Solving a Civil War Photograph Mystery
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15886
Is this photo fact or fiction? The title information on the bottom
left corner of the print says “General Grant at City Point,”
so the image claims to show General Ulysses S. Grant on horseback,
in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia, during the American
Civil War. But, once you look closely at the content of the photo,
questions begin to surface.
Let’s work through the puzzle together, and unravel the mystery.
By learning to question what you see in photographs, you can become
a better history detective.
Questions
Is that General Grant?
The face resembles Grant, but the head joins the body at an odd
angle and the uniform seems wrong for the time period.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15886
If the photo shows Grant at City Point, then it would have been
taken in June 1864 or later while City Point was his headquarters
during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia.(1) By June 1864, Grant
should have three stars on his shoulder straps to indicate his March
1864 appointment by President Abraham Lincoln to the rank of General-in-Chief
for the union forces.(2) Only one star is visible, however, and
there doesn’t appear to be room for two more on the shoulder
strap in the picture.
Why is Grant, who was noted for his skill and ease around
horses, sitting so rigidly on his mount? And, come to think of it,
is that really Grant’s horse?
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15886
Grant's horses (left to right): Egypt, Cincinnati, and Jeff Davis,
Cold Harbor, VA, 1864
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.01695
(detail)
Grant’s favorite horse at the time was Cincinnati, but Cincinnati
didn’t have a “sock” (white hair) around his left
hind ankle as this horse does. Nor does the horse look like Grant’s
other horses Although Grant’s horse Egypt had a sock on his
left hind foot, Egypt’s neck had a different shape and his
mane fell in the opposite direction.
And on the subject of appearance, Grant wasn't quite that
stout around the middle, was he?
With these questions in mind, let’s explore who made the photo
and how by comparing the "City Point" image to other photographs
and by doing some research in written sources.
Close Looking and a Dip Into Photo History
When you look closely at the photograph, you can see small scratch
marks around Grant's head, and around the horse's body.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15886
(detail showing scratch marks)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15886
(detail showing scratch marks)
These marks suggest that the photograph was made by combining different
images. It’s actually a composite or montage photograph. Long
before the advent of Photoshop, people figured out how to manipulate
images and make invented scenes look real. They exposed negatives
multiple times, sandwiched two negatives together, or pasted parts
of different pictures together and photographed the result. This
montage is skillfully done and hard to detect unless you look twice.
The notation "Copyright 1902 by L.C. Handy" is another
important clue. The copyright date suggests that the photo was created
considerably after the Civil War. Levin C. Handy (1855-1932) was
the nephew of Mathew Brady, who oversaw the making of many Civil
War photographs that have survived in public and private collections
[view Mathew
B. Brady – Biographical Note]. Handy was apprenticed to
Brady at the age of twelve and went on to operate photographic studios
in Washington, D.C. He had access to Civil War photos through his
uncle’s negatives, many of which eventually entered the collections
of the Library of Congress [view
Brady-Handy background information].
So the next question is, which photographs did Handy use to create
this imaginary portrait of Grant at City Point in order to illustrate
Grant’s important role in the Civil War?
The Photo Search: Sleuthing and Happenstance
Grant's Head
The easiest photograph to identify is the source for Grant’s
face. Searching the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog for “Grant
City Point,” reveals a June 1864 portrait of Grant at Cold
Harbor, Virginia. The original negative was at one time identified
incorrectly as “Grant at City Point,” perhaps giving
Handy the title for his 1902 composition.
Edgar Guy Fowx, photographer. Gen. U.S. Grant at his Cold Harbor,
Va., headquarters [June 1864].
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.04407
Grant's(?) Body
By searching for the word "horseback" in the Civil War
photographs section of the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
and then browsing visually through the results, you’ll soon
see that a portrait of Major General Alexander McDowell McCook provided
the man’s body and the horse. McCook saw most of his action
in the Western theater of the war, not in the Petersburg area of
Virginia, and the information with the original negative indicates
the photograph was made in the vicinity of Washington, D.C.
Washington. D.C., vicinity. Maj. Gen. Alexander M. McCook on horseback,
Brightwood, 1864 July. Wet collodion glass negative.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03862
Major General A.McD. McCook. Photographic print made from negative
at left, photographed 1864 July, printed later.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c04949
Background of the Picture
Searching the online catalog for "tents," "soldiers,"
and other features visible in the 1902 photo’s background
does not uncover the source for the final part of the montage. Sometimes,
serendipity plays a role in detective work. It takes browsing Civil
War photographs regardless of their topic to spot that the soldiers
in the “Grant at City Point” picture are not Grant’s
men at all—quite the opposite.
Confederate prisoners captured at the battle of Fisher's Hill, VA.
Sent to the rear under guard of Union troops, 1864.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15835
The last piece of the puzzle is a photo of Confederate prisoners
captured at Fisher’s Hill, a battle, which took place in the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in September 1864. Union General Philip
H. Sheridan outflanked Confederate General Jubal A. Early for further
control of the valley, taking Confederate soldiers prisoner in the
process.(3) The Confederate soldiers had no connection to Grant
and were nowhere near City Point, but their plight became a handy
background to highlight Grant’s leadership nearly 40 years
later.
1 National Park Service, "Grant's Headquarters," http://www.nps.gov/history/logcabin/html/cp11.html.
2 White House, "Ulysses S. Grant," http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ug18.html;
United States War Department. Revised United States Army Regulations
of 1861. Philadelphia, G.W. Childs, 1863; "Civil War Uniforms
of the United States Military," based on Historical Times (Illustrated)
Encyclopedia of the Civil War edited by Patricia L. Faust, http://www.civilwarhome.com/uniformsunion.htm.
3 National Park Service, “Study of the Civil War Sites in
the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia,” (Sept. 1992), http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/shenandoah/svs3-13.html.
Acknowledgment: Prints & Photographs Division
staff prepared this case study from a Civil War photo mystery solved
and explained by Kathryn Blackwell, former Reference Assistant,
Prints and Photographs Division, acting on a question received from
a researcher.
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