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Description
[transcribed text] 983. Troops drawn up in Hollow Square to Witness an Execution.
This view was taken before Petersburg in 1864, and shows the troops formed in a hollow square to witness the execution of a negro soldier named Johnson, who was hanged on this scaffold, by order of a general Court-martial, having been convicted of an attempted rape of a white woman, whose house was within the Union lines near here, but whose husband was in the Rebel army.
1861-Photographic History-1865
This series of pictures are ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS taken during the war of the Rebellion. More than a quarter a century has passed away since the sun painted these real scenes of that great war, and the "negatives" (made by the old "wet plate" process) have undergone chemical changes which renders it slow and difficult work to get "prints" from them. Of course no more "negatives" can be made, as the scenes represented by this series of war views have passes away forever. The great value of these pictures is apparent. Some "negatives" are entirely past printing from, and all of the them are very slow printers.
A WORD AS TO PRICES.
A gentleman living near Watkin's Glen, New York, wrote us that he though 30 cents each too high a price for the stereoscopic war views, as he could buy views of Watkin's Glen for $1.50 per dozen. We wrote him to this effect:
"If there was buy one negative of Watkin's Glen in existence, and if Watkin's Glen itself were entirely wiped off the face of the earth, and if this one negative was old and 'dense' and very slowly to 'print' and if all the people of this country were as much interested in a view of Watkin's Glen as they are in seeing the real scenes of our great war, so faithfull reproduced, THEN, and ONLY UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, should Watkin's Glen Pictures be compared to photographs taken 'at the front' during the days of 1861 to 1865."
The gentleman "acknowledged the corn," took the war views he wished for, paid the reasonable price asked for them, and was satified.
The above is the only answer we shall ever make to the question of PRICE. We deem it necessary to say this much, as many persons write and ask us for CHEAPR war views; when we change the price of these war views, it will be to double it; they will never be any cheaper than now. They can be obtained only of the undersigned or our duly authorized agents.
If you wish for a catalogue of the war views, send a stamp and your address to
Yours in F. C. and L.,
The War Photograph & Exhibition Company,
Sole Owners of the Original War Views.
No. 21 Linden Place, HARTFORD, CONN.
[handwritten text] $5.20 EA. A wide shot, with a large group of soldiers in the distance gathered in military style to witness the hanging of an African American during the Civil War. A gallows is at the center of the image. This stereocard was part of the 1861 The War for the Union 1865 series by The War Photograph & Exhibition Company. It was sold more than 25 years after the end of the war, that is after 1890, to the general American public as photographs taken on the front lines of the war. This was essentially an anniversary edition a quarter century after the war. They were created from the original negatives from "wet plate" process, so the quality had slightly diminished over those 25 years. This is part of the "The War For the Union" series.
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