May 2, 3 & 4, 1863 – Union (Gen. Hooker) … Confederate (Gen. Lee) … Gen. Jackson mort. wd.
Lithograph – Copyrighted 1889 by Kurz & Allison, Art Publishers, Chicago, U.S.A.
Library of Congress image.
Library of Congress
1st Connecticut Battery, near Fredericksburg, Va., May 2, 1863.
Photograph by Andrew J. Russell.
Library of Congress image.
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Image before cropping and digital enhancement (click on images for larger version)
Drawing by Alfred R. Waud, drawing on light brown paper : pencil and Chinese white; 12.9 x 24.1. (sheet).
Published in: Harper’s Weekly, May 23, 1863, p. 328-9
Library of Congress image.
Inscribed on verso on attached piece of cream paper: If this picture is used and I think it ought to be for the regulars always do well, and seldom get any credit, not belonging to any crowd of voters the artist will notice that two lines are represented or suggested moving up to the crest of the hill where the rebels hold their positions. As the sketch is on so small a scale a little care must be used to bring out the idea.
For a long time this photo was identified as being from Petersburg in 1864 or 1865. Today it is widely acknowledged as being from Fredericksburg in the spring of 1863, late April or early May.
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Various information and sources related to the photo:
“Union soldiers entrenched along the west bank of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, Virginia” – Library of Congress image. Photograph by Andrew J. Russell. “Formerly misidentified with the title “Union Soldiers in trenches before Petersburg,” Dec. 1864.”
“Line of Brooks’ Division at Fredericksburg, May 2, 1863. Rebels charged here 20 minutes after the picture was taken but were repulsed and driven back.” – hand written caption on a copy of the photo at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio.)
“Line of Brooks’ Division at Fredericksburg, VA. April 29 or 50, 1863” – hand written caption on a copy at U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center.
“Soldiers in the trenches before battle, Petersburg, Va., 1865. 111-B-157.” – National Archives copy identification as Petersburg has been disputed by Civil War historians and photo-historians with documentary evidence suggesting that this image of Union forces was taken by Andrew J. Russell just before the Second Battle of Fredericksburg in the spring of 1863.
A Grand Old Photo Revisited – A somewhat detailed analysis by Barry McGhan at The Center for Civil War Photography.
Union Soldiers by the Rappahannock – Encyclopedia Virginia: “Union soldiers in William T. H. Brooks’s division of John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps huddle together on the west bank of the Rappahannock River on April 29 or 30, 1863. Comprised mostly of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania regiments, the division had just crossed the river on pontoon boats about a mile south of Fredericksburg and now occupied abandoned Confederate rifle pits, with Confederate pickets probably four hundred yards distant.”
(Click on image for larger version.)
Drawing by Alfred R. Waud, drawing on light brown paper : pencil and Chinese white ; 17.2 x 52.8 cm. (sheet).
Published in: Harper’s Weekly, May 23, 1863, p. 328-9
Library of Congress image.
The great fight at Charleston S.C. April, 7th 1863: between 9 United States “Iron-Clads,” under the command of Admiral DuPont; and Forts Sumter, Moultrie, and the Cummings Point Batteries in possession of the Rebels. The Iron-Clads carried only 32 guns, while the Rebel Forts mounted over 300 of the heaviest calibre, but notwithstanding the great odds, the little Iron-clads went bravely into the fight, and for nearly two hours were under the most terrible fire ever witnessed on this earth, but being unable to reach Charleston on account of obstructions in the harbor, the Admiral reluctantly gave the order for the battle to cease, and the fleet to retire from the unequal contest. – The Keokuk was the only Iron-clad disabled in the fight.
Currier & Ives.
Library of Congress image.
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Group in front of post office tent at Army of the Potomac headquarters, Falmouth, Virginia, April 1863; photographed by Timothy H. O’Sullivan.
Library of Congress image.
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Falmouth, Va. Capt. George A. Custer and Gen. Alfred Pleasonton on horseback; photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan; April 1863. | Library of Congress image.
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Falmouth, Va., April, 1863
George Henry Sharpe (February 26, 1828 – January 13, 1900) was an American lawyer, soldier, secret service officer, diplomat, politician and a Member of the Board of General Appraisers. In January 1863, Sharpe assumed the intelligence role for Hooker that Allan Pinkerton had performed for McClellan. His estimates of enemy troop strength proved to be far more accurate than that of his predecessor.
Library of Congress image.
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