Morton's Ford (Va.) Then & Now: The amazing Alfred Waud

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From renowned Culpeper County (Va.) historian Clark "Bud" Hall:

Yesterday, while out at Morton's Ford with off-duty sheriff's deputies, I took along the real-time sketch Alfred Waud crafted on Feb. 6, 1864, depicting Federal soldiers in attack ranks straddling Morton's Ford Road -- while hunkering down in front of the Dr. George Morton House (destroyed by the war).

Alfred Waud, Civil War sketch artist.

Waud "captioned" this drawing, "Scene at the late reconnaissance at Morton's Ford/night."

So we strolled up to the same knoll whereupon Alfred Waud sketched this dramatic scene, and you can herein observe the dead-on comparison.

Now, Waud was sketching his scene from atop a horse and I am 5-9, so I didn't achieve as much of the eastern background, as did Waud. But I will soon go back and take another photo while standing in the bed of my pick-up -- an inelegant substitute, to be sure, for Waud's steed.

As we all know, Waud possessed the uncanny ability to precisely craft a scene wherein the supporting terrain is represented as equally significant as the subject of the presentation -- for which we thank him. And you will notice that even in the waning light, Waud was able to accurately depict the moderate swale in front of the house, and the proper location of the distant background, and ford road.

General G.K. Warren visited this precise location in the early evening of Feb. 6 and conferred with Alexander Hays, and others. Is that Warren in Waud's scene? Probably. (He almost got killed here, but that's another story.)

And I don't need to point out the obvious, but will do so, anyway:

Alfred Waud sketched this scene -- like the sketch at St. James Plateau, June 9 at Brandy Station -- when the bullets were flying! Yet, he remained solid, and performed his duty.

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Antietam Then & Now: Jacob Grove house in Sharpsburg, Md.

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In the early-20th century image at left, we see the Jacob Grove house, site of Robert E. Lee's council of war the night of Sept. 17, 1862, on Main Street in Sharpsburg, Md. Note the dirt road. The Grove house and two other buildings in the old image remain standing today. For those unfamiliar with Sharpsburg, the excellent Nutter's Ice Cream store, established in 1996, is out of view just around the corner at left. Large scoops for little money!

Chancellorsville Then & Now: Stonewall Jackson wounding site

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Stonewall Jackson

On May 2, 1863, Confederate troops accidentally shot Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, Va., site of the general's greatest triumph. Eight days later, he died from pneumonia and complications from the wounds. Nearly three years after the calamity that rocked the Confederacy, George Oscar Brown photographed the scene, part of an extensive series of photos of central Virginia battlefields he took during a U.S. Army medical expedition. 

The caption on the April 1866 stereoview,  the earliest known image of the Jackson wounding site, noted the general suffered his wounds to the left of the two men who appear at the center of the photo. Dr. Reed Bontecou, who led the expedition for the U.S. Army Medical Museum, is believed to be at the far left. (For more on Bontecou, see John Cummings' fine Spotsylvania Civil War blog here.)

In early November 2016, a private collector purchased this previously unknown Brown stereoview on eBay — the right half appears above.  (How did I miss this on eBay?!!!) Note the plank road at the far right of the 1866 image. 

On a mid-March afternoon, a certain Civil War blogger dodged traffic on ridiculously busy Route 3 — the war-time Orange Plank Road — to shoot a present-day view of the scene. The result is a representative but not spot-on "Now" photo. The shooting site, marked in 1888 by a monument near the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitors' Center, is no longer visible to motorists who pass by.

Bob Zeller, president and co-founder of the Center for Civil War Photography, first reported the existence of Brown's Jackson wounding site image in the organization's Battlefield Photographer magazine. (Consider joining the CCWP. Full disclosure: I am secretary-treasurer.) 

Grab the slider to travel from the "Then" to "Now." For a large-format version of this Then & Now, visit my Civil War photo blog here. Below are more images of the site. 

A cropped enlargement of Brown's image shows the planks on the old Orange Plank Road.

Post-war image by George Oscar Brown of the Orange Plank Road and Mountain Road intersection.
Jackson is believed to have been shot at the far right or farther down the road,
 out of view of the camera. (Library of Congress | CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.)

