Another Reenacted Amputation Scene.

[Robert Gray]

An image recently posted by Military Images from the Buck Zaidel Collection shows a reenacted moment of drama about to take place in the photographer's studio. A soldier, having lost his right leg, is about to have his left leg removed as well. What is interesting is that Live Auctioneers has a carte-de-visite depicting the same scene with only the surgeon and his assistant in attendance. The group of onlookers replaced by a single observer. And this time the patient still has his right leg intact. The cdv was published by Krüger & Jaenücke, German immigrant photographers who operated at 207 Bowery in New York City. An early but more modern ink inscription on the verso reads, "James Perry / Died 1862 in Georgia during the War." This may be a reference to Col. James H. Perry of the 48th New York Infantry, an officer who died suddenly of 'apoplexy' - a period term for a cerebral stroke or hemorrhage - at Fort Pulaski in 1862. Extant photographs of Perry do not show him with a beard like the patient in this photo, but it is possible he changed his style during the war. No record exists of a wound or other injury, however. Regardless, this is a remarkable and unusually candid pair of images. There exists another identical cdv, but I have no information about it.