Brian House O/A July 15, 1863 T&N

Gettysburg Greg

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Decatur, Illinois
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Mathew Brady took at least three exposures of the Brian House on Cemetery Ridge in mid-July believing he was photographing the Leister House, Meade's HQ. Unfortunately, he must not have been aware of the significance of the Copse of Trees and the Angle which were within plain sight less than 300 yards away. The Brian house suffered significant damage from the Confederate artillery bombardment prior to Pickett's Charge, some of which can be seen in the attached photo. Other details seen in Brady's image are the hollowed out carcass of a horse that had been dead for a couple of weeks as well as the undead Brady assistant doing his best death pose lying near the house. Notice the rather unique horizontal limb extending from the apple tree in the foreground. The tree in my now shot has a similar looking appendage. Could this be surviving witness tree? Unlikely, but I refer that question to our resident witness tree expert Greg Gober.
 
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That horse is definitely not a poser. @Gettysburg Greg I, too, was scrutinizing that tree in the foreground. The average long life of an apple tree is 100 years, but there are documented specimens that lived longer, such as the Original Bramley apple tree, which is 200 years old. Comparing the size of the two tree trunks -- Bramley & Brian house tree -- is notable for similarity in size.
 
Indeed that horse has seen better days. Unsure about the potential witness tree.

In maybe the ultimate irony of the entire Civil War, the epic PPT charge partially occurred on a free Black man's property.

I took the liberty in posting another period Brian Farm photo. It appears that the young man posing as the dead man has miraculously recovered sufficiently to be sitting in the photo below. Do you think that person appeared in both photos?

Wow, if those walls could talk, what a story they could tell! Such great history being brought alive by historic photos.

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@Wallyfish -- this picture has all sorts of interesting sidelines! When I get home, it needs to turn into one of those "blow it up as large as possible" and pick out the details. Thank you for adding this picture, and indeed, those walls are whispering tales to those intrepid history buffs such as we are :smile:
 
Good stuff. Those trees are definitely different. Look at the distance of the first tree from the water house (now missing but housing the manual water pump now still around) and compare it to the distance of the second tree from the water pump. That older tree would have been around where that side walk / path is on today's picture.
 
Why isn't the gburg money being spent to restore the period property to the period photos? The house, out buildings, and 'out trees' i guess.
 
Why isn't the gburg money being spent to restore the period property to the period photos? The house, out buildings, and 'out trees' i guess.

Before or after the battle? Most photos are from after the battle. And then you have the monuments that are in the wrong place and say the wrong things to deal with. And you need to have a whole bunch of people to agree about the way things will look, and tough decisions, like demolishing (and rebuilding to its 1863 size and shape) the Codori Barn. So pretty impossible.
 
Before or after the battle? Most photos are from after the battle. And then you have the monuments that are in the wrong place and say the wrong things to deal with. And you need to have a whole bunch of people to agree about the way things will look, and tough decisions, like demolishing (and rebuilding to its 1863 size and shape) the Codori Barn. So pretty impossible.
I agree, but less than 15 days after the battle would ve fairly accurate.
 
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