Decatur Alabama CDVs

[AldenRobert]

View attachment 107508 View attachment 107509 View attachment 107510 View attachment 107511 View attachment 107512 View attachment 107513 Part of the collection of Civil War CDVs I recently acquired were six outdoor images. One had some writing on it stating it was the pontoon bridge at Decatur. I assume all six photographs were taken in or near Decatur Alabama in May of 1864. The one that I find most interesting appears to be the former residents of the town evacuating before the battle there is something written on the bottom edge of the photo, but I can't make out what it says. The owner of the Civil War museum in Decatur said that three of these images he had never seen before. I assume that they were all taken by the same photographer. Does anyone happen to know who that photographer was? Any idea of how many different photographs they took at that time?

 

[lelliott19]

Writing at the bottom of the last image looks like "Contrabands" I kept trying to make it Civilian *something but after enlarging and editing I think its Contrabands. I think its that dark ink spot above the "o" that kept making me see it as an "i"

Anyone else have a guess?

Here it is cropped out, enlarged 150%, brightness decreased -9, contrast increased +18

 

[AldenRobert]

I had no idea that the word "Contraband" had this meaning during the Civil War; Contraband was a term commonly used in the United States military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces.

Thanks Laura!

 

[Mr. King]

Where did you find these? That is awesome!

 

[CheathamHill]

Incredible finds! Congrats. And I agree, look like 'contrabands' to me

 

[chubachus]

Very cool group of photos! The second photo of Union soldiers building defenses was published in Miller's Photographic History of the Civil War which also says it was taken in Decatur in 1864.

 

[AldenRobert]

Where did you find these? That is awesome!

I am an Antiques dealer and casual photography collector. I often purchase boxes of old family photographs. This particular box contained a couple dozen Civil War photographs. I acquired this box of photographs here in Northern Illinois. Most all of the 19th century photographs were from a family in Ohio.

 

[Mr. King]

Thank you for sharing. If it weren't for acts like that, we'd know a lot less about the ACW than we do.

 

[Harris]

I see the May 1864 date has been offered as to these pictures. There was also a demonstration at Decatur in Oct. 1864 during Hoods departure from Atlanta, en route to Tennessee. The Union garrison in Decatur denied Hoods crossing of the Tennessee River, there in a small battle that included a charge and capture of some guns by the 14th USCT.

 

[chubachus]

I am an Antiques dealer and casual photography collector. I often purchase boxes of old family photographs. This particular box contained a couple dozen Civil War photographs. I acquired this box of photographs here in Northern Illinois. Most all of the 19th century photographs were from a family in Ohio.

Are there any other Civil War photos from your collection that you could post?

 

[AldenRobert]

The only other Civil War photos from this group were of individual soldiers, all studio portraits. Most were from the 102nd OVI. I didn't think that they were as unusual as the photos that I posted.

 

[chubachus]

View attachment 107511

You could just make out "Union Bar" in front of one of the buildings in this one. Maybe some Union loyalists set up there. Very interesting.

 

[chubachus]

View attachment 107508

Not sure if you have seen this, but this scene is captioned as "Fatigue Party of the 10th Iowa, Decatur" on another CDV which there is an article about which describes it as "exteremly rare": http://archive.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/070907/photo.shtml

 

[James N.]

You could just make out "Union Bar" in front of one of the buildings in this one. Maybe some Union loyalists set up there. Very interesting.

Decatur fell to the Union very early in war, soon after Fort Donelson in Feb. 1862, and remained in Union hands. I own a studio photograph of members of the 13th Wisconsin who were stationed throughout the war as boat and bridge guards in the state, almost entirely missing all the nearby battles. The closest thing they came to that (except for one detached company that was "gobbled up" by Rebel cavalry) was as part of the Decatur garrison when Hood demonstrated against it before sidestepping into Tennessee on his way to Franklin and Nashville.

