Antietam: A Journey in Time_, though you certainly can't get the detail you get here, which is quite amazing.

Frassanito tracks down, maps out and carefully explains where the pic was most likely taken. You can get the book and go to the battlefield and locate the very spot.

Dana Shoaf

Sorry, in my haste to get out of the office, I put the improper subtitle with the Antietam book. It should read _Antietam:The Photographic Legacy of America's Bloodiest Day. Frassanito's other books include _Gettysburg: A Journey in Time_ and _Grant and Lee_The Virginia Campaigns, 1864-1865. All three contain fascinating images and are worth having. I've had mine for years, and they are getting tattered from use and hauling to battlefields. Frassanito has also done some follow up studies on Gettysburg.

[NY Pvt]

Chris,
Your right I am blind. I had the high zoom and frogot to look at the over all picture. I guess I should wear my glasses more often.

[C.G. Williams]

As I look in Frassinato's book, the picture is titled " Union burial detail on the Miller Farm, Gardner, stere #561 Sept. 19, 1862 (LC) Frassinato writes: "The presence of a rather large burial detail in the foreground, together with the group of bodies, altered me to the fact that wherever this scene was, it was located on the battlefield proper and not in a rear area. Furthermore, my experience indicated that it was probably recorded in or near an area where Gardner is known to have taken other scenes. But only upon inspection of the right half of the orginal negative, which is today preserved by the LOC, did I notice something in this view that I had never seen before-a barn along the right-hand edge."

I could keep going, but I'll stop there..So the photo is definately in Frassinato's book, and the barn was there when the orginal photo was taken. One of the best pictures that came from the war in my opinion. Thanks for posting....

[FC Barlow]

So is it the Miller Barn (owner of the Cornfield) or some other barn in the rear area? What was Frassanito's conclusion?

[C.G. Williams]

Frassinato writes, " There were only a few barns on the battlefield proper in 1862. My research consisted of narrowing the site possibilities, based on the lay of the land at Antietam in conjunction with the barn inadvertently captured by the right-hand lens of Gardner's camera. I was also aided by another clue in the photograph that pointed to Gardner's most likely camera position. In the distant tree line just beyond the barn is a distinctive tree with with three of its branches grouped together like a pitch-fork. There is a gap in the woods to the left of this tree. If the tree and gap were indeed identical in the two views, it meant that the barn must have been the on elocated on the Miller Farm, adjoining the Hagerstown Pike on its western side. This connection, although potentially significant, could be considered only hypothetical until a modern field investigation of all 1862 barn sites on the battlefield was conducted."

So hypothetically, yes?!?!? Also take into consideration that the book was published in 1978. Does anyone know if a study has been done to figure this out since then??

[ScottMcKay]

One thing that sticks out with this image, and something I have not seen in other period images, and that is the absence of 'D' handled shovels. In fact, this is the first image I can recall that shows shovel handles of this type used in the 1860s.

[Ridge Runner]

In the zoomed in image is the guy on the left wearing leggings? Or are his socks just bloused like a few of the others are?


Roman Fox

[Jasper]

Hey All


If you look in the back ground right of the split rail fence you will find a stack of at least 2 "D" handled shovels.


What my question is ( is that soldier leaning on the stack ?)



Jasper

[hireddutchcutthroat]

One thing that sticks out with this image, and something I have not seen in other period images, and that is the absence of 'D' handled shovels. In fact, this is the first image I can recall that shows shovel handles of this type used in the 1860s.

Good point! You mean not ALL shovels had D handles! :wink_smil

[DougCooper]

Fassanito did find this location - on the Miller Farm looking northwest from the Hagerstown turnpike and fence from a camera position north of where Starke's Louisianans were photographed in death along the fence. This photo and the then unlocated photo (still unlocated?) of the Irish Brigade dead are the only Union dead photos at Antietam.

[Jefferson Guards]

The shovels that these men are holding appear to be the "Shovel, Long Handle" that was issued to the light artillery for placement on the caisson "at the side and under the boxes, staples and other arrangements for securing a long-handled shovel and a spare hanspike." (Gibbon, The Artillerist Manual, 1863 p170 & p432).

