Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States
John Stuart Mill · en
ATLANTA was evacuated by the Confederates on the first day of September,
in 1864 after a long, hard siege. The formal surrender was made by the
Mayor on September second and the city became a military depot governed
by military law. During this campaign of four months the Federals lost
31,680 men; the Confederates 34,986. The war photographers secured many
negatives of the battlefields in the siege around Atlanta. A view is
here shown of Peach Tree Creek where the Federal loss was 1,710 and the
Confederate 4,796. Another camera was taken to the woods where the Union
general, McPherson, was killed in Hood's second sortie outside of the
city. The daring commander rode directly into the enemy's line, without
knowledge of danger. An interesting picture is that of the earth works
before Atlanta, during Hood's first sortie, in which the Union losses
were 3,641, and the Confederate 8,499. The destruction that was wrought
during the siege of Atlanta is perpetuated by many of these negatives.
While the armies were making these decisive blows, the "Kearsarge" 3,000
miles away, met and sunk the Confederate ship, "Alabama," in the English
Channel on Sunday morning, June 19, 1864. The "Alabama" had been roaming
the seas nearly two years, capturing and burning American merchantmen.
Another important naval conflict occurred on the 5th of August when
Admiral Farragut gained possession of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and the war
cameras caught a picture of the rebel ram, "Tennessee," the ironclad
captured at that time by Farragut.
[Illustration: DEVASTATION ON "MARCH TO THE SEA"]
[Illustration: SHERMAN'S MEN DESTROYING RAILROAD]
[Illustration: CONFEDERATE DEFENSES AT CHATTAHOOCHIE RIVER BRIDGE,
GEORGIA, IN 1864]
[Illustration: BATTLEGROUND OF ALLATOONA PASS, IN GEORGIA, OCTOBER 5,
1864]
[Illustration: GENERAL U. S. GRANT AND STAFF AT CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, IN
AUGUST, 1864]