 

[AldenRobert]

WOW!!!!! Thanks that was a very interesting and informative read. I hope whoever is the highest bidder on EBay realizes the rarity of this group of Civil War photographs.

 

[AldenRobert]

You could just make out "Union Bar" in front of one of the buildings in this one. Maybe some Union loyalists set up there. Very interesting.

I thought that the sign was a fragment and actually said UNION BANK (part of the "NK" missing)?

 

[AldenRobert]

So as most of you who follow this forum know I listed this set of six CDVs on Ebay and the sold for over $1200.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162173608610?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649

I now have a dilemma that I am perplexed about. The person that purchased them insists on returning them because they are less valuable (than the price he paid) because I posted them here first. I do not think that they are any less rare because I posted them here so that I could learn more about them before I sold them. Here is the last message he sent me:

sir you can say what you wish but i think that that by posting these photos in the huge format so clear a presentation and in a specific cw website you devalued these photos. you specifically state these were unknown.

as a dealer i would never have bid near as much and if you look at my fb on ebay this is what i do - i am a professional buyer in a very limited category.

so claim as you will you did not misrepresent the items you do openly say you posted them and did not mention that in the listing. by omission you did indeed leave out key data that affected the price.

if you insist on my going through ebay and taking the all or nothing approach because if you lose ebay will both give me my money and usually keep the item. fortunately my history of returns is microscopic but when it does happen i have always had a valid claim with ebay and won. if you win i still have the 'oh so' valuable goods.

and hey - so many desirous buyers you say why the problem with a return and given you had an under buyer right up there with me, i really think you need to think this through.

i prefer to communicate through the ebay system thanks as it will always be handy with the claim process.

anyhow i will await your response but i will most definitely put in a claim to return

This was how I responded;
You seem to know far more than I do about rare items and the value of such things. My starting price on the auction was $195.00 with no reserve. I clearly stated in the listing "These images are far beyond my field of expertise or my range of photography collecting. So I was unable to come up with a fair price. So my decision is to let the market determine the price." I do not know what affects the value of these items. I don't understand why you believe that they are less valuable because I shared these images on a Civil War website. I shared them there so that I could learn more about them and create a more accurate listing. Would you please explain why you believe they are less rare because others have seen the images of the CDVs prior to your purchasing them. If you had done a google search for Decatur Ala. Civil War photos PRIOR to your bidding you would have seen that the images had been shared on the Civil War Forum website. I was hiding nothing. You state that "i think that that by posting these photos in the huge format so clear a presentation and in a specific cw website you devalued these photos. you specifically state these were unknown." You determined what you were willing to pay NOT ME.My starting price for the 6 CDVs was below the list price for the only CDV of this set that I was able to find, it was prices at $200.00. http://www.historicalshop.com/sitecontents/photography/unioncdv.htm
Please do not be upset with me for your lack of research. I do believe that listing was fair and accurate. I will abide by what EBay decides on this issue.
If EBay says that my listing was incorrect I will happily issue a full refund.
It may be possible for me to contact the underbidder or the Smithsonian to see if they are still interested.
I truly do feel bad that you have such deep buyers remorse for purchasing such historically important images.
Rest assured we will be able to settle this one way or another.

Does anyone out there have an opinion about this? I would love to hear what you have to think.

P.S. I was contacted by one of your moderators while the Ebay listing were still live and he said he hoped that I would consider making a contribution to this website and I replied that I certainly would. You educated me here on an area of collecting I knew nothing about. Your knowledge and passion for the subject has kept me coming back to your photography forum to learn even more. I do want you to be able to keep this site alive and well. I will happily donate 10% of the auction proceed for all of the photographs I have posted on this site. Thanks again for evrything.

 

[chubachus]

I definitely think you are in the right. With the buyer's logic, simply putting the photographs for sale on eBay would also devalue them...

 

[AldenRobert]

EBay says that buyers remorse is a valid reason to return the items. Nothing more I can do. I hope that they are returned to me in the same condition the were in when I sent them.