The National tribune., 1882-04-22
PHOTOGRAPHIC THE DEAD ON THE
BATTLEFIELD.

BAEILE-FIELDI
give been engaged in taking pictures of
the dead for twenty years or more" was the
remark of photographer as he arranged his
camera to photograph the first corpse ever
brought to a Philadelphia gallery for that
purpose. A little coffin or casket was under
the skylight supported by two chairs, and in
it was the body of fair-haired child, whose
peaceful, smiling expression, despite the
CHASTITY pallor of death, made it appear to be
in tranquil sleep. This is the first time,"
said the photographer, rs he critically exam
ined the negative, that l have ever been
called upon to picture the dead in my own
place, but this case was such peculiar one
that [ could not refuse, although it would
undoubtedly draw away custom if it were
known. People have n foolish horror of
death, you know, and would actually be
afraid to come if they thought i had dead
bodies here" 1t only took moment, and
there was really nothing awful about it.
my first experience in photographing the
dead" resumed the photographer, "was on
the battlefield of Antietam. 1t was warm
September morning, three days after the
great fight. l had a boy with me to assist in
preparing the chemicals He only worked
for an hour. With boyish curiosity he went
poking about, and picked up on unexploded
she'll He was then on the bank of the creek
about half mile off. l never knew how it
happened, but the bomb exploded, and almost
blew him to pieces a little darkey came up
to where l was waiting for the boys return,
and completely unnerved me by shouting:
Say, boss, de red-headed gemmen has done
gone and blowed himself up with q shell!'
:" 1t would be useless to go over the scene
of that carnage again; to tell of the ghastly
after-sghts Of that awful fight which made
so many widows and orphans. l was nervous
and excited, and you can depend it did not
tend to quiet my nerves when l unwittingly
planted one leg of the camera stand on the
chest of dead Union drummer boy! By
some means he had been partly buried in
patch of soft soil. Nothing was visible but
the buttons on his blouse and one foot. I
changed my position rather hastily. A dark
room was improvised by hanging army
blankets from the limb of low tree; and
after taking four negatives, packed up my
traps and started for Philadelphia. It was
slow and dangerous journey, but l made it
safely, and went to work printing pictures
They sold like wildfire at fifty cents and one
dollar each. l was nearly two thousand
dollars in pocket in less than two weeks.
after the battle of Gettysburg" he re-
sumed, 1T became very common for photo
graphers to so to the front. They all ap-
peared to be making money, and 1 finally
made up mind to try it again The three
days fight at Spottsylvania Court House |
was the last battlefield 1 ever saw, or want
to see again. / arrived there before General |
Grant had driven the enemy into Richmond. |
Many of the dead had been removed, but |
there were still many bodies ON the field
enough, in fact, to make good picture, I |
thought I never took it. After getting the |
best site to have the sun on a half dozen |
dead soldiers and two abandoned cannon for |
the central figures of the picture, | covered |
my head with the cloth and brought the |
tube to bear on the group | had Just got |
the proper focus when most startling Incl
dent occurred. | saw the arm of q supposed
dead man lift high in the air and then fall. |
The day was mild, beautiful, and sunny.
Every thing was as still as death, except the
faint booming of far-distant cannon. I
dropped the cloth and ran forward to where
the dead soldiers lay. There was not the
least sign of life in any of them. Decompo-
sition had set in, except in one of them, a
dark-haired young man wearing the gray
uniform of the contederacy. He was dead to
all appearances and ragged bullet-hole in
his forehead precluded any other idea.
Thinking it was only imagination, went
back to the camera to make another attempt.
No sooner had lifted the cloth to put over
my head than l saw the arm lift up second
time. There could be no mistake Again |
approached the dead men, and looking first
at the young man. who seemed to have met