Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States
John Stuart Mill · en
AT sunrise of the fourth of May, in 1862, the Union troops entered the
deserted Confederate works at Yorktown and found seventy-one heavy guns,
a large number of tents, with ammunition and materials of war. The works
were found to be of scientific construction and great strength and
undoubtedly could have withstood the heavy fire from the heaviest
battery in the world. This photograph shows the remains of one of the
heavy Confederate guns blown into atoms rather than leave it to the
Union forces. Fragments of the gun strew the ground, together with shell
and grape-shot. The soldiers seen in works are Union Zouaves. The
Confederate forces of 50,000 men under Magruder were pursued by
McClellan's 85,000 Union soldiers to Williamsburg, after which the enemy
retired unmolested behind the lines of Richmond. While Brady was taking
his photographs at Yorktown, he met the distinguished Prince de
Joinville and his royal companions of the House of Orleans, who, for
pure love of adventure, had come from France and were following the Army
of the Potomac as aides-de-camp, being permitted to serve without taking
the oath of allegiance, and without pay. The noblemen were eating dinner
in camp when Brady secured this picture. A few days later Brady met the
Battery C, 3rd U.S. Flying Artillery, on the road to Fair Oaks and
secured a remarkable photograph. Another picture in this campaign is the
ruins of the Norfolk navy-yard. It had been the chief naval depot of the
Confederates, but on the tenth of May, 1862, General John E. Wool, with
5,000 men, entered the city. The navy-yard, with its workshops,
storehouses and other buildings had been wrecked, but two hundred cannon
fell into the hands of the Union forces. The Confederate ironclad
"Merrimac" tried to escape up the James, but grounded and was blown up.
[Illustration: CONFEDERATE WORKS AFTER EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN]
[Illustration: ADVENTUROUS EUROPEAN NOBLEMEN WITH ARMY OF THE POTOMAC IN
1862]
[Illustration: RUINS OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD IN 1862]
[Illustration: FLYING ARTILLERY ON ROAD TO FAIR OAKS]