Prisoners, Point Lookout

[JPK Huson 1863]

I found this photo years ago, before I knew to bookmark or save the source, and of course now am clueless what it is and where it came from. I just have it listed in my files as ' Prisoners' and ' Point Lookout ' What does anyone think is transpiring in this room, and between whom?

With any luck, Wilbur has already hashed this out 5 years ago, saved me a lot of questions no one wants to answer. Some of the old photo threads are amazing- browsing one takes an hour!

 

[kholland]

I found this photo years ago, before I knew to bookmark or save the source, and of course now am clueless what it is and where it came from. I just have it listed in my files as ' Prisoners' and ' Point Lookout ' What does anyone think is transpiring in this room, and between whom?

With any luck, Wilbur has already hashed this out 5 years ago, saved me a lot of questions no one wants to answer. Some of the old photo threads are amazing- browsing one takes an hour!

View attachment 18477

According to this web page, they were prisoners at Point Lookout taking the oath of allegiance. The sad thing about this prison for prisoners was that it was just across the water from Virginia.
http://photos.somd.com/point-lookou...nt-lookout-taking-the-oath-of-allegiance.html

 

[Zuzah]

Expired Image Removed

Larger variant

 

[wilber6150]

I found this photo years ago, before I knew to bookmark or save the source, and of course now am clueless what it is and where it came from. I just have it listed in my files as ' Prisoners' and ' Point Lookout ' What does anyone think is transpiring in this room, and between whom?

With any luck, Wilbur has already hashed this out 5 years ago, saved me a lot of questions no one wants to answer. Some of the old photo threads are amazing- browsing one takes an hour!

I tried to examine it before but the image didn't holdup to well for enlarging, were there any details that you wanted to see?
Wow has it been 5 years since i did those enlargements?

 

[Bonny Blue Flag]

In closely looking at the pic:
- There appears to be 17 or 18 men standing in front of the Union officers.
-These men are dressed with their hats and personal belongings including canteens and bedrolls at their feet.
- Every 3-4 men have their hands on what appears to be a thin book or short stack of papers
- No weapons are visible on these men
- I count 9 Union men
- An American flag is attached to the ceiling, hanging in the foreground. There are the stripes of the flag on the left of the photo and stars on the right of the photo. Can't tell if the flag stretches over the whole ceiling.
- There is a large glass bottle and a stack of 3 books on the table between the 2 men sitting in front of the podium.
- The podium has something lying on top of it, draping off the visible end. A map perhaps?
- Just to the left of the head of the young Union officer standing at the podium, heart-shaped bundle of tobacco or rope?
- On the right side of the photo, behind and to the left of the fuzzy image of a soldier, is a young man standing on something making him taller than others around him. Could he be a photographer?

--BBF

 

[Civilwarcrow]

I found this photo years ago, before I knew to bookmark or save the source, and of course now am clueless what it is and where it came from. I just have it listed in my files as ' Prisoners' and ' Point Lookout ' What does anyone think is transpiring in this room, and between whom?

With any luck, Wilbur has already hashed this out 5 years ago, saved me a lot of questions no one wants to answer. Some of the old photo threads are amazing- browsing one takes an hour!

View attachment 18477

Great pic..love this image..

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

O Lord, that is a cool pic then, but also extremely heartwrenching- those men would have been able to smell home! Pretty rough on them. Given all the accoutrements that seem to deliberately be in the pic, maybe these would be some of the-rats, what were they called, I JUST read about them- Confederate prisoners, took the oath, sworn in and sent to western defenses- ' Something -Yankees '. The maps, bedrolls- seems like they might be setting up a whole story, sending these men somewhere?

Thanks for filling in so many blanks- I don't think I quite knew what to ask about it, just that it was an awfully intriquing photo and I figured there would be folks here who either had seen it before or could figure it out. Explains the massive flag hanging over everyone, too, if it's an oath kind of thing, doesn't it? Boy, must have been tough on the Confederate prisoners, standing under that.

If no one knows what the " ______ Yankees" were, will have to go look that up again. Hee. It's from a really old Civil War game my father had- I tormented my poor son with it while on vacation this year. It featured trivia questions, that was one of them.

 

[John Hartwell]

"Galvanized Yankees." Their old comrades may have seen them as "rats" -- their new comrades might have thought them "patriots." Many did honorable service in the west.

In the picture, each group of men have their right hands on what I take to be a bible -- though it does seem a rather thin one.

Cheers!

jno