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Description
Sherman's Men Destroying Railroad.
After the capture of Atlanta, and just before the "March to the Sea," General Sherman's men destroyed the railroads and all public property that could be of value to the enemy. This view shows the soldiers engaged in destroying the railroad and burning the depots and store-houses. This photograph is a familiar picture, and no doubt suggests to your minds the words of the old and familiar song:
"So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude; three hundred to the main,
Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia."
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1861-Photographic History-1865
This series of pictures are ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS taken during the war of the Rebellion. More than a quarter of a century has passed away since the sun painted these real scenes of that great war, and the "negatives" (made by the "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 passed away forever. The great value of these pictures is apparent. Some "negatives" are entirely past printing from, and all of them are very slow printers.
A Word As To Prices
A gentleman living near Watkin's Glen, New York, wrote us that he thought 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 but 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 slow 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 faithfully 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 satisfied.
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 CHEAP 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 by 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. A black and white medium shot of group of soldiers watching the destruction of a railroad, with demolished steel tubing and material stacked in the center and wood fires burning smaller pieces to the side. In the background, there are a few trees and buildings engulfed in smoke. The card reveals cracks from the original glass plate negative. This image is part of a series of over 55 stereographs issued over 25 years after the Civil War ended. At this time, according to W.C. Darrah in The World of Stereographs, the demand for war stereographs had diminished. However, publishers, such as The War Photograph and Exhibition Company, anticipated a renewed popularity in the market caused by 25th anniversaries and reunions and thus they attempted to reissue the views to the public. These particular publishers were located in Hartford, Connecticut, where the competing publishers John C. Taylor and Taylor & Huntington were also based. Although the competition may have been high, the revived interest in the war images was not and the publishers had little success reselling. (Darrah, The World of Stereographs). The Klamm Collection has a partial set of images from The War Photograph & Exhibition Company's Civil War series, with 55 such stereoviews in its possession.
United States--History--Civil War--1861-1865 Railroads War destruction Property destruction Sabotage Soldiers Railroads, soldiers, burning, property destruction, General Sherman, Sherman's march, Atlanta
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