Sepia Saturday
#117
scouts
I could not find any boy or girl scout photos so I had to go with this which probably had a lot of "scouting" going on.
A group of civil war soldiers from my home county.
Courtesy of
Washington County Kentucky
Bicentennial History
1772-1972
Washington County Kentucky
Bicentennial History
1772-1972
Kentucky was one of the"border states" in the Civil War, both geographically and politically. It was situated on the dividing line between the northern and southern region of the United States. And it was one of only a few slave state that opted to stay in the Union. Though the Commonwealth was officially neutral, its citizens were deeply divided over the issues that caused the Civil War, and over the war itself--a division symbolized by the fact that both Civil War presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were Kentucky native sons..
This was probably a tintype as that was the most popular type of photography during that time.
It looks as if it has been transferred to some type of metal or glass plate.
Hastings, MI based photographer Robert Shimmin, specializes in tin type photography, a nearly extinct process that’s technically referred to as “wet plate collodion.”
Invented in the 1850s, the process requires glass or tin plates that are developed on location. Shimmin uses his own homemade large format cameras and a portable darkroom.
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12 comments:
Look at those LONG rifles!
That is a very interesting photograph. It must have been a sensation then because it was new and now because it is so old. It is a good choice. I could not find any scouts in my family!
Until now it had never registered with me that both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davies were born in Kentucky. Very interesting.
Wonderful pictures! Happy St. Patrick's Day, dear Peggy!!! Cathy
I've been hoping to see photos of scouts in the 'wild west.' These are different I know but interesting nevertheless.
I am amazed at how long the guns are. I didn't realize that Kentucky was so divided or that Lincoln and Davis originally were from the same state.
What a great photo of soldiers. They look so young. How sad. What a waste that war was. Wonder how many of these boys survived.
Nancy
This is totally amazing! I have never seen a photo like this before or have heard of that process.
Way cool, thanks for sharing it with us.
Kathy M.
That’s an amazingly well preserved picture. Those ghostly images of soldiers from so long ago I find rather poignant.
I have a similar photo of my mother in law's family from southern Indiana.
Fascinating to know that each of the men in that shot would have some amazing stories to tell if they survived.
Your civil war is always fascinating as it must have been the first major conflict to have been covered by the new art of photography. In some ways it is as far back as we can "see" and your image is even more fascinating for that reason.
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