In a zoom in you can see a ring near the top of the handle (similar to that found on the trail handspike) for attachment to the caisson body. I do not know if my attempt at a zoon has enough resolution for you to see this.

I believe that there are examples of these shovels pictured in Lord's Encyclopedia.

[GACornbread]

Thank You Brian and Scott:
Yesterday, while everyone else was looking at the men, I, too, was thinking those shovels have long handles. I could not remeber another picture with such.

But in the right center foreground of the picture, is there one "D-handled shovel" on the ground not being used?

I have done a lot of digging with shovels in my time. If you have digging in the dirt to do a long handle make the work a lot easier. It's the leverage.
A short handle makes the work back-breaking unless you are short. Also, a point on the shovel also makes it easier to break ground. Of course the long handle is prone to breakage. The short handled shovel may not have been the perferred tool and therefore "stayed in the barn" making it more likely that you would find them as left over examples.

Does anyone, have a reference for what tools would have been issued or purchased for: engineers, pioneers, and other supports that did the digging?

Houston White
Cpl. 42nd GA
Pvt 10 Texas

[Jefferson Guards]

I don't have any written refernces that I know of off the top of my head, but the attached photograph shows a nice variety of digging tools used in an engineering context. The photograph is labeled as being taken of the 64th New York and the 5th New Hampshire working on a military bridge over the Chickahominy towards the end of May, 1862. This would be just prior to the battle of Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks). The photograph is in the collection of the United States Military History Institute and has appeared in a few publications.

I can see some long handled shovels and a D-handled shovel.

[Jimmayo]

The shovel in the center with the ring on the handle is an artillery shovel. The ring was to make it easier to carry on the piece where ever it was carried (havn't figured that out yet). The specs on the length are on my digging page. I have a dug one pictured there.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/tools/tools.html

Should have read Brian's post above before posting this. Now I know where the artillery shovels were carried.

[Bob McDonald]

. . . And the guy kneeling to the right of the pointer has on leggings!

Bob Williams


Bob & All:

You're right on as to the vest; its piping is very distinct. This fellow also has stuffed his trouser cuffs into his stockings, but note how dark the latter are. Lastly, the fellow on the extreme left of the close-up is also in gaiters.

Superb image. As to the location of this view, the image appears in Bill Frassanito's book on Antietam photography. As many know, Bill's specialty has been built upon great detective work to correctly place war-time images, his probably best-known discovery being the proper identification of the several Gettysburg views that for a century plus had been misidentified, due to Gardner's creative labeling, as fallen of the Iron Brigade at the McPherson Woods on July 1. As Bill deduced and proved, on the basis of one key boulder, the six interrelated views were of Confederates of Semmes' Brigade who had fallen at the Rose Farm on July 2. Getting the train back on the track, this Antietam burial crew's location is, as I recall, impossible to pin down due to the very limited and completely unremarkable terrain and background/horizon features. In many fewer words, location unknown.


Cordially,

Bob McDonald

[Bob McDonald]

To All:

My immediate prior nicely illustrates the pitfalls of missing that the end of a post's first page, when scrolled down a bit more, just might have numbered tab links indicating additional pages!

Thus, apologies for missing the excellent points raised on those pages and, thereby, inanely "introducing" Bill Frassanito's book following its thorough discussion re this image, and for relying on a memory missing one barn from its right hemisphere.

Abashedly,

Bob McDonald

[FC Barlow]

Bob:

It seemed to me Frassanito conclusively located the spot today, with a modern photo that nicely matches the terrain, post-war barn on the site of the wartime Miller Barn, and matches with Brady's other photos taken along the Hagerstown Pike, etc. If not the exact site, its within feet of it.

[2MDF&D]

The despondent faces tell the story. Interesting looking canteen(??) hanging on the left side of the stacked arms. It's smaller than the one that's uncovered. Also the roll next to it. Half shelter perhaps? The small pan like object on the right below the shallow cup. Mixture of McDowell caps and standard issue. Looks like a variety of brim sizes as well. No chin strap visible on the fella looking at the camera. Always fun to study a photo. Always a new question to ask. Love it! Thanks for sharing this!
I like the two shovels stuck in the ground on top of the hill in the backround. How many questions I can think of as to why they are there!

Rob McFarland
2nd MD, Co E, Fifes and Drums