An 1890 painting of the Jackson wounding site. The monument was added in 1888.
 (Library of Congress)

An early view of the Jackson wounding monument, date unknown. The monument is no longer 
surrounded by a fence. (Library of Congress)

                  GOOGLE STREET VIEW: Explore an August 2016 view of the scene.

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Antietam Then & Now: William McKinley monument

HOVER ON IMAGE FOR "NOW" PHOTO

 THEN image: Library of Congress collection, 1925 | NOW image: John Banks, April 1, 2017 (Sorry, hover effect does not work on phones, tablets.)

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Gettysburg Then & Now: Union defenses on Little Round Top

         THEN: Timothy O'Sullivan, July 6, 1863, LOC | NOW: John Banks, Oct. 22, 2016
                                         (HOVER ON IMAGE TO SEE "NOW" PHOTO)

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During an October 2016 visit to Gettysburg, I aimed to replicate photos shot days after the battle by Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan. You can view those Then & Now images in large format on this thread here. O'Sullivan's image above was shot at my favorite spot on the battlefield: Little Round Top, where boulders Union defenders used as protection from oncoming Confederates still may be seen today. In late April, I shot panoramas on the Little Round Top slope,  just below the above scene, of the results of the controlled burn that has restored the area to its 1863 apperarance. It's an eye-opening experience.

       Pan left to see wooded Big Round Top; pan right to see 16th Michigan monument.
                          (CLICK AT UPPER RIGHT FOR FULL-SCREEN EXPERIENCE.)
                                              Pan left to see 16th Michigan monument.

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Click here for large-format "Then & Now"  images.

Cedar Mountain (Va.) Then & Now: Battlefield graves

10th Maine officers examine graves of Union comrades as Cedar Mountain looms in the background in this cropped enlargement of an image by Timothy O’Sullivan. The Battle of Cedar Mountain, fought near Culpeper, Va., resulted in a Confederate victory on Aug. 9, 1862.

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Gettysburg Then & Now: 9th Massachusetts monument

           HOVER OVER IMAGE | Then: William Tipton, June 1885  | Now: John Banks.

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In June 1885, 9th Massachusetts veterans posed for an image at their monument at the base of Big Round Top. On a blustery Feb. 13, 2017, I aimed to mirror William Tipton's long-ago photo. He shot his image from a more elevated position, perhaps using a ladder. For a fine account of the 9th Massachusetts and its Gettysburg monument, check out Damian Shiels' excellent Irish in the American Civil War blog.

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Click here to see large-format "Then & Now" images from Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields.

Antietam Then & Now: Pennsylvania veterans return

               (Hover over image for "Now" scene; does not work on phones or tablets.)

In the years following the Battle of Antietam, veterans returned to the battlefield, many to attend the dedication of their monuments there. On Sept. 17, 1904, old soldiers in the 124th Pennsylvania were photographed at their monument at the intersection of Starke Avenue and Hagerstown Pike on the day of its dedication. During their visit, many of them scoured the fields for war relics and pointed out to their families where they were on that bloody day.

Some simply wondered how they survived.

Veteran Joseph Hawley near the Hagerstown Pike, where he was wounded in 1862.
(Images above from History of the 124th Pennsylvania Volunteers 1862-63)

In 1900, 124th Pennsylvania veteran Joseph Hawley returned to Antietam and stood on the spot near the Hagerstown Pike where he was wounded in the neck on Sept. 17, 1862. After he was shot, the colonel was carried to the nearby farmhouse of David R. Miller and was later taken to Hagerstown, Md., to recover. Hawley, who was 78 when he died in 1915, carried the bullet in his neck for the rest of his life.

Twelve years before Hawley's visit, men in the 125th Pennsylvania had their photo taken by the battle-scarred Dunker Church, near the West Woods, where they were routed on the morning of Sept. 17, 1862. Upon his return to Antietam in 1904, Morris Davis, a private in the 125th Pennsylvania, read aloud his poem about the battle to a group of veterans gathered there. It began:

Antietam : Gentle peaceful stream.
Upon thy banks so fair, 

What memories, to the mind will turn
Of one who lingers there.

And it ended:

May the great God, who rules above.
And guides the affairs of men.

Forbid, in his infinite love
Such fratricide again.

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Gettysburg Then & Now: Where New York colonel hid his sword

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When Union lines collapsed on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Federals sought refuge in the Sheads House (above), a girls school on Chambersburg Pike. With the enemy in hot pursuit, Charles Wheelock, a 50-year-old colonel in the 97th New York, was among them.

