So I thought that I would start a series on how to use photographs from the Civil War era in order to increase understanding. Looking at photographs can tell us a great deal about many different aspects of the war.

Today we will discuss the following photograph from the Library of Congress website:

This photo shows wounded soldiers from the battles in the “Wilderness” at Fredericksburg, Virginia, May 1864.

There are seven soldiers and one nurse pictured outside this makeshift hospital. For simplicity sake, let’s number them one to seven from left to right. So, number three is standing in the doorway.

What else can we notice? It looks like five out of the seven soldiers have some type of leg or foot wound that requires the use of crutches. Speaking of crutches…these ones look like one size fits all. Straight wooden poles with wooden parts for under the arms. The soldier six has his right arm in a heavy bandage.

What else can we notice? Hmm…. Well, soldiers one, two and three are all first sergeants based on the strips on their sack coats. Something that appears to be a stretcher is leaning up against the building on the right hand side. The solider one has a very interesting looking blanket under his wounded leg. The soldiers two and five both appear to be smoking a pipe and you can clearly see a chain across the front of soldier two’s vest. This was probably connected to his pocket watch. Look very close and can see soldier two’s hat on the ground in front of him.

As for the nurse, she is sitting watch over the wounded in her nice gown and matching bonnet. You can also see that she is holding a canteen in her lap.

Here is another picture taken from a slightly different angle looking at the back of the building.

The caption indicates that this is the cook house for the U.S. Sanitary Commission. What can you see in this photograph? Let me know what you find and we will discuss it in Part 2.