Mathew Brady's Photogenic "Assistant/Corpse"

[Gettysburg Greg]

Mathew Brady didn't arrive in Gettysburg until o/a July 15th, after all the dead soldiers from both sides had been buried. However, he did attempt to portray battlefield casualties by having his often photographed assistant pose as a corpse in three different images from his Gettysburg series. In the collage below, on the top left is a close up of the assistant standing in front of the Cemetery gatehouse. On top right is the same man looking very uncomfortable lying across the Wheatfield Road with his head resting on a rock as Brady and a second assistant look on. On bottom left he is seen lying on the slope of Culp's Hill and to the right the same assistant strikes a death pose next to the Brian house. Our friend, Craig Heberton has written extensively on the subject in his blog-highly recommended if the subject interests you.

 

[Bee]

I just learned about this macabre pastime from @PeterT on our recent trip. I had no idea how much staging and drama went into the Brady pictures up until then, now it has become somewhat of a fascination for me. One can only silently wish that the casualties were all staged.