Union Casualties in Devil's Den?

Gettysburg Greg

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Decatur, Illinois
weaver2 combo.jpg


How many dead soldiers can you count in this P. S. Weaver photograph? Most of us know the answer is zero. Weaver used musicians and hospital attendants from Camp Letterman to pose in Devil's Den as battle casualties four months after the battle in November of 1863. He recorded an entire series of photos in this area using these same soldiers in all of the images. His ruse was so successful that even today you can find these photographs on the internet captioned as actual dead soldiers. The barren trees on Little Round Top seen in the background should have been an important clue in debunking the claim when compared to my modern view taken during the summer.
 
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Is the Civil War the beginning of War Correspondence/Photography, and in that vein.......fake news??!! :smile:
 
What amazes me is the difference in the rock formation over just 150 years. It appears that the crack on the right hand side has closed up over the years.
 
What amazes me is the difference in the rock formation over just 150 years. It appears that the crack on the right hand side has closed up over the years.

I think what's happened is that some of the rock above and below the crack has fallen off (or been removed in some way) so that you're now seeing what was the rear of the recess (which is narrower than the exposed opening was). If you really study both photos there are several spots where stone is now missing. Who knows ... weathering, souvenir hunters.
 
I think what's happened is that some of the rock above and below the crack has fallen off (or been removed in some way) so that you're now seeing what was the rear of the recess (which is narrower than the exposed opening was). If you really study both photos there are several spots where stone is now missing. Who knows ... weathering, souvenir hunters.

could also be the rock was stabilized with some concrete
 
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