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MD - Antietam,Washington County - 1862 - Civil War Photograph - Mueller Collection

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Photographic Images Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,500.00 USD
MD - Antietam,Washington County - 1862 - Civil War Photograph - Mueller Collection
Session D is a Mail-Bid Only Auction. Absentee bids will be accepted only. No live bidding will be allowed. All winners will be contacted after the auction. BIDDING ENDS MONDAY JUNE 27 AT 5PM PACIFIC TIME!!!
Mounted on cardstock. Measures 13 by 16” and preserved under plexiglas. The photograph itself measures 6.75 by 9.” The bottom left and right corners of the cardstock have been trimmed. The upper left corner has a small portion missing. Yellowing. Good condition. The negative was by T. H. O’Sullivan and the positive by A. Gardner of Washington D. C. Timothy O’Sullivan became a famous Civil War and Western photographer, most noted for having over forty photographs published in the first book of Civil War photographs under Alexander Gardner and for being a photographer from 1867-1869 with a Geological Exploration survey crew led by Clarence King. The survey started in Virginia City, Nevada where O'Sullivan started photographing the mines but was later utilized by the U. S. government to make western photographs more appealing to those in the east who would become western settlers. This photo is titled “Signal Tower on Elk Mountain, Maryland.” Labeled picture No. 2, it was taken sometime in September of 1862. Four men pose in the photo overlooking the battlefield. The tower is crudely built and fashioned with logs. Tree stumps in the foreground are evidence the soldiers used what was nearby to construct the lookout tower. Antietam has been described as the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, creating over 23,000 casualties in one day. It was also the first major battle of the Civil War. The fight occurred on 17 September 1862. The battle between Robert E. Lee’s Confederate troops and George B. McClellan’s Union troops lasted two days with no clear winner [Refs: http://www.illyria.com/irish/mcginn_civil.html; http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md003.htm].