Historic Photos of the Siege of Petersburg
By Emily J. and John S. Salmon
Illustrated, bibliography, 206 pp., 2007. Turner Publishing Co., 200 4th Ave. N, Suite 950, Nashville, TN 37219, $39.95 plus shipping.
Reviewer: Michael J. Winey
Michael J. Winey, who has a BS in history and MS in history museum training, was a curator for more than 25 years and is retired from the U.S. Army Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pa.
Review:
Historic Photos of the Siege of Petersburg is heavily illustrated on high-quality glossy finish paper, with photographs of vivid appeal and quality. There is very little text, in most cases for the four major headings only a page and a half to two pages. The remainder of the text falls in the category of photo captions.
Most of the photographs came from the Library of Congress photo collections. There are also a few pencil drawing by famous Civil War artist Alfred R. Waud and a smattering of photos from the Library of Virginia.
The notes at the end of the book are not really notes as this reviewer would envision “notes,” meaning footnotes or endnotes that amplify the text; they really are only Library of Congress catalog numbers and the short title given to each image by the LC or Library of Virginia.
Four chapters comprise the body of the book, which in essence is four sections of photographs under chapter headings: “Besieging Petersburg”; “Behind the Lines”; “In the Trenches”; “From Siege Lines to Park” [Petersburg National Military Park]. Within the four chapters are photos the authors selected to illustrate the chapter titles. In most cases the photos are apropos.
Unfortunately this “book” or printed photo album is at least a coffee table piece, at worst a lot of photos that have been printed elsewhere before and have been far better captioned by far more qualified photo historians/Civil War historians.
It didn’t take long to find photo captions that lacked verifiable content or historical accuracy. If the authors had used a competent or knowledgeable editor before going to print their book would have been much better.
To cite just a few of these problems, a cannon barrel was set on a gun carriage, not on a limber (p. 14). Artillery caissons with their limbers line the bridge to the wharf in the background (p. 21). A caisson was a frame or body on which were placed two ammunition chests with a spare wheel attached. A limber contained only one ammunition chest and was used to draw a gun carriage.
The “glass” boxes mentioned as part of the photographer’s equipment were in reality printing frames that held sensitized albumen paper and a glass negative for the printing-out process achieved in desired darkness (p. 41). A technicality to be sure but one that should have been properly identified.
The well-known photo of Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock and three of his division commanders has Maj. Gen. David Bell Birney misidentified (p. 50). The photo of “Brigadier” Gen. Edward Ferrero and his staff misidentifies Ferrero’s rank, as he is wearing a Major General’s uniform. (p. 167).
The unfortunate aspect of all of the above in particular and the book in general is that other photo sources were not consulted. It is now a great oversight if one does not peruse the huge collection of Civil War photographs housed at the United States Army Military History Institute.
Although the authors cite William A. Frassanito’s Grant and Lee: The Virginia Campaigns 1864-1865, neither William C. Davis’ The Image of War: 1861-1865 or Francis Trevelyan Miller’s The Photographic History of the Civil War, nor other works with outstanding images are cited, thus, I doubt they were consulted.
If you are from Petersburg or the environs of that aged and splendid city, perhaps you will want to have a copy of this volume on your coffee table or in your Civil War library. For the rest of you, you will not miss anything by not purchasing a copy |