JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Snip from an LoC image, " Belle Plain ", full image below.
It does look like Belle Plain BUT a ton of ' Landing ' images look similar. There's Acquia Creek, City point and a few others where pontoon/steamers/civilians are prominent. They all had more than one wharf, too- Belle began with ' upper ' and ' lower ' wharf, one evolved into the famous u-shaped wharf.
This has baffled me for ever and ever, or at least a few years. It's Belle Plain, according to the LoC caption- although those can sometimes miss.
There are a ton of civilians- and no, I don't think this image is of ' contraband ', there are too many women wearing what would have been fashionable clothing. Beyond that, I'm clueless how to explain what seems to be a mass exodus from Belle Plain Landing?
I see a ton of luggage, a few children and what I'm pretty sure are women in era ' fashion '.
Considering horses on the pontoon bridge are heading to the steamer, safe to say these civilians are embarking. The civilians aren't helpful identifying what's going on. As usual, we're milling around looking at each other.
Possible explanations;
Refugees, Union or Confederate from one of the cities hit by a battle, en route elsewhere.
Belle Plain was once evacuated? ( can't find that it was )
Image is mis-labeled?
It's all wrong and some nice member who knows their history will clue us in.