Ironically, this stereocard by Tipton uses a famous photograph by Gardner that was originally published with an incorrect caption and correctly identifies it in a period ink inscription. Gardner produced a famous series of photographs of dead soldiers on the Gettysburg battlefield on July 5 or July 6. He was interested in portraying the price of war and concentrated on the bodies of Union and Confederate soldiers on the southern portion of the battlefield who were only then being reached by Union burial parties. When published, however, the images were captioned with different battlefield locales, partly in competition with Brady and partly just to give the impression of greater coverage of the battlefield.

Gardner’s views of Confederate dead near the Rose Woods are well known. This is one of five negatives taken nearby, whose exact location is still debated, and shows Union soldiers who had lain behind Confederate lines, likely members of the Third Corps, killed on July 2. Frassanito discusses this image both in Journey in Time and Early Photography at Gettysburg.  A companion view shows the same bodies, but with a burial crew about to start work, which likely caused Gardner’s crew to move to the edge of the Rose Woods and photograph Confederate casualties who had not yet been interred. The view shows five soldiers sprawled in the foreground and a sixth body lying beyond on the left. Their pockets have been turned inside out and their shoes have been taken by needy Confederates. A partially ruined rail fence runs along the background.

A companion view taken looking the other direction shows an extensive line of bodies and was captioned “A Harvest of Death” in Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook and identified as showing Confederate killed in attacking the Union line, presumably in the center of the field. Perhaps in competition with Brady, this view was published as, the “Field Where General Reynolds Fell,” implying it was taken on the first day’s field. The period ink identification at bottom right of this view says, “Dead soldiers near / Wheat field / Gettysburg Pa.” This is actually closer to the mark than the published captions of the other photos since Gardner was, indeed, operating near the Wheatfield, Rose Woods and Little Round Top. We are tempted to think it was because of Tipton’s or the card’s owner’s familiarity with the field that led to the correct identification. The more cynical among us wonder if the inscription was taken from the wrong number on the reverse of the stereoview and that Tipton, like others marketed it as, “The Dead on the First Day’s Field” (number 498 ½ rather than 499 ½.) In any case, this is a telling photograph that does accomplish Gardner’s goal: to make clear to those at home the real nature of the conflict.  [sr]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS,

CLICK ON ‘CONTACT US’ AT THE TOP OF ANY PAGE ON THE SITE,

THEN ON ‘LAYAWAY POLICY’.

THANK YOU!