'Hidden' details in 1865 Bull Run monument dedication photos

Shy or weather-wary? Or both? This woman had cover for her photo op at Bull Run on June 10, 1865.
(CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE.)

In the uncropped, original image, civilians and soldiers gather at the monument at Henry House Hill.
(William Morris Smith | Library of Congress)

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At 6 a.m. on June 10, 1865, generals James Farnsworth, Montgomery Meigs, Samuel Heintzelman, Henry Benham and Orlando Wilcox boarded a westbound train in Washington with nearly 100 other passengers. The group's final destination was the Bull Run battlefield for the  dedication of  two monuments "in memory of the Patriots" who fell in United States Army defeats there in July 1861 and August 1862.

In this cropped enlargement
 from Photo No. 2 below,
  we find a young soldier,
 perhaps a teenager.

At Alexandria, 100 more "excursionists" boarded the train before the party continued on through Virginia countryside devastated by a civil war that ended two months earlier. 

"We watched carefully along the entire route for evidence of returning peace and prosperity in this part of the State," a New York Times correspondent wrote, "but the people will recover their wrecked fortunes slowly, for they have suffered with terrible severity."

At 8 a.m., 15 miles from Washington, the train reached Fairfax Station, the end of the line for the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. Most in the 200-person group then boarded ambulances, carriages and army wagons provided by the military for the final, 17-mile leg of the journey to the battlefield. In a stunningly long sentence no present-day English teacher would appreciate, The Times correspondent described the scene: 

"Our cavalcade, composed of some seventy-five carriages and ambulances, with a large number of equestrians, many of whom were ladies, who generally rode exceedingly well, caused quite an excitement among the inhabitants of the country, who are now at home in increased numbers, though the population is still as sparse as in some of the newest regions of the West, they were all at the roadside, and gazed with astonishment at so extensive and peaceful a demonstration."

Dedication day was a grand affair, with the usual speeches by politicians and military flourishes. At Henry House Hill, where the monument honoring the Union fallen of the July 21, 1861, battle was dedicated, a hymn was sung to the tune of "Old Hundred." The second stanza was especially noteworthy:

William Morris Smith photographed two monuments
at Bull Run on dedication day in June 1865.
(Library of Congress)

Here on Virginia's sacred soil. 
Where slavery bred and drove the gangs. 
The horrid serpent lay in coil --
Here Freedom's sons first felt her fangs.

After the dedication later that afternoon of the second monument, at Groveton, some went searching for battle relics. Pieces of artillery shells and broken muskets lay everywhere on the Second Bull Run battlefield. Shallow graves and human bones were found, too. 

"Many of the party gathered some relics from the field," The Times correspondent wrote, "while one person with eccentric taste, brought to the city part of a human skull, exhibiting the hole of a deadly bullet."

The day was also well documented photographically. At the Henry House Hill monument dedication, William Morris Smith shot a series of images. At first glance, Smith's two uncropped photographs in this post seem unremarkable. When we zoom in, however, fascinating details emerge.

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SOURCE: The New York Times, June 13, 1865.

... a young lady, her face partially covered by a veil, holds an umbrella, protection from the sun ...

... men tower over this woman, who stares at the photographer. She appears ghost-like, a result of the limitations of the medium. ...

... this ornery-looking gentleman, perhaps in in late 50s or early 60s, sports an impressive top hat ...

... while this apparently unhappy lad, arms folded, shows little interest in holding the hand of the man (his father?) in front of him. Of course, he must have been pleased with that tremendous hat. ...

... a youthful-looking artilleryman stands next to the wooden fence near the monument ...

...which includes these massive, 100-pounder artillery shells. Were they live?

(Update from Civil War photo expert John Cummings: "Those shells were found to be live when the NPS restored the monument some years ago. They have some on display in the visitor center, in the hallway leading to the bookstore. The shells that are there now on the monument are reproductions.")

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PHOTO NO. 2: THE  SOLDIERS ON HENRY HOUSE HILL

(William Morris Smith | Library of Congress)

Union soldiers pose in front of the Bull Run monument on Henry House Hill in the uncropped version ...

... zooming into the original photo, we see a soldier standing ramrod straight and the inscription on the simple, red sandstone monument. It stands today yards from the rebuilt Henry House that was destroyed during the Civil War ...

... arms folded almost defiantly, this soldier stands atop the mound of dirt next to the 27-foot monument. And there's another one of those imposing artillery shells ...

... the detail is so impressive in the glass-plate image that we can easily see the hobnails on the leather, brogan-style shoes of this soldier, who's seated on the ground near the bottom right in the original photograph. These shoes were often fitted with metal in the heels to reduce wear ...

... did this black youth, dressed in military uniform, serve as a soldier, too?

... a 19th-century gang sign? Missing tips of  his digits because of a war wound? More likely this soldier merely has his fingers partly tucked inside his blouse ...

... were these bushy faced soldiers father and son? Gotta love these mugs.

What else do you see? E-mail me or add your comments to the post below or on my Civil War Facebook page. Find high-resolution versions of the original photographs in this post on the excellent Library of Congress web site here and here.

