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Description
[transcribed text]
When the Rebel Army were forced to evacuate their Capitol at Richmond, they set fire to the city, exploded the powder in their magazines and did their worst to entirely destroy the city. The Union troops came in as conquerors and immediately set to work with a will to extinguish the fires and save as much of the city as possible, but before the fires could be quenched, over 700 buildings were in ruins. This is a view of the depot of the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad. The ruined building and the ruined locomotive shows what destruction war brings
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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 wide shot of a ruined Railroad depot, with a lone soldier (man) slumped over in the midst of the rubble. As people tried to forget the Civil War, interest in the stereographs declined. Most were placed in storage and were forgotten. This stereograph is a part of a 25 year anniversary re-issue.
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