Images That Write War, Post The One That Most Haunts Your History- And Why?

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
evergreen ambulance 1.jpg

A lone ambulance, shattered windows, battle's debris surrounding all of it. And one of the war's most famous cemeteries adding another grave. The image that to me, encompasses the entire war. It just gets to me, a lot. Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg, Adams County Pennsylvania- July, 1863.

The old treasures we're lucky enough to have of a shambles called war are a source of endless fascination. Endless scope, too- battlefields, hospita;s, portraits, camps- we're fortunate to have a pretty darn comprehensive look between 1861 and 1865. You get to be there because a photographer literally followed the action, capturing forever what war was- all of it.
evergreen ambulance 2.jpg

Haunting? In 20 different ways. His stillness inside the scene, behind his horse, an ambulance silhouetted against both sky and earth.

Everyone has favorites, some remain stuck in your head. I don't mean the most gruesome or most upsetting, maybe not even the most interesting. It's the images the get to you. For whatever reason, they'll encompass stark, bottom-line feelings about all the ' What Happened ' 150 years + ago. Which one represents the Civil War to you most- the one you come back to again and again because you fall into it, maybe without knowing exactly why, you just do?

evergreen windows.jpg

Shattered windows- this was someone's house, their home. Elizabeth's immigrant parents lived on this side. There might be a person in this image too, and a fallen soldier. It's an awful image, really. Keeps me haunted by war.

I have several, it's a tough call- but pretty sure this one is it. From Gettysburg College Special Collections, I asked for permission to use it. They're extremely easy to deal with btw- as long as you cite the collection they're happy to have it out there.

It's the lone ambulance, an anonymous figure apparently waiting for someone or something inside Evergreen Cemetery's gate. Inference would be dead soldiers carried there. Cemetery president David McCoughy's note to gatehouse keeper Elizabeth Thorn seems dashed off in a hurry, in essence saying Evergreen would be THE burial place for fallen soldiers, bury ' em quick. It's a little shocking, seems to be drumming up as much business as possible- and while she's at it, get the place cleaned up of dead men already there.

I'm not sure words are needed. This one just, plain gets to me. By the looks of the shadows, either early morning or dusk, no one in sight, just this man overlooking war's wreckage, some of it unseen by us, the rest we know already. What is war.

I'll shush- just curious what images members can't get away from too? Post yours, if it's possible say why? I don't mean post war paintings, those are an artist expressing what their war looks like inside their own heads. Which image between 1861-1865 ' speaks ' to you the most loudly?
 
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