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-- Have something to add, correct? E-mail me at jbankstx@comcast.net

Who were they? U.S. graves from Battle of Fort Stevens

William Morris Smith took this image of a U.S. cemetery near Fort Stevens in August 1865.
(Library of Congress collection)

Graves for Lieutenant William B. Laughlin of the 61st Pennsylvania and Private Andrew Manning
of the 77th New York appear in this enlargement of the image at the top of this post.

Another enlargement of Smith's image reveals the graves of Private Andrew Ashbaugh of the 
61st Pennsylvania and John Dolan of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry.

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Nine months before John Wilkes Booth fired a Deringer bullet into his brain, Abraham Lincoln came under enemy fire in a little-known, two-day battle about five miles north of the White House. Observing the fighting from a parapet, the president survived the Battle of Fort Stevens unscathed and veteran U.S. Army troops chased off the Confederates. But the Rebels threw a scare into Lincoln and the United States Army on July 11-12, 1864. 

Rebels ransacked houses near the fort, leaving notes in books that the destruction was in retaliation for the Federals' destruction of property in Virginia. The retreating invaders also carted away an "immense plunder," according to the New York Times, which reported that "many (Rebels) who came on foot will go back mounted, as they have cleared out all the stables wherever they have been marauding." But the newspaper belittled the Rebels' desperate attempt to invade the Union capital.

The graves of Andrew Dowen, a private in the 77th New York, and Alanson Mosier, a private
in the 122nd New York. Both soldiers were killed July 12, 1864 during the Battle of Fort Stevens.

In this enlargement of the original Smith photo,
 wires extending from a telegraph pole are revealed.

"The numerous little spurts of fight they have shown have been of the most feeble kind -- only the reencounter of last evening reaching the proportions of a respectable picket fight," the Times correspondent wrote on July 13, 1864, a day after the fighting ended. "Without doubt  they would have been willing, had they found the opportunity — had they found Washington defenceless — to have entered, sacked and burned it, and their expedition in this direction was probably a reconnaissance to see what the chances were. They did not find them promising, and after this they appear to have confined their efforts to keeping our large force cooped up in Washington, while the rest of the band devoted themselves to an extended system of pillage."

Although small in scale, the Battle of Fort Stevens — the only battle of the war fought in the District of Columbia — resulted in nearly 400 U.S. Army casualties. Afterward, 40 of the dead were buried about a half-mile north of the fort in the fruit orchard of a farmer named James Malloy — land "appropriated" by the government.

 "With the rude tenderness of soldiers," wrote George T. Stevens, a surgeon in the 77th New York, "we covered them in the earth; we marked their names with our pencils on the little head-boards of pine, and turned sadly away to other scenes." Lincoln himself visited the cemetery on the evening of July 12, dedicating the site as Battleground National Cemetery.

The photograph site and photographer's initials are scratched into the glass plate of the image.
(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.)

In August 1865, four months after the war effectively ended, an image of the cemetery was made by William Morris Smith, then employed by Alexander Gardner. At first glance, the digitized version of Smith's glass-plate photograph in the Library of Congress collection is fairly unremarkable. But upon closer inspection, compelling details are revealed in enlargements of the original image: a small building with a window open; a telegraph pole, three wires on it extending to another pole a short distance away; and another tall pole, probably topped with an American flag. 

Most remarkably, the last names on four of the 41 white tombstones are easily read, leading to definitive IDs of the soldiers. The identities of three other soldiers were revealed after some Internet sleuthing, including use of the American Civil War Research Database. Each of these soldiers was killed on July 12, 1864, the second day of the battle:

Grave of  Corporal Ambrose Mattott 
of  77th New York.

Lieutenant William B. Laughlin, 61st Pennsylvania: The son of Robert and Nancy Laughlin was a 24-year-old carpenter when he enlisted on Aug. 1, 1861. He was promoted from sergeant on March 22, 1864. From Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania, he was one of six men in his regiment killed during the battle. Twenty-six other soldiers were wounded in the regiment. Laughlin, who was 5-foot-11 with blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion, served as the 61st Pennsylvania's adjutant.

Private Andrew Manning, 77th New York: A private in Company H, Manning was 35 years old when he enlisted in Charlton, N.Y. on Nov. 13, 1861.

Private Andrew Ashbaugh, 61st Pennsylvania: From Allegheny City, an industrial town just across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh, he enlisted on July 14, 1863. Ashbaugh left behind a 52-year-old widow, Mary, and one child, a 12-year-old daughter named Louisa. Mary filed for her husband's pension three months after he was killed.

Private John Dolan, 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry: A shoemaker from Natick, Mass., he was 20 years old when he enlisted on Dec. 20, 1863. Dolan was born in Ireland.

Private Andrew Dawen, 77th New York: He enlisted in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Oct. 15, 1861 when he was 27. Dawen, who was killed instantly by a gunshot, was survived by a wife named Mary.

Private Alanson Mosier (or Mosher), 122nd New York: He was 18 years old when he enlisted on Aug. 11, 1862 in Fayetteville, N.Y.

Corporal Ambrose Mattott, 77th New York:  He was 31 years old when he enlisted on Aug. 30, 1862 in Northumberland, N.Y. Mattott, a boatman, stood 5-foot5 and had hazel eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. He was survived by a wife named Frances Jane and a 5-year-old daughter.

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