When a Confederate officer caught up with Wheelock in the house, he demanded the Yankee officer's sword, threatening to shoot him if he refused to surrender it. Rather than relinquish his weapon, Wheelock attempted to break it in two. "This sword was given me by my friends for meritorious conduct," he reportedly said, "and I promised to guard it sacredly and never surrender or disgrace it; and I never will while I live."

Charles Wheelock

While the Rebel was temporarily distracted, the exhausted officer gave the prized possession to Carrie Sheads, who hid the sword in the folds of her dress. Not surprisingly, the Confederate officer returned to Wheelock and again demanded the sword, but the colonel said he had given it to another Rebel.

Days later, Wheelock escaped from Rebel confinement and eventually recovered his sword. "It was a sad sight to see them take that grey-headed veteran," Carrie Sheads recalled, "but it was a joyful sight to see him return to reclaim his sword ... "

Initial reports in a New York newspaper indicated Wheelock had "met a heroes death on the battlefield" at Gettysburg. But "we are happy to state that this is a mistake," the newspaper later reported. "Capt. [Gustavus] Palmer, of the same Regiment, in a letter to Daniel Cady, Esq., says that Col. Wheelock was wounded and taken prisoner. As the rebels cannot just now take care of themselves, we presume the gallant Colonel is sheltered in some house near the battle-field, and we hope soon to hear that is likely to recover."

Noted a 1912 history of Oneida (N.Y.) County: "Colonel Wheelock was in command of the regiment continuously and was in the front rank wherever danger called; was taken prisoner at Gettysburg, but escaped from Lee's army at night in the mountains of Pennsylvania during Lee's retreat, and, after being without food for two or three days, he gained the Union lines, where he was welcomed with great enthusiasm by the regiment."

A married father of five children, Wheelock died of typhoid fever in Washington on Jan. 21, 1865, only months before the end of the war.

"Charles Wheelock was somewhat advanced in life," a document in his widow's pension file claim noted, "and his constitution was much impaired by arduous duty in the service of his country and consequently was not in a condition to resist the materies morbi which enervated his body, particularly as he was deformed in a great measure of a diet that would have enabled him to resist the depressing effects of his disease ..."

Wheelock's remains were returned to Boonville, N.Y., where he was buried on Jan. 26 with military honors during a heavy snowstorm.

                                                                  Google Maps.

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Click here for larger version of "Then & Now"  at the top of this post.

Gettysburg Then & Now: Confederate dead in Slaughter Pen

The location where Alexander Gardner shot the image of these two fallen Confederates in early July 1863 is just yards from where battlefield visitors park their cars today near Devil's Den. The boulder-strewn Little Round Top appears in the background of the "Now" image.

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Click here to see a larger version of this "Then & Now." 

Gettysburg Then & Now: 15 Confederate dead on Rose farm

It's difficult to view, but the "Then" photo shows the ugly reality of war. Photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan, the bodies of 15 Confederates lay in a field on George Rose's farm at Gettysburg days after the soldiers were killed. O'Sullivan and Alexander Gardner shot images of at least 34 Confederate dead in this field.

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Click here to see a larger version of this "Then & Now" and more images taken in July 1863 on the Rose farm.

Antietam Then & Now: Pennsylvania artillery battery

Alexander Gardner's image of  Knapp's battery was taken near the present-day visitor's center.

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Antietam Then & Now: 125th Pa. vets at Dunker Church in 1888

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Antietam Then & Now: Confederate dead near Dunker Church

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NEW! Big, bold Civil War Then & Now blog launched

GO HERE FOR MY NEW CIVIL WAR THEN & NOW BLOG

Using Google Street View and my own photography, I tapped into my inner-William Frassanito and the excellent Juxtapose tool to create Then & Now Civil War images here on my main blog. The posts proved so popular that I created a new site here to feature those images in a much larger, bolder format. Think of it as Then & Now on steroids, filet mignon and prime rib.

Grrrrrrr. 

The bigger your screen, the better these images will display.

For more even more Civil War photography, please visit my sister blog, Civil War 180, which features panoramas of Civil War battlefields.

If you have a suggestion for a Then & Now image, email me at jbankstx@comcast.net.

You may also follow me on Facebook and Twitter at @johnnybanks.