Cavalry Camp

[frontrank2]

Camp of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry – Near Fort Burnham, VA, October 29, 1864

 

[EJ Zander]

Cool picture. Alot to examine. Ok I am about to nerd out AG style. There is some row agriculture going on the hill to the rear in two different fields. Whatever it is looks low or on the ground. Pic is late October. If its plow furrows they are going up and down hill which seems like extra work for a team as opposed to working pependicular to the slope and they look kinda wide for furrows. But still looking at the shadows on the picture they make have plowed the field in the at that time practice of North- South orientation. Also wanting water to run down the furrow if the slope isnt too great to cause erosion. They maybe forage windrow and most likely would have been hand raked in those days. Kinda late for forage up here. But down there possible.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Thanks for posting, this is a great image.

For those interested the original source is here along with higher resolution versions.

 

[Dave Wilma]

What a treasure.

I looked for Fort Burnham in Maps and found a Burnham not far from Williamsburg, so some distance and across the James from the lines around Petersburg. The same?

Yes, it seems odd to us today that the furrows would run up and down the hill, but the idea of erosion prevention was not widely practiced in the 1860s.

What is the barrel on top of the sod(?) structure?

in the distant group of horses one has a blanket. Why?

None of the cavalrymen have the neckerchief or the forage cap common in modern representations of the era.

The image seems to capture some men in movement so a fairly short exposure?

 

[Patrick H]

The thing that strikes me about this picture is all the nicely built log winter structures throughout the camp--some even sporting shingled roofs. Then we have the haphazardly planked structure in the foreground. Perhaps it's not meant as a dwelling but rather a storage facility. I see the rows in the distance referenced by E. J. Zander, too. They look rather like modern vineyards, but I'm not suggesting that they actually are. It seems more likely to me that they are wind rows.

 

[Yankeedave]

Thanks for posting, this is a great image.

For those interested the original source is here along with higher resolution versions.

Bookmarked the LOC site. Thank you!

 

[civilwarincolor]

Bookmarked the LOC site. Thank you!

Your welcome. I would bookmark their Civil War collection here as well as there Brady-Handy Collection here. For the National Archives the easiest one to find Civil War images is on their Flickr page here. There are a handful of additional CW images that are not there, but they are not organized or grouped and I have only found a few missing.

 

[EJ Zander]

Formerly Fort Harrison

 

[EJ Zander]

What a treasure.

I looked for Fort Burnham in Maps and found a Burnham not far from Williamsburg, so some distance and across the James from the lines around Petersburg. The same?

Yes, it seems odd to us today that the furrows would run up and down the hill, but the idea of erosion prevention was not widely practiced in the 1860s.

What is the barrel on top of the sod(?) structure?

in the distant group of horses one has a blanket. Why?

None of the cavalrymen have the neckerchief or the forage cap common in modern representations of the era.

The image seems to capture some men in movement so a fairly short exposure?

Where is the blanketed horse? I am sure its there but darned if I can find it. I was never good at Where's Waldo either.

 

[EJ Zander]

 

[EJ Zander]

Same camp different angle

 

[Nathanb1]

EJ, look on the far left and find the grey, then work up from him. Not sure it's a blanket....might just be shadow...

 

[EJ Zander]

EJ, look on the far left and find the grey, then work up from him. Not sure it's a blanket....might just be shadow...

Thanks Pam got it now.
If he is blanketed it is not due to weather. Most likely as part of a treatment of some kind. Could be sores that are festering and they are keeping bugs out of wounds. But Im just speculating.

 

[EJ Zander]

After looking the second angle it appears that the large wooden barrel was used to extend the height of a chimney on one of the structures. Quick and easy add on.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Here's a larger version.

 

[Mike Serpa]

What a treasure.

I looked for Fort Burnham in Maps and found a Burnham not far from Williamsburg, so some distance and across the James from the lines around Petersburg. The same?

Yes, it seems odd to us today that the furrows would run up and down the hill, but the idea of erosion prevention was not widely practiced in the 1860s.

What is the barrel on top of the sod(?) structure?

in the distant group of horses one has a blanket. Why?

None of the cavalrymen have the neckerchief or the forage cap common in modern representations of the era.

The image seems to capture some men in movement so a fairly short exposure?

The barrel seems to be on top the chimney. Here is a different photo. There are others photos like this. Does anybody know the purpose of the barrels?

Winter quarters of a Regimental Head Quarters Army of Potomac, February, 1864 LC-DIG-ppmsca-32999


Hah! I asked this very question back in 2014!
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/question-about-chimneys.106906/

 

[DixieRifles]

Yes, it seems odd to us today that the furrows would run up and down the hill, but the idea of erosion prevention was not widely practiced in the 1860s.

I was about to post that same comment. I can't recall, but I saw another old photo where they plowed the furrows in the same---but wrong---manner.
Also, if this is October, I wonder if the crop has been harvested already.

 

[Dave Wilma]

The barrel seems to be on top the chimney. Here is a different photo. There are others photos like this. Does anybody know the purpose of the barrels?

The barrels as chimney extensions makes perfect sense. The lower, hearth portion would have to be fire proof, but higher up there was less chance of fire. Most log cabin chimneys eventually caught fire unless they had stone hearths. As the height grew the sod construction became more unstable. This being a huge army there would have been a surplus of empty barrels.

 

[lelliott19]

Thanks Pam got it now.
If he is blanketed it is not due to weather. Most likely as part of a treatment of some kind. Could be sores that are festering and they are keeping bugs out of wounds. But Im just speculating.

Darned if there's not a blanketed horse! Or one wearing a sheet. I can see it plainly in the larger photo @Mike Serpa posted. Funny how, unlike rider attire, the design/construction of sheets and blankets has not changed in 150+ years.

 

[frankconrad]

Somewhere in my reading I have read about plastering the inside of barrels with clay to protect them from the fire and it was a exciting time when a chimney fire started other shantys on fire.