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Description
[transcribed text] 1084. Interior of Fort Sedgwick.
Fort Sedgwick on the Petersburg line was nicknamed by the troops "Fort Hell," because the Rebel shot and shell was rained into it so constantly and fiercely. This glimpse of the bomb-proof quarters of the garrison gives an idea of the unpleasantness of the fort as a place of residence during the early days of 1865. The boys, however, succeeded in extracting considerable comfort from life, even here. The rough chimney with the old pork barrel for a chimney pot, leads down underground to a little fire-place around which many a song was sung or story told, even while Death was holding his carnival just outside.
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 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 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 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 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 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. Black and white wide shot of the garrison quarters of Fort Sedgwick. Includes paths between "bomb proof" shelters; a soldier present gives indication of scale. The image is a part of a reprinting of images for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Civil War. Some sources note that John C. Taylor obtained negatives of the Brady war images to print for the twenty-fifth anniversary. Although both Taylor's prints and this print are described as "original views" there is no formal connection between Taylor and this print series. Sources: William Culp Darrah, Stereo Views: A History of Stereographs in America and Their Collection, (1964), 68-69. William C. Darrah, The World of Stereographs, (1977), 154.
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