Overlooked 1863 Fort Sumter/Battery Stevens battle smoke photograph?

chubachus

First Sergeant
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There appears to be a large amount of smoke drifting by visible in front of Union soldiers in Battery Stevens. Perhaps from other guns of Battery Stevens?

Only titled "Bombardment of Ft. Sumter" at LOC. I see a fragment of a Haas and Peale signature at the bottom right of the photo on the uncropped LOC version. They of course famously photographed from Morris Island smoke coming from the USS New Ironsides while it was firing at Fort Sumter in September 1863.

Source: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014646430/

Here is a print of the from another negative of the same section of Battery Stevens taken at another time showing no smoke in the background. It also shows that the negative was originally by Haas and Peale: http://digital.hagley.org/islandora/object/islandora:2372922

Could the smoke and dark areas in the sky are actually a product of the degradation of the emulsion over time?

Here is Miller caption for the second print:

battery stevens caption.jpg
 
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These look to me to be Two photographs of the same place but at different times.

Oops, yeah, I overlooked that, second print was a last minute addition to the post. That would definitely explain the differences of the backgrounds. Fixed the post to reflect it.
 
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In the first photo, one of the men playing cards in the foreground is looking towards the water, image without smoke he's looking at the table. There's also quite a few men seeming to look towards ' something ' in image one. We'll never know but it does seem to indicate there was something to look at.
 
View attachment 130352

There appears to be a large amount of smoke drifting by visible in front of Union soldiers in Battery Stevens. Perhaps from other guns of Battery Stevens?

Only titled "Bombardment of Ft. Sumter" at LOC. I see a fragment of a Haas and Peale signature at the bottom right of the photo on the uncropped LOC version. They of course famously photographed from Morris Island smoke coming from the USS New Ironsides while it was firing at Fort Sumter in September 1863.

Source: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014646430/

Here is a print of the from another negative of the same section of Battery Stevens taken at another time showing no smoke in the background. It also shows that the negative was originally by Haas and Peale: http://digital.hagley.org/islandora/object/islandora:2372922

Could the smoke and dark areas in the sky are actually a product of the degradation of the emulsion over time?

Here is Miller caption for the second print:

View attachment 130350
Different pictures done at different times with different people except for the man who appears to be light the fuse to the cannon and those playing cards just looking in different ways,I thought that with this type of photo that the person or persons had to remain still,wonder how he managed to pose these shots knowing that the subject had to remain still for long periods of time.What make these different also is that smoke has covered the screen in top one and clearer in the bottom.
 
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The full-bearded man with the white shirt, resting his leg on a box has had time to climb the works and join the others. The man with suspenders has moved as well as the others in the second photo. That first photo might have been the golden opportunity for standing motionless, as the men turned their attention to the blast wherever it may have landed.
Lubliner.
 
These are folks posing and at leisure. There is degradation throughout the image (loss of contrast and blotches). It's not smoke. The other image was taken during the same shoot, items are in the same location as well as some people.
 
These are folks posing and at leisure. There is degradation throughout the image (loss of contrast and blotches). It's not smoke. The other image was taken during the same shoot, items are in the same location as well as some people.
I agree with the posing observation. 150+ years of indifferent storage will have affects.
 
All good to know, thank you! OK now I've been reminded of a few others, like a few from Fredericksburg I've always wondered about.

@Mike Serpa , is there any more about that house, please? What's so awful about photos you've never seen before is getting side tracked- it's so time consuming but it'll bug you until you know. Why is everything interesting?
 
I carelessly left out the captions.

Top photo: Morrris Island, South Carolina. Naval Battery. Two 8-inch Parrot Rifles. Breaching Battery against Fort Sumter

Bottom photo: Morris Island, South Carolina. The Beacon House after the struggle for Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863. It was the headquarters of General W.H. Davis of the 104th Pennsylvania and had also been used by General Gillmore as a signal station.
 
The three wave-like cavities on the bottom left make it look water damage to me. It should be more diffuse if it is smoke. It seems as if it is on top the photo not part of the photo. Here is the largest available download from the link.

35198u.png
 
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