Location of CDV?

[dcress]

I recently purchased a great outdoor Civil War CDV showing a building (water works or spring house?) over a stream with a farm and a few houses in the background. There are a few Union soldiers and several civilians or Confederate prisoners? in the photo that look to be inspecting the building . One of the soldiers appears to be on guard duty. Off in the distance you can see numerous military tents. I thought it was going to be easy to identify the exact location of the image since it has a Corinth MS backmark but I was wrong. I contacted an architectural historian for the state of Mississippi who did his master's thesis on the buildings of Corinth c1860 and he is positive the photo was not taken in this area. He suspects the photo may have been taken in Tennessee or Georgia while the photographer was traveling with the army. I am guessing the photographers, Armstead and Taylor, had pre-printed cards with them as they followed the army when not in Corinth. I have added several links below for you to view the image. The pencil writing on the back of the CDV reads "The Spring". I am hoping someone on this forum recognizes the area and solves the mystery. Thanks for your help!
1. Full image
2. Foreground building detail
3. Detail of soldiers
4. Tents in background
5. Farm house and outbuildings
6. Armstead & Taylor backmark

[johan_steele]

I've seen the photo or one like it IIRC from near Nashville or Knoxville. IIRC the photo was one taken in the spring of 65, just after the end of the war. I used to have this or a similar one. However, computers are evil and along w/ almost my entire collection of transcribed letters... is gone.

So it's out there; I can at least give you that info. Sorry I can't help more; perhaps Larry or Steve might be able o id the exact locale.

[blue_zouave]

Nashville came to mind when I looked at it also. I scanned my volume of "Cities Under the Gun" but I didn't see this particular shot.

Zou

[larry_cockerham]

Folks, in my opinion, this ain't Nashville. The part of Nashville that was here in 1860-65 is flat with no streams moving fast enough dumping into the Cumberland to operate a mill. Brown's Creek, Richland Creek or Mill Creek are no comparison to the photo. The rock certainly brings Tennessee into consideration. The stone is too loose for Nashville. Ours is quite solid. Looking at the terrain and the general character of the mill, I suspect Shelbyville or even Pulaski might be candidates, but I can offer little more at the moment. This is definitely not Murfreesboro, La Vergne or Smyrna either, They are all flat. Doesn't look like Franklin. That still leaves a few towns. I'm curious.

[samgrant]

That is the Big Spring at Huntsville, Alabama.

That comes from a similar photo from 1864, I found on page 1225 of: The Civil War - The Compact Edition - Fort Sumter to Gettysburg, edited by William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley; Hardcover 1998. It's a book of photos.

"an underground spring that John Hunt, Huntsville's founder, built a cabin next to in 1805. During the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century, the spring was Huntsville's water source." -Wikipedia

Here's another photo:
http://huntsville.about.com/od/photo...gpumphouse.htm click 'refresh' to see the photo.


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[johan_steele]

Thank You Sam that would explain why I knew I had seen the CDV before as the 4th MN VI was posted there for a time.

[dcress]

Thanks Sam...you da man! Thanks to you I was able to find two photos of the pump house on pages 364-365 in The Images of War Volume III The Embattled Confederacy also edited by William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley 1982. I have added links to the two photos below. The pump house was a wooden structure in 1863 and the Federals built a stone building at the site in 1864.
1. http://home.carolina.rr.com/imagesetc/huntsville2.jpg
2.http://home.carolina.rr.com/imagesetc/huntsville1.jpg

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by dcress

Thanks Sam...you da man! Thanks to you I was able to find two photos of the pump house on pages 364-365 in The Images of War Volume III The Embattled Confederacy also edited by William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley 1982. I have added links to the two photos below. The pump house was a wooden structure in 1863 and the Federals built a stone building at the site in 1864.
1. http://home.carolina.rr.com/imagesetc/huntsville2.jpg
2.http://home.carolina.rr.com/imagesetc/huntsville1.jpg

Yep, my book is a compilation of vols. 1-3 of what you have. I just looked in the index for Armstead and Taylor.

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[ole]

Well. That was fun!

Got another dcress?

ole

[richard]

If someone is intrested, I would like to find a photo of Sulphur Branch Trestle. There was a photograph taken of that location showing the block house at the north end of the trestle while it was being built by Gen Grenville Dodge. The copy that I have is from a news paper and the 80 line screen makes it hard to see anything.