JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Cropped version of one of a series ID'd on LoC as a temporary bridge across the Pamunkey. I'm not sure it's just a bridge given activity on it- seems more a wharf/bridge. None of the ' White House Landing ' images on LoC identify a photographer but what interests me is what on earth he captured here?
The ' Men in dinghy ' shot. It's taken from the same spot as quite a few other. This one is described as a ' landing '.Object of my question can be seen in both images above- that train!
Photographers had some kind of photo-fest at White House Landing on the Pamunkey, Virginia. When I first became immersed in the war these images baffled me. Like a good blond I was trying to figure out how in heck a river got anywhere near the Executive Mansion. It took awhile for both geography and history to catch up.
Plenty to photograph! Ships and men and relief organizations and camps- the church where Martha may have said " I do " and the ruins of the house where her grand daughter left a note for men she considered invaders. " Please don't burn the house down " ( paraphrasing badly ). It was burned down when McClellan withdrew. Someone didn't get the memo.
Every image features that darn boat- between that and a swimmer or two in successive ( or previous? ) shots you can get distracted.
Crazy cool images- you can get lost in them. One well known series from White House Landing is of a wharf- no pontoons here, it's a high bridge-landing affair. I'm always distracted by a guy in the water and a beached dinghy - men in it, one man in it, no one in it while another scene unfolds on top. It's the scene on top I can NOT figure out.
What is happening with that darn train please? It doesn't seem as if this was a RR bridge and the fact we can see it from the side instead of pointing across the wharf means it wasn't crossing it- and there do not seem to be tracks anyway?
It's not ON the bridge, train wheels are a little lower. On a ship? How'd anyone get an entire train engine on board a ship?
Images from this series has always driven me a little batty. Ideas?