Civil War Photos and more

[TheFlyingCamera]

Gardner was Brady's studio manager in DC until 1862, when they split, reputedly over a Brady's habit of attributing authorship of his assistant's work to himself, especially the battlefield photos. Gardner was the official staff photographer for Maclellan's army, and photographed at Antietam. After the war he travelled out west with the US Geologic Survey, surveying the route of the Kansas Pacific railroad. He closed his studio in 1871, and founded an insurance company. From the best of my understanding, he was most famous for A: his Lincoln portraits, including the last photos taken of Lincoln before his assassination, B: Antietam, and C: being the only photographer allowed at the execution of the Lincoln conspirators.

 

[RobertP]

Gardner's most famous shot was probably, " Death of a Rebel Sharpshooter". And what's so cool about it is the rifle in the shot was a prop that Gardner carried, its not even a rebel rifle. Some claim that he even went as far as to drag a body to that location to set up the shot. So I guess Gardner could be considered one of the first pictorialist. I know I like his work better than I do Brady's.. at least Brady's later wet plate collodion work. Brady's early work when he was still doing dags was quite good. Robert

 

[Photo Engineer]

A number of Kodak people were into Civil War reenactment and had a "regiment" that would go to Gettysburg for meetings. They were used in the movie "Gettysburg" as part of the Union forces. Similar people from the South represented the Confederate forces.

A friend of mine was in the movie and told me of his